One moment you were driving through Cherry Hill, simply going about your day, and the next, your life was devastated by a collision with a large truck. Now you have serious injuries and the stress of not knowing how you will pay for your medical bills or when you can return to work, all because of someone else’s negligence at the wheel.
Even though your situation may seem hopeless, it doesn’t have to be. A Cherry Hill truck accident lawyer can fight for your legal rights, ensuring that you get the money you need to get your life back on track and taking the burden of the legal process off of you.
If you are confused about what to do in the aftermath of a truck accident, that’s okay. After all, it’s not like this is an everyday occurrence for you. Most victims of truck accidents in Camden County don’t know what steps they should take after a collision—or what are the major pitfalls and mistakes that can occur as they pursue their claim.
After a truck accident, here are the most crucial steps to take in order to give yourself the best chance of recovery:
Even though it is part of South Jersey, a less urban and populated part of the state, Cherry Hill is situated right next to Camden and Philadelphia. The city has major highways, such as I-295 and Route 76, passing through it. Due to this, any resident or frequent visitor of Cherry Hill is no doubt familiar with the congestion and number of large trucks that pass through and around the area.
Camden County has consistently been among the most dangerous counties in New Jersey for fatal accidents. Due to the amount of traffic—both rush-hour and through-traffic—that is constantly passing along Cherry Hill roads, it’s no wonder that a great number of truck accidents happen in the area.
Highways such as I-295, Interstate 76, and the New Jersey Turnpike are common sites of truck crashes. Tractor-trailers and other large trucks often use congested local routes like Highway 168, Route 41, and Highway 130 as they make their way into or through Cherry Hill, so it’s no surprise that collisions happen here, too.
Other frequent accident hotspots in and around Cherry Hill, NJ include:
Particularly on roads that are notorious for accidents, trucks are far more prone than an average vehicle to have a collision. They are bulky and lacking in maneuverability. If something goes wrong, large trucks can turn into heavy, uncontrollable projectiles that can crush and destroy any smaller in their paths.
The Cherry Hill area is home to several hospitals that can treat your injuries directly, namely:
In addition, Cherry Hill is in close proximity to numerous hospitals in Camden and other neighboring cities throughout South Jersey, including the top-ranked Penn medical centers in Voorhees, Glassboro, and Trenton. Right across the bridge, you’ll find top-rated hospitals in Philadelphia. There are also a number of urgent care centers and private practices in and around Cherry Hill that can examine and treat your injuries.
Once your injuries have been taken care of, you don’t have to look very far to find legal help.
Here in our offices, our truck accident lawyers meet with clients from Cherry Hill and across New Jersey to prepare their cases for legal action. We also offer secure remote signup if you don’t feel up to physically coming to the office. Our staff is on hand to walk you through the process of electronically filling out the forms to retain legal representation.
With its proximity to urban areas like Camden and Philadelphia, as well as the major interstates passing through it, Camden County sees a large amount of truck traffic. It’s no surprise that a range of different types of truck accidents occur in Cherry Hill.
There is a legal difference between being hit by your neighbor’s pickup truck and a tractor-trailer transporting products between cities. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration defines any vehicle weighing over 10,000 pounds (which it classifies as a Class 3 or higher truck) to be a large truck when reporting crashes.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration places tractor-trailer rigs and many other trucks in the large truck/heavy truck category. This designation means that a truck has a minimum 10,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating.
Based on the NHTSA’s Large Truck data, 75 percent of the large trucks involved in fatal crashes weighed more than 26,000 pounds. This weight places a truck in NHTSA’s heavy truck category.
Depending on a truck’s dimensions and axles, heavy trucks can weigh over 80,000 pounds and remain in compliance with New Jersey and federal weight restrictions.
The large/heavy truck category includes more than just tractor-trailer rigs. The Federal Highway Administration lists vehicles that fit this category based on their weight and class.
Every day Cherry Hill drivers encounter garbage trucks, utility trucks, moving vans, and other large trucks on city streets and in their neighborhoods. Each has the mass, weight, and capability to cause serious damage and injuries.
Even if you weren’t hit by a truck that meets the “large truck” criteria, the accident still turned your life upside down. Our personal injury lawyers have experience handling all types of truck accidents in Cherry Hill, Camden County and the neighboring counties, and throughout the rest of South Jersey.
A truck accident can feel like an entirely different situation than a simple two-car collision. There are several important factors that make distinguish a truck accident from a car accident, including:
After you have been in a truck accident, one of the first things you will want to find out is whether or not you have the legal right to a personal injury case. When looking at your case, consider these factors:
In order to sue for any injuries that you sustained in a truck accident, you have to show that the other driver was negligent in the operation of their vehicle. This means that they must be proven to have been violating their duty of care to other drivers—for example, that they were turning illegally or were using a cellphone while driving. Once negligence has been established, you can hold the driver legally liable for the accident and any damages that were caused by it.
