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What Steps Should You Take Immediately If You Are Involved in A Truck Collision?
Working as a truck driver can be very dangerous. Most truck drivers spend all of their days driving up and down highways and traversing country roads. With so much time spent on the road, an accident is very probable. Other road users are incredibly negligent and careless when it comes to accommodating for truck drivers. Owing to their size, truck accidents are usually fatal. If you have been lucky enough to have been involved in a truck accident and to escape unscathed, this page will tell you which steps you should take immediately.
You must drive carefully, and you must ensure you are as responsible and aware as you can be whenever you set out to drive, whether you are in a truck or a car.
A Personal Injury Lawyer
If you have been involved in a collision with a truck, ring a personal injury lawyer. The professional attorneys of https://the702firm.com/truck-accident-lawyer/ say that collisions with trucks can very often be fatal, severe at the least. Because of the potential risk of fatality, and providing it was not your fault, it is important to contact a personal injury lawyer immediately to receive compensation.
Many people can be held accountable for a truck accident. A truck requires a lot of maintenance and has a lot of parties involved in its upkeep. If a truck crashes, the blame could potentially fall on anybody involved in that process. Some of those people are:
- The driver himself
- The owner of the truck or the company who controls it
- The cargo loaders
- Those involved in the truck’s parts being manufactured
- The freight company
Because there are so many potential parties at fault, you must contact a personal injury lawyer who will be able to help you in determining who is responsible and who to demand compensation from.
Phone an Ambulance
Before you phone a personal injury lawyer, you must call an ambulance. As was mentioned previously, truck accidents can be fatal. If you have survived one, you may well be severely injured, and providing your car is not aflame nor smoking, authorities recommend you remain in a seated position and phone for an ambulance. Very often in severe vehicular collisions, injuries can be internal and will not be immediately obvious. Should there be an internal injury, moving could potentially make it much worse and have serious consequences for you. An ambulance should be the first thing you call following a truck accident. There may be fatalities even if you have survived, as these collisions often end up in huge pile-ups with many cars involved.
Phone the Police
After a collision with a truck, it is imperative you phone the police. In recent years, there have been some very highly publicized cases in which truck drivers while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol have caused huge crashes and pile-ups. To make sure that the matter is dealt with properly, and to suss out anything more insidious that may be behind the crash, you must phone the police. Providing you were not at fault, you will not be in any trouble, and will likely be interviewed and dismissed. It is very important that you phone the police after any truck collision, and as with these situations loss of life is not at all uncommon, and it is your responsibility to phone the police, providing you can do so.
See a Doctor
After a truck collision, there will likely be physical and mental trauma. You must see a doctor first and foremost to address your physical injuries, but secondly, to address your mental trauma. A simple car crash can leave you with devastating mental illness, so a truck collision is even more likely to cause you mental anguish. A doctor will refer you to a specialist who will be able to properly treat you. PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is the most likely mental illness you will suffer from in this situation, and it can be life changing if not properly and quickly addressed. Many people who suffer from mental illness hesitate to see a doctor as they worry that they will be considered crazy and locked away in a mental institution, which will, thankfully, not happen. A proper treatment plan will be drawn up and you will be on the road to recovery before you know it.
Those are some things you must do following a truck collision. Drive responsibly and safely and keep your eyes open; you never know when an accident might happen, and prevention is better than cure.