When a runaway truck accident occurs, the devastating consequences can change lives forever. At the law firm of Rhoads & Rhoads, our experienced truck accident lawyers understand the unique challenges that truck accident survivors face after these catastrophic events. As a trusted Kentucky truck accident law firm, we have spent decades helping injured victims recover fair compensation for their severe injuries, medical expenses, and lost wages.
Whether you’re facing mounting medical bills from severe or catastrophic injuries like traumatic brain injury or neck injury, dealing with insurance company tactics designed to minimize your truck accident lawsuit, or seeking justice through a wrongful death lawsuit, our Kentucky truck accident lawyers have the expertise to handle the most complex personal injury claims. We’ve successfully represented injury victims in countless truck wreck cases, securing fair settlements that reflect the true cost of their injuries and losses. Our commitment is to ensure that every client receives the compensation they need to rebuild their lives after a devastating truck accident.
Our Kentucky truck accident attorneys are dedicated to holding negligent parties accountable and ensuring that accident victims receive the justice they deserve. If you or a loved one has been injured in a tractor-trailer accident, our personal injury lawyers are here to guide you through every step of the legal process. Contact the law firm of Rhoads & Rhoads today at 888-709-9329 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced Kentucky truck accident lawyer.
What is a Runaway Truck Accident?
A runaway truck accident occurs when a commercial vehicle loses its ability to slow or stop, leaving the truck driver with no control over the massive commercial vehicle. These commercial truck accidents are among the most terrifying types of motor vehicle accidents on our roadways, as the sheer size and weight of uncontrolled tractor-trailers create enormous destructive potential.
Unlike typical car accidents, where drivers maintain some level of control, runaway truck accidents involve large trucks that are often out of control. Semi-truck drivers facing this nightmare scenario must make split-second decisions that can mean the difference between life and death. The trucking industry recognizes these incidents as some of the most dangerous situations tractor-trailer drivers encounter.
When a big truck accident involves a runaway commercial vehicle, the results are often catastrophic. Passenger vehicles and passenger cars stand little chance against the massive force of an out-of-control tractor-trailer. Kentucky truck accident cases involving runaway trucks frequently result in catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, and extensive property damage. These serious truck accidents require immediate investigation of the accident scene by skilled truck accident attorneys who understand the complex dynamics of commercial truck operations. Don’t leave it up to the insurance company. Contact a Kentucky truck accident lawyer today about your truck accident claim or personal injury claim: 888-709-9329.
Causes of Runaway Truck Accidents
Understanding the causes of truck crashes involving runaway commercial vehicles is essential for building strong truck accident claims or personal injury lawsuits. Our truck accident law practice has investigated countless Kentucky truck accident cases and identified several primary factors that contribute to these devastating incidents.
Brake Failure
Brake failure is the most common cause of runaway truck accidents and represents a critical breakdown in vehicle maintenance protocols. Tractor-trailers rely on complex air brake systems that require regular inspection, maintenance, and immediate repair when problems arise. When trucking companies or truck drivers neglect these essential maintenance requirements, the results can be catastrophic.
Air brake systems in semi-trucks operate differently from the hydraulic brakes in passenger cars. Any leak in the air lines, failure of the compressor, or malfunction in the brake chambers can result in complete brake failure. Our Kentucky truck accident attorneys have handled numerous big truck accident cases where inadequate vehicle maintenance led directly to brake system failures and subsequent runaway truck accidents.
Brake fade is another serious concern, particularly on downhill grades. When semi-truck drivers overuse their brakes on steep descents, the friction generates extreme heat that can cause the braking system to lose effectiveness. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires regular brake inspections, but not all trucking companies comply with these regulations.
Overloaded Truck
Overloading is a dangerous practice that places enormous stress on a commercial vehicle’s overall control mechanisms. Federal regulations strictly limit the weight that commercial trucks can carry, but some trucking companies and cargo loaders ignore these rules in pursuit of higher profits. When trucks exceed legal weight limits, stopping distances increase dramatically, and the risk of a serious big truck accident multiplies.
