When you’ve just been in a motor vehicle accident in Indiana, there’s sure to be some emotional stress regardless of the type of vehicle that hit you. Accidents with commercial vehicles are often particularly severe due to their sheer size and the fact that they often haul oversized loads. The larger the vehicle, the harder the impact – and the worse the consequences.
Understand how to file this type of claim
There are also many challenges of getting your claim filed. The filing process includes rules that aren’t always obvious. There are also policies that are hard to understand and fine print that you might not notice at first. It may seem like the system is designed to confuse you.
It will help you out significantly if you find out for yourself what makes these types of motor vehicle accidents so different and some of the potential difficulties.
Different laws for a different type of vehicle
The complexities in trucking accidents come not just from the size of the vehicles but also the different ways in which they operate. This may impact the way that liability is determined after the collision.
Factors like the amount of time it takes to stop, the width of the vehicle’s turns and the number of gears that their operation requires may all come into play. And if the weather is bad and road conditions less than optimal, it only compounds the issue for big rigs and will potentially add to the claim’s complexity.
It’s also important to bear in mind that the laws are different for commercial drivers. Your average driver typically only has to worry about local and state traffic laws, while truckers have a set of federal laws to follow as well, such as Hours of Service regulations.
There might be multiple parties that were negligent – in fact, it’s possible that there are several. This is in contrast to a regular car crash that often only involves two people at most. When an accident involves a truck driver, the negligence may fall on not only the driver but also the parent company, service providers, loading company and manufacturers of truck parts.
