Rear-Ended by a Semi-Truck?

This video features Gregg Anderson, a Personal Injury attorney based in Florida.

Florida Truck Accident Lawyer Explains Liability

Video Transcript:

Gregg Anderson: 

We want the drivers to come home to their families, just like we want our loved ones to make it home too.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Getting hit by a large commercial truck can be devastating, so what should you do if your family member has been injured? We're gonna find out right now on this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest is Florida Attorney Gregg Anderson. And I wanna remind you that if you wanna ask Gregg questions about your situation, it's easy, go to askthelaywers.com, click the button up top, it says Ask a Lawyer, or you can always call the phone number you'll see at the top of your screen, Gregg, thanks for joining us today.

Gregg Anderson: 

Thank you.

Molly Hendrickson: 

First up, can you explain to us your experience in litigating commercial truck cases?

Gregg Anderson: 

Sure, yeah, I've been litigating truck cases for about 10 years now, it's our focus here at our firm Truck Accident Law Firm, and we represent injured individuals from crashes involving commercial motor vehicles that range from tractor trailers to box trucks, and the litigation will be State-to-State, varies State-to-State, the State laws and regulations that apply to commercial motor vehicles, the federal regulations that apply for interstate motor carriers, and we litigate those cases throughout the country. I've been doing that for about 10 years.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So you have a lot of experience with this. Let's specifically address when a passenger vehicle is rear-ended, have you seen a lot of cases like these?

Gregg Anderson: 

It happens more than you might think, it's very frequent that trucks are rear-ending crash, it's involving, people stopped at red lights, stopped in traffic, truck driver's not paying attention, they're coming over hills and they're not looking 12 to 15 seconds ahead like they're required into the Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations, so we see that very frequently because of different varying reasons such as being on a cell phone or they're fatigued and over hours and violation of the regulations that apply to the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles. We also have clients that we represent where they actually rear-end the truck that's impermissibly parked on the roadway, partially blocking the roadway, and the driver has failed to put out warning devices, such as the triangles that you might see behind the truck or putting on flashers or even flares depending upon the circumstances.

Molly Hendrickson: Who is generally at fault in these types of situations, you touched on it a little bit about how these accidents happen as well.

Gregg Anderson: 

Generally, more often than not, the fault is with the driver and the motor carrier that hires or utilizes those drivers to move that product on our roadways, the driver is not paying attention, like I referenced, to what's going on in front of him, and is not aware of his surroundings and looking for potential hazards, and the motor carrier is under an obligation to make sure that they hire and utilize safe drivers, so they are oftentimes at fault because of their own active negligence in not vetting a safe driver and checking the background of that driver for traffic infractions, looking at their medical certificate to make sure that they're healthy being behind the wheel, we see often that these drivers have high blood pressure and other illnesses that could impact their ability to safely operate large commercial motor vehicles on our highways, and they have an obligation, and when they got their motor carrier authority from the Department of Transportation, they swore that they would make sure that they are being safe in operating their motor vehicles on our roadways.

Molly Hendrickson: 

People recognize these types of drivers as essential workers, so how can truck companies train and support drivers to lessen the occurrence of these types of accidents?

Gregg Anderson: 

Truck drivers are absolutely essential, they move all the product throughout the United States, we can't live without them, so we need them to be safe. And one of the things that the motor carriers can do to make sure that the driver has the tools that are necessary to operate safely, can range from the electronic logs that are now required to make sure that they're not being fatigued in working over the hours of service, under the regulations, there are other technologies available such as forward collision mitigation devices that can stop these rear-end collisions, so it allows for the truck to pick up if the driver's not paying attention, vehicles or other objects in front of them to avoid collisions. And those are just a couple of the types of technology that are out there that the motor carrier can have for the truck driver, as well as ongoing training, and also having regularly held safety meetings. Those are but a few of the things that motor carriers can have for the drivers to make sure that everybody, including the drivers are safe, we want the drivers to come home to their families, just like we want our loved ones to make it home too.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Well, Gregg we certainly appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today.

Gregg Anderson: 

Well, thank you, appreciate it.

Molly Hendrickson: 

That's going to do it for this episode of ask the lawyer my guest has been lawyer Gregg Anderson and I want to remind you, if you'd like to ask Greg questions about your situation, go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top of the page that says Ask a Lawyer and it'll walk you through the very simple process. Thanks for watching, I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask the Lawyers.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.

The Truck Accident Law Firm

1200 Riverplace Blvd. 

Jacksonville, FL 32207


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