An overloaded tractor-trailer requires significantly more distance to come to a complete stop than a properly loaded vehicle. Our truck accident attorneys have represented numerous truck accident survivors whose lives were changed forever because a trucking company chose profits over safety.
Tire Blowout
Tire blowouts on large trucks can trigger runaway situations when they occur on steering axles or cause the driver to lose control while attempting emergency maneuvers. The tremendous weight of commercial trucks places extreme stress on tires, and when combined with inadequate maintenance, overloading, or road hazards, the results can be catastrophic. Semi-truck crashes caused by tire failures often involve multiple vehicles and result in severe injuries to accident victims in passenger vehicles.
Commercial truck drivers are required to conduct pre-trip inspections that include checking tire pressure, tread depth, and signs of damage. However, driver fatigue, time pressures, or simple negligence can lead to overlooked tire problems. Manufacturing defects can also cause tire failures, and our personal injury lawyers pursue claims against both trucking companies and tire manufacturers when appropriate.
When brake failures, overloading, or tire blowouts combine with distracted driving or other negligent behaviors, truck accidents result in devastating consequences far more severe than typical car accidents, often causing traumatic brain injuries, neck injuries, and other catastrophic harm requiring extensive medical treatment.
Our truck accident lawyers hold the at-fault party accountable in personal injury cases and truck accident lawsuits, fighting to recover compensation for lost wages, medical expenses, and in the most tragic situations, pursuing wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of families who lost loved ones in a truck wreck.
Crush Injuries in a Runaway Truck Accident
Runaway truck accidents produce some of the most devastating crush injuries our personal injury attorneys have encountered. When a massive tractor-trailer cannot stop or slow down, the impact forces against passenger cars are catastrophic. Truck accident victims who survive these collisions often face life-altering injuries that require extensive medical treatment and result in permanent disabilities.
Broken Bones
Broken bones are among the most common serious injuries in runaway truck accidents. The massive impact forces can cause multiple fractures throughout the body and complex fractures requiring surgical intervention. Our truck accident law practice has represented truck crash clients with everything from simple fractures to complex breaks requiring multiple surgeries. Crush injuries often produce comminuted fractures, where bones shatter into multiple pieces. Victims may suffer crushed feet, legs, or pelvis, requiring extensive reconstruction and lengthy rehabilitation.
Crush Syndrome
Crush syndrome is a life-threatening medical condition that occurs when prolonged compression of muscle tissue leads to the release of toxic substances into the bloodstream. When muscle tissue is compressed for extended periods, it begins to die. Once truck accident rescuers free the victim and blood flow is restored, these toxins can cause kidney failure, cardiac arrest, and other life-threatening complications.
Medical bills for treating crush syndrome can easily reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Our tractor-trailer accident attorneys understand that insurance companies often attempt to minimize the connection between the truck crash and subsequent complications like crush syndrome.
Internal Injuries
Internal injuries represent some of the most dangerous consequences of runaway truck accidents because they may not be immediately apparent but can quickly become life-threatening. The blunt force trauma generated during a truck collision can cause severe damage to organs, internal bleeding, and other serious injuries requiring immediate medical intervention.
Abdominal injuries are particularly common in serious truck accidents. The liver, spleen, and kidneys are vulnerable to rupture during high-impact collisions. Chest injuries include cardiac contusions, pulmonary contusions, and damage to major blood vessels.
Nerve Damage
Nerve damage can result in permanent disabilities that dramatically affect every aspect of a victim’s life. When tissues are crushed or torn during a truck collision, nerves can be stretched, compressed, or completely severed, leading to loss of sensation, paralysis, or chronic pain syndromes.
Spinal cord injuries represent the most devastating form of nerve damage in truck accident cases. When the spinal cord is damaged, communication between the brain and body is disrupted, potentially causing paralysis below the injury site. The lifetime costs of caring for someone with a severe spinal cord injury can exceed $5 million.
Amputation
Amputation injuries forever change the lives of truck accident victims who suffer them. Whether caused by traumatic amputation during the truck crash itself or by surgical amputation necessitated by injuries too severe to repair, the loss of a limb creates challenges that affect every aspect of daily living.
