Lawyer for Aggressive Driving Truck Accidents in St. Louis

Motorists share St. Louis roads every day with commercial trucks. While drivers of passenger vehicles should drive carefully around these very large and heavy trucks, truck drivers should also drive carefully so they don’t cause accidents that can result in severe property damage, serious injuries, and even fatalities.

If you’ve been injured in an aggressive driving truck accident, you need to contact a knowledgeable truck accident attorney as soon as possible. With the injuries you’ve suffered and the property damage or loss you’ve experienced, you may be entitled to significant compensation from the truck driver and potentially the trucking company they work for.

Aggressive driving is increasing among all drivers. And while passenger vehicle drivers who drive aggressively cause serious accidents with severe injuries, the severity of accidents and injuries caused by aggressive truck drivers is much greater.

Commercial trucks are much larger and heavier than passenger vehicles. Commercial trucks, when fully loaded, can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, while passenger vehicles typically weigh between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds. Therefore, when a commercial truck collides with a passenger vehicle, the results are often catastrophic for the passenger vehicle and the people who are inside it.

There are many ways that truck drivers can drive aggressively that increase the chances of an accident happening. Thirty or forty years ago, truck drivers were often the most courteous drivers on the road. They watched out for other drivers and practiced defensive driving to ensure everyone on the road was safe.

But now truck drivers can drive just as aggressively as many other drivers on the road. In part, this is because they are driving for trucking companies who haven’t ensured they have proper training and who give them very demanding delivery deadlines that encourage aggressive driving behaviors.

If you need a lawyer for an aggressive driving truck accident in St. Louis, let OnderLaw pursue your personal injury claim against the truck driver and, in some cases, the trucking company they work for.

We do all the legwork in getting the facts of your accident, putting together the claim, and negotiating a fair settlement with the insurance company or companies. We will take your case to court for a jury verdict if the insurance company or companies aren’t willing to pay just compensation.

Contact OnderLaw today to schedule a free consultation about your aggressive driving truck accident.

Do I Need an Attorney for My Aggressive Driving Truck Accident?

It’s crucial that you seek the help of a skilled, qualified attorney after an aggressive driving truck accident. Truck accident cases are complex, and an experienced truck accident attorney will know exactly how to navigate your case and negotiate firmly on your behalf to ensure that you receive the full compensation you’re owed.

Insurance companies are in the business to make money…and to keep it. Most auto insurance policyholders have good driving records and few, if any, accidents (auto insurance companies typically drop policyholders who have poor driving records, more than one accident, or an accident with a costly payout).

If you have a business model where 95% of your customers are paying you money, but they never need any of that money back, then your profitability is high. This makes stockholders and investors very happy.

So, given the nature of insurance, when an accident does happen, and an insurance company’s client is at fault, the insurance company will try to get the victim of the accident to accept a quick settlement and sign an agreement that they will not pursue any other claims against the company for that accident.

The settlement offer usually is just high enough that it seems almost fair. But, given the type of injuries and damages that occur in an aggressive driving truck accident, the settlement is not fair because it won’t come close to covering all your losses.

A seasoned personal injury firm knows all the tactics of insurance companies and will aggressively fight for the compensation that truly covers all the losses you’ve experienced. You don’t have to settle for much less than what you’re owed, nor do you have to navigate complex insurance claims on your own. You can focus on what’s important: your recovery.

Why Should I Choose OnderLaw?

OnderLaw has earned a stellar reputation in the St. Louis area for its commitment to and advocacy for our clients. With more than 30 years of experience in the legal field, our personal injury lawyers have a depth of knowledge that can only come with successfully standing up to large insurance companies in settlement negotiations or in the courtroom to get the fair compensation our clients deserve.

OnderLaw brings a personalized approach to handling your case. We begin by examining every piece of evidence in your case in detail. We get police reports, truck driver logs, truck driver backgrounds, and trucking company information to use. We also use a network of resources to reconstruct the accident scene and determine what happened at every moment of the accident as it occurred.

In addition, we will use your medical treatment records to show the extent of your injuries and what economic hardships, now and in the future, you are facing because of them. We will also demonstrate the non-economic losses you have suffered because of the aggressive driving truck accident.

Using all this information, OnderLaw will build a compelling case to begin settlement negotiations with the insurance company or companies. We will not accept any settlement that is not fair. If the insurance company or companies refuse to offer an acceptable settlement that covers your losses, then we will take your claim to court, where we will fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

We’re on your side all the way. Call OnderLaw now to set up an appointment for a no-cost consultation about your aggressive driving truck accident.

Aggressive Driving is a Growing Concern in the Trucking Industry

With commercial trucks, because of their size and weight, truck drivers need more time to slow down to avoid causing accidents with passenger vehicles in front of them. Truck drivers also need an increased amount of distance between their trucks and the passenger vehicles in front of them to ensure that they don’t hit them.

Commercial truck drivers also need to move carefully in and out of traffic, ensuring that they have adequate room and time to make lane changes or to pass other vehicles safely, given current road and weather conditions.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has recognized that aggressive driving is an increasing problem in the trucking industry. It has developed a program called Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT), which gives states that seek their help funding to increase law enforcement actions and public awareness campaigns against aggressive driving.

Some of the aggressive driving behaviors among truck drivers that are being targeted include:

• Speeding – Truck drivers who exceed posted speed limits (which are sometimes lower than those for passenger vehicle drivers) don’t have the time to slow or stop their trucks when they encounter unexpected traffic conditions or inclement weather. This can lead to catastrophic accidents with extensive damage, devastating injuries, and fatalities.
• Tailgating – Truck drivers who get irritated that drivers in front of them aren’t going fast enough often start tailgating the vehicles in an effort to get the drivers to pull over and let them by or to speed up. However, if the vehicles in front of the truck driver are forced to suddenly brake, the truck drivers will be too close to them to stop in time. In many cases, this results in override accidents, where the truck literally runs over the smaller vehicle in front of them, crushing to death the occupants of the vehicle.
• Dangerous passing or lane changes – When truck drivers get impatient with other drivers, they may resort to sudden lane changes to pass them or to squeeze in front of them in very tight spaces. However, truck drivers have significant blind spots, and if they make sudden lane changes, they may either not see vehicles in their blind spots (causing a side collision) or they may cut off the vehicles behind them (causing an underride accident, where the vehicle behind them drives underneath the truck’s trailer).
• Failure to adapt to inclement weather – Because truck drivers are driving vehicles that have more traction than most passenger vehicles, they often don’t believe they need to slow down in wet, icy, or snowy weather. Therefore, they often get frustrated when the drivers around them are driving more cautiously and slowly in adverse weather. This can lead truck drivers to maneuver unsafely through the slower traffic and can cause very serious accidents that result in critical injuries or fatalities.

Contact a St. Louis Lawyer for Aggressive Driving Truck Accidents

If you’ve been involved in an accident caused by aggressive truck driving in St. Louis, you are suffering the devastating consequences. These may include severe injuries that will take a long time to heal or that may never completely heal, property damage or loss, or, tragically, the loss of a loved one.

You should not have to deal with these consequences alone. The truck driver whose negligent actions caused your accident should be held accountable. And you should be compensated for all the losses you’ve suffered.

OnderLaw is committed to making sure that you get justice. We will aggressively fight for the compensation you deserve, and we will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of holding the negligible party or parties in your accident responsible.

Call the truck accident attorneys at OnderLaw now to arrange an appointment for a free consultation about your aggressive truck driving accident.