Recovered Over $300 Million for Our 7,000+ Clients
Though you may obey all the traffic laws and drive as defensively as possible, truck accidents in Chesterfield and the greater St. Louis County still happen with alarming frequency—and these devastating events often end with serious consequences for victims. If you suffer injuries in an accident with a commercial truck, you may have grounds to claim compensation for your accident.
Let our personal injury attorney serving Chesterfield, St. Louis County, tell you what you should know. Call Holland Injury Law, LLC, today for a free consultation about your case with one of our truck accident lawyers.
First and most notably, truck accidents differ from standard passenger vehicle collisions because of the sheer size and weight difference between cars and trucks: The empty weight of a commercial vehicle is usually about 35,000 pounds, while that number skyrockets to 80,000 when fully loaded. Meanwhile, passenger cars weigh around 4,000 pounds. This dramatic weight difference means that even relatively low-speed impacts can cause catastrophic damage and severe injuries to anyone in the passenger car.
Additionally, truck accidents can turn into a legal headache very quickly. If you want to file a lawsuit to claim compensation for your injuries, you need to figure out who caused your accident. However, the truck driver, the trucking company, the vehicle manufacturer, maintenance contractors, cargo loading companies, and government entities could all bear potential liability, which means your lawyer needs to sift through the evidence and pinpoint the responsible party.
Chesterfield and the surrounding St. Louis County area experience a significant number of truck accidents. Major interstate highways like the I-64, I-44, I-55, and I-270 all run through this area, and the numerous warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities located nearby generate substantial commercial truck traffic. In fact, as of 2024, St. Louis held the record for manufacturing jobs in all of Missouri, coming in at over 67,850 industrial workers.
Additionally, Chesterfield’s expanding suburban landscape means that delivery trucks and construction vehicles constantly drive through residential areas, not all of which were designed with semi-trucks and commercial vehicles in mind.
Driver fatigue causes a significant number of truck accidents in Missouri. Despite federal hours-of-service regulations limit the hours that truck operators can drive per shift and per week, many truck drivers get on the road while dangerously tired in order to meet tight deadlines.
Distracted driving, which happens when drivers text, talk on a phone, engage in conversations, daydream, operate their GPS, or perform other tasks while driving, leads to devastating accidents every year.
When a loading company fails to properly load a truck, the weight imbalance can cause a truck to jackknife or roll over. Improperly secured loads can spill from the truck onto the roadway or onto nearby vehicles. Some companies fail to properly train their drivers on safety protocols. Maintenance engineers may fail to spot and fix mechanical issues, which can lead to brake failures and tire blowouts. Any one of these errors can create a collision on a Missouri road with catastrophic results.
Truck accident victims deal with any number of possible injuries, ranging from traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord damage to multiple broken bones that require surgical intervention. Even internal injuries, which may not immediately present symptoms, can threaten the lives of its victims. And if the truck contained chemical substances, they could inflict harsh burns on drivers and passengers.
In many cases, doctors need to reconstruct facial features, perform surgery to save the lives of truck accident victims, or even amputate crushed limbs. And even if those involved in truck collisions survive physically, they may deal with significant psychological trauma, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Finally, contact a personal injury attorney. The sooner you get legal help, the better your chances of protecting your rights and securing full compensation.
Immediately after a truck accident, take the following steps if you can do so safely:
To figure out who caused your truck accident, your lawyer will likely pursue several lines of investigation. For instance, they may need to take a look at the truck driver’s log book to discover any potential violations of limits on driving hours. The truck’s event data recorder, often called “black boxes,” might have recorded their speed, braking patterns, and other crucial information at the time of your crash.
The truck’s maintenance history might contain records of any neglect or mechanical issues, while the trucking company’s employment records may cast doubt on the company’s hiring, training, or firing practices. If you believe that improper cargo handling contributed to the accident, the loading company’s records might help establish the series of events that led to your crash.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has implemented stricter electronic logging device (ELD) requirements, which makes it easier to verify a truck’s compliance with hours-of-service regulations. Missouri has commercial driver licensing requirements, which include rigorous testing and medical qualification standards. All these requirements make it easier for truck accident victims to pursue justice for their accidents.
In a successful personal injury claim or lawsuit, victims of truck accidents in Chesterfield can recover compensation to pay for both current and future medical expenses related to their injuries, any income they lost because of work days that they missed, and reduced earning capacity if they can no longer perform their job duties. This compensation can also help cover repairs or replacement for the vehicle involved in the crash.
The payout that victims collect can also cover non-economic losses. These are personal, intangible consequences of the accident that do not have a specific dollar amount. For instance, they can obtain compensation for their pain and suffering, emotional distress, and impaired quality of life.
In tragic cases where a crash causes a fatality, family members can pursue a wrongful death claim to recover compensation for the loss of their loved one.
If you suffered an injury in a truck accident in Chesterfield or elsewhere in St. Louis County, trust our legal team at Holland Injury Law, LLC, to combine our thorough investigation skills with our aggressive advocacy and compassionate client service. Our experienced team has successfully handled numerous truck accident cases, recovering over $300 Million for our 7,000+ clients. We work directly with accident reconstruction experts, medical professionals, and economic specialists to build the strongest possible case for maximum compensation.
Call us or fill out our online form for a free consultation, and get on the road to recovery today.
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