Prosthetic limbs require replacement every few years throughout the victim’s lifetime. Our personal injury attorneys work with prosthetists and rehabilitation specialists to calculate the lifetime costs of prosthetic care, including multiple replacements, ongoing adjustments, and home modifications.
Runaway Truck Ramps
Runaway truck ramps, also called truck escape ramps, are crucial safety features designed to stop commercial trucks that have lost their braking ability. These ramps are strategically positioned along steep downhill grades where runaway truck accidents are most likely to occur.
How They Work
Runaway truck ramps use various designs to stop out-of-control commercial trucks, but all rely on dissipating the truck’s kinetic energy through resistance. As the semi-truck enters the ramp, its wheels sink into the loose material, and the combination of the uphill grade and rolling resistance works to slow and eventually stop the vehicle.
How Truck Drivers Use Them
Commercial truck drivers receive training on recognizing brake problems and using runaway truck ramps during emergency situations. When truck drivers realize their brakes have failed, they must quickly assess whether they can reach a runaway ramp before the truck’s speed becomes too great to safely enter the ramp.
Some truck drivers may hesitate to use a ramp. This hesitation can have devastating consequences when the truck’s speed continues to increase and the driver eventually loses all ability to control the vehicle.
Potential Liable Parties in a Runaway Truck Accident
Determining liability in truck accident cases involving runaway commercial vehicles often reveals multiple parties whose negligence contributed to the truck accident claim. Our truck accident attorneys conduct thorough investigations to identify all potentially liable parties because maximizing compensation for injured victims often requires pursuing personal injury cases against multiple defendants.
Truck Driver
Truck drivers bear primary responsibility for safely operating their commercial vehicles and conducting required pre-trip inspections. When semi-truck drivers fail to perform adequate inspections, ignore warning signs of brake problems, or violate hours of service regulations, their negligence becomes a key factor in truck accident litigation.
Driver fatigue is one of the most common forms of truck driver negligence. Federal regulations limit the hours commercial truck drivers can work, but these rules are often violated. Our truck accident law firm uses electronic logging device data and hours of service records to prove when truck drivers were operating in violation of fatigue regulations.
Trucking Company
Trucking companies bear significant responsibility for the safe operation of their fleets. These companies have duties to properly hire and train truck drivers, maintain their commercial trucks in safe operating condition, and establish safety policies that prioritize public safety over profit margins.
Vehicle maintenance is a critical area where trucking companies frequently fail. Our commercial truck accident lawyers regularly uncover evidence of trucking companies that operated vehicles with known brake problems, worn tires, or other dangerous mechanical issues.
Truck and Parts Manufacturer
Manufacturing defects in commercial trucks can cause brake failures and other mechanical problems that lead to runaway truck accidents. When defective parts contribute to a truck crash, manufacturers can be held liable through product liability claims. Our truck accident law practice works with engineering experts to investigate whether manufacturing defects or inadequate warnings contributed to our clients’ truck accident injuries.
Cargo Loaders
Companies and individuals responsible for loading cargo can be held liable when improper loading contributes to truck accidents. Overloading, improper weight distribution, and inadequate cargo securement can all affect a truck’s braking ability and handling characteristics.
Our semi-truck accident lawyers’ thorough approach to identifying all at-fault parties ensures that truck accident victims receive full compensation for medical bills, ongoing medical treatment, and all other damages resulting from their truck accident injury.
Whether pursuing compensation for severe injuries or representing families in wrongful death cases after a tragic truck wreck, we recognize that these cases are far more complex than typical car accidents and require aggressive advocacy to hold multiple parties accountable and prevent future truck accidents through meaningful consequences for negligence.
Electronic Recording Devices and Runaway Truck Accidents
Electronic recording devices, commonly called “black boxes,” have become invaluable tools in truck accident litigation. These devices continuously record critical data about commercial truck operations, creating an objective record that can prove or disprove various aspects of how accidents occurred. Our truck accident attorneys move quickly to preserve this data and accident scene data before trucking companies can tamper with evidence.
