Moving vans bringing household goods to different locations can cause catastrophic collisions on roads and highways. The massive size and weight of a loaded moving truck can have an outsized impact on other vehicles on the road.
When a moving van is jammed with heavy furniture like desks, beds, and bookshelves, the moving van becomes dangerous if driven recklessly by the wrong driver.
One of the reasons accidents occur with moving vans lies with the haphazard ways these household goods are packed into the trucks. Often, an imbalanced load may result, especially when moving companies combine freights when headed to the same city or nearby location.
An 18-wheeler moving van coming to Florida from Chicago, for example, might pick up 2-3 extra loads on the way down south. This can add a lot more weight and mass to the already heavy moving van truck. Coupled with reckless driving or a moving team behind schedule, it’s likely that a moving van accident will take place.
If it does, and you become injured in a crash, it might help you to hire a Winter Park truck accident lawyer at the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine. Our professional attorneys can help you gather evidence to file a personal injury claim against an at-fault moving van driver or trucking company. Contact us today for a no-fee consultation.
Overview of Moving Truck Accidents
Not all moving trucks cause catastrophic accidents, leaving the persons injured with serious health repercussions. It’s usually the large moving trucks that can cause the most damage. These large vehicles weighing thousands of pounds can slam into cars or motorcyclists and produce severe injuries.
This type of collision can cause property damage, personal injury, and a lifetime of medical bills and other expenses that the victim will have to deal with. If you were not at fault for the accident, you should not have to pay for the consequences—the driver at-fault should.
When a truck collides with a car at full speed, the impact can be devastating. Unfortunately, the person who suffers the injuries is generally the driver of the car and any passengers inside. The truck driver tends not to get seriously hurt unless there’s a truck rollover or a truck explosion.
Reasons Why Trucks Crash
Trucks crash for some of the same reasons that cars crash—inattentive, distracted, or inebriated driving. But there may be other reasons for moving van crashes that are more specific to trucks.
Exhausted Drivers
Truck drivers often drive a lot of hours. There are federal guidelines issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that limit drivers to open windows for driving. For example, drivers can work in 14-hour driving windows or 11-hour daily driving windows.
Over the course of the week, this can add up to 60 hours over a 7-day period or 70 hours over an 8-day period. Driving this much through night and day driving can tire out any driver. That’s when accidents will happen.
Truck Safety Lapses
Sometimes trucking companies fail to maintain the truck’s safety systems properly. Without regular maintenance, a truck driver may unknowingly be driving a dangerous vehicle. If the driver turns too quickly around a curve and the axles break, the truck could go into a rollover and cause serious destruction to cars and people.
Negligent Renting
If a trucking company does not have safeguards in place in order to ensure that the person they are renting a truck to is qualified to drive, then they would be negligent if the driver caused an accident.
For example, if the driver does not have a valid license, was visibly drunk when they rented the truck, or was otherwise not capable of driving the truck, and that driver caused your accident, you might be able to sue both the driver and the moving van company for damages.
Poor Weather Conditions
Truck drivers in Florida often have to battle stormy, windy, and sometimes downright dangerous weather conditions when driving moving trucks. An inexperienced driver operating a moving van truck in poor weather can be a recipe for highway accidents.
Missing Cars in Blind Spots
Drivers of large moving vans may simply not see smaller cars in blind spots. If a truck wants to move to another lane, the truck should signal and move after ensuring that no cars are in the blind spot. Moving without a mirror check can lead to a serious crash.
A Winter Park moving van accident lawyer from the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine can support you or your loved one if you’ve suffered serious injuries in a collision with a truck driver. Call a member of our legal team today for more information on your potential claim.
Truck Accidents in Florida
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) traffic statistics sheet shows that traffic crashes involving over 530,000 large trucks occurred in 2018, according to police-reported records. During the same year, an estimated 151,000 people suffered injuries in crashes with large trucks. From that number, more than 4,950 people died as a result of these traumatic collisions.
In Florida, specifically, a Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) report notes that the category of medium to heavy trucks (weighing +10,000 lbs) was represented in over 30,000 vehicle crashes in 2018.
Seeking a Financial Settlement
A terrible collision with a moving van may lead to broken bones, spinal cord fractures, concussions, cuts, bruises, fractures, and more. These injuries may be only the surface ones. There may be additional emotional and psychological damage from the accident. The total costs of the injuries may exceed any kind of insurance payment you receive after a crash.
That’s why you have the option of hiring a Winter Park moving van accident lawyer to help support you in a personal injury claim. Contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine to seek a consultation about your accident and how to seek compensation. Call us for a free consultation.
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