Hours of service violations and the resulting fatigued truck drivers constitute a national safety crisis of epic proportions. Every time we get behind the wheel of our vehicle we are likely to be sharing the roadways with huge commercial trucks, delivering goods across the United States. Despite the best efforts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the profit-driven motives of trucking companies keep exhausted drivers behind the wheel of 80,000 pound trucks, threatening the safety of everyone else on the road. When a Texas truck wreck occurs, it is fairly likely the crash is the result of an overly-tired driver who has logged too many hours behind the wheel. Alarmingly, the number of truck accident fatalities increased in 2011 while overall traffic collision fatalities decreased.

While most truck accidents are serious—due to the sheer size of the truck—no matter how large or small the resulting damages and injuries, a Houston trucking accident is always treated differently than a “regular” car crash. Further, trucking accidents bring a host of new complexities into the mix. If your chosen attorney is inexperienced, your claim, as well as your future, can suffer irreparable harm.  Interstate trucking cases are unique, time consuming and expensive to prosecute, placing them in a very narrow legal niche.

Over 500,000 semi-truck accidents occur each year in the United States resulting in over 5,000 fatalities and thousands of injuries. A loaded semi-truck can weigh in at 80,000 pounds and when that much weight comes in contact with a passenger vehicle which weighs around 5,000 pounds, it is clear who the victims will likely be. There are numerous factors involved in a trucking accident including driver error, reckless driving, distracted driving, equipment malfunction, inexperienced drivers and improperly secured loads. Attorneys who represent the victims can face many challenges when proving negligence on the part of the truck driver, trucking company, maintenance department or the manufacturer of the truck.