Data They Record
Electronic recording devices capture speed data, braking system information, engine and transmission data, and GPS location. In runaway truck accident cases, speed data typically shows the characteristic pattern of continuously increasing speed that indicates loss of braking control.
How They Can Help Your Case
Electronic recording device data provides objective, uncontestable evidence. Insurance companies and trucking companies often try to blame victims, but the data from electronic recording devices cuts through these defenses by showing exactly what happened. This data is particularly valuable for proving hours-of-service violations and establishing patterns of negligence.
Hours-of-Service Violations
Hours-of-service violations are endemic in the trucking industry despite electronic logging requirements. The financial pressures to deliver cargo quickly creates incentives for trucking companies and truck drivers to exceed safe working hours. Driver fatigue impairs judgment and reduces the attention necessary to notice warning signs of mechanical problems, leading to an increase in truck accidents.
Accident Timeline
Reconstructing the timeline of a runaway truck accident is crucial to proving liability. Electronic recording device data allows our truck accident law firm to create minute-by-minute accounts of the events leading to crashes. These detailed timelines help juries understand how multiple failures combined to create a disaster.
Data Tampering
Data tampering is a serious problem in truck accident cases. Federal regulations require trucking companies to preserve electronic recording device data after accidents, but these rules are not always followed. Our truck accident lawyers move immediately to secure preservation orders from courts for the truck accident scene information. When we can prove that evidence was destroyed or altered, it provides powerful support for our clients’ truck accident claims.
Psychological Compensation After a Runaway Truck Accident
The psychological trauma of surviving a runaway truck accident often equals or exceeds the physical injuries that truck accident victims suffer. Many truck accident victims develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after their crashes, including intrusive memories, nightmares, and severe anxiety when driving.
Types of Damage Claims
Psychological damage claims in truck accident cases fall into several categories. Emotional distress damages compensate victims for anxiety, fear, depression, and other negative emotions. Loss of enjoyment of life damages address how injuries prevent victims from participating in activities they previously enjoyed. Loss-of-consortium claims compensate spouses for the loss of companionship, affection, and sexual relations.
Negligent Infliction
Negligent infliction of emotional distress claims arise when someone’s negligence causes psychological harm. In truck accident cases, these claims typically involve the psychological trauma of experiencing or witnessing the accident itself. Kentucky law allows recovery for emotional distress when it accompanies physical injuries.
Intentional Infliction
Intentional infliction of emotional distress claims require proof that the defendant’s conduct was intentional or reckless and so extreme that it goes beyond all bounds of decency. Examples include truck drivers operating while severely intoxicated or trucking companies forcing drivers to operate vehicles they knew had critical safety defects, that then lead to truck accidents.
Calculation
Calculating compensation for psychological injuries presents unique challenges because there is no objective way to measure emotional suffering. Our experienced truck accident lawyers help juries understand the multiple ways psychological trauma has affected our clients by presenting evidence about disrupted sleep, inability to work, strained family relationships, and lost enjoyment of hobbies.
Kentucky Truck Accident Lawyers
Runaway truck accidents represent some of the most devastating crashes on our roadways, causing catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths that forever change families. At the law firm of Rhoads & Rhoads, our Kentucky truck accident lawyers have dedicated their careers to helping injured victims navigate the complex legal landscape of truck accident claims. We understand the tactics that insurance companies and trucking companies use to minimize payouts, and we fight aggressively to ensure our clients receive fair compensation.
Large truck accidents caused by distracted driving, fatigued drivers, or equipment failures require specialized legal knowledge that sets our Kentucky truck accident lawyer team apart from general car accident attorneys. When truck accidents result in severe injuries requiring extensive medical treatment, insurance company adjusters often attempt to minimize personal injury claims and deny injury victims the fair settlement they deserve. Our law firm has decades of experience helping truck accident injury clients recover compensation in even the most complex motor vehicle accidents.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a serious truck accident, don’t face this challenge alone. The commercial truck accident attorneys at the law firm of Rhoads & Rhoads offer free consultations to discuss your case. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. Contact us today at 888-709-9329 to speak with an experienced Kentucky truck accident lawyer who will fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.