All drivers, both in Cherry Hill and the rest of the nation, have a duty of care towards other drivers. This standard requires them to display proper judgment and attentiveness at all times while driving and to follow the rules and regulations of the road. In a truck accident, defendants besides the driver can also be shown to have a duty of care. The company that owns the truck also has a duty to keep its vehicles well-maintained and in roadworthy condition, to hire competent and qualified drivers, and to comply with state and federal regulations. Manufacturing companies also hold a duty of care to make sure truck parts that they build don’t have defects that could cause accidents.
Due to the size and mass of trucks, truck accidents are capable of causing destruction much greater than a normal car accident. Everyone sharing the roads must meet the duty of care at all times, or the consequences can be deadly. When you can prove that a defendant in a truck accident claim has not met their duty of care, you can sue them for the damage that the tractor-trailer collision caused.
When you pursue a legal claim after a truck accident, you’re seeking compensation for the harmful consequences of the crash. These consequences include both economic damages—financial losses—and non-economic damages, such as the pain and mental anguish that your injuries cause you.
Some of the most common kinds of claimed damages are:
The damages caused by a truck accident in Camden County can leave you reeling and struggling to get your life back on track. Our Cherry Hill, New Jersey truck accident lawyers can utilize our experience and knowledge to calculate the economic and non-economic damages that your truck accident has caused you.
Using this plan and the testimony of expert doctors, economists, and rehabilitation specialists, our lawyers fight to get the maximum amount of compensation for truck accident victims throughout Cherry Hill and South New Jersey.
The deadly forces involved in truck accidents commonly cause serious injuries, such as:
Truck accidents have an unfortunately high chance of causing fatal injuries, resulting in thousands of deaths across the nation every year.
If you have lost a family member to a truck accident in Cherry Hill, you can pursue a wrongful death claim against the parties that caused the death of your loved one. Wrongful death claims not only seek compensation for your bereavement but also delve deeper into the accident and its causes. This greater examination can provide you more information on what happened and why. Pursuing a wrongful death claim can bring families closure and help prevent other accidents from happening in the same way.
Truck accidents can be caused by many different factors, including:
When the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration conducted a Truck Crash Causation Study several years ago, it identified these accident factors:
The NHTSA found that speed wasn’t necessarily a factor in many trucking accidents, but long stopping distance is a constant problem. At highway speeds, when a trucker applies the brakes, a tractor-trailer rig travels the length of two football fields before coming to a stop. Stopping is even more difficult in snow, rain, or other inclement weather.
When a shipper loads or secures cargo improperly, a sudden shift sometimes causes an accident.
After a Cherry Hill truck accident, there are a number of parties that you may be able to sue, depending on circumstances:
Legal proceedings involving truck accidents typically involve several defendants. You can sue the truck driver for their negligence, the driver’s employer for their liability on behalf of their employee, the company that owns the truck, and so on.
The tricky part is narrowing down who is actually liable for causing the accident. This process requires a thorough investigation and in-depth examination of the evidence to determine negligence.
Luckily, you don’t have to handle this investigation on your own. A Cherry Hill truck accident lawyer can tackle the legal process on your behalf and narrow down the defendants until fault has been determined.
Motor vehicle accident lawsuits always involve dealing with insurance companies looking to maneuver their way into paying as little money as possible. Truck accident cases, with their multiple defendants, can feel like a hurricane as multiple insurance companies compete to convince you to accept a settlement or show that they weren’t at fault. Our team of Cherry Hill truck accident attorneys at Console & Associates can help you navigate the storm of the legal process and get you the money you deserve.
If you are wondering why you need a lawyer to handle your truck accident case, here are several good reasons:
Truck Accident Lawyer, Richard P. Console Jr.
Our truck accident attorneys in Camden County are ready to handle the whole of your case, beginning with preparing your case for trial from day one in order to get you the maximum amount of compensation possible.
We will also:
Our firm has over 25 years of experience fighting for South Jersey residents and dealing with trucking corporations and their insurance companies.If you feel that Console & Associates is the right law firm for your claim, there is no financial risk to you. Contact our Cherry Hill personal injury law firm where we handle cases on a no-win, no fee basis.
In New Jersey, the statute of limitations—the time period in which you are allowed to pursue legal action—for truck accidents is two years from the date of your accident.
However, it is a good idea to act quickly. In certain scenarios, you may have a smaller period to act. If you are suing a government defendant, you only have 90 days to notify them of your claim.
Also, the longer you wait to pursue your claim, the greater chance there is for trucking companies to hide or destroy evidence or for witnesses to forget what they saw. Losing valuable evidence like this can lower the amount of compensation you will receive.
Due to state and federal laws, commercial trucks are required to carry insurance policies that are generally larger than those that the average driver holds, sometimes significantly so. Unless your injuries and damages were incredibly high, you should be able to receive the full compensation for your damages—but you will likely need an experienced Cherry Hill truck accident lawyer to get you the money you deserve.
I whole-heartedly recommend him to anyone searching for results and compassion throughout the process. There are so many attorneys out there who don’t care about their clients or don’t really understand personal injury matters. Choosing one of them can really be a huge life-changing mistake. Do yourself a favor and just call and talk to him, and you will see what I am talking about.
Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
D. Brown
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