Being in any kind of road traffic collision is a horrible ordeal for all involved no matter how serious it is and we need to try and avoid these at all costs. The devastation that can follow is tremendous and I personally know a number of people who’ve been involved in accidents- none of them recommends doing it. Now, it may or may not be the fault of someone. Sometimes accidents happen without anyone doing anything wrong; a slippy road, perhaps, or faulty brakes. In other cases, there are drivers who put others at risk and that’s when it gets a lot more serious. Too many of these reckless drivers get away with bad actions and it’s often due to people not knowing enough about procedures they should be following. There are a number of steps you should be following if you’ve been involved in a truck accident and that’s why I’m here today- to help you. If you follow these simple steps you should hopefully get any compensation or insurance that you deserve, so here’s my guide to handling truck accidents in Houston.
So why are truck accidents such a big problem in Houston? Well for starters, trucks like this are responsible for carrying a large percentage of all goods in America and so the roads are typically full of them. This automatically raises the chances of accidents occurring. A large number of trucks clogged closely together on a highway is always a recipe for disaster. However, it’s not just the volume of trucks that’s the problem- it’s also the quality of the drivers a lot of the time. There are a lot of poor drivers out there who both fail to adhere to traffic rules and are lazy when it comes to safety. They drive recklessly because of this and fail to think of other people on the road. It’s factors like this that make truck accident rates so high and it’s why you need to know what to do if you are involved in one.
So here’s what you should do if injured in an accident with a truck. The first tip I have is acting quickly. I’ve already briefly mentioned people not knowing what to do in a scenario like this and not acting quickly enough often happens due to this. People often take a long time before acting and this never helps. Even if you didn’t cause an accident and are in fact the victim, acting slowly will allow the opposition to build up a case against you and you could end up losing out in court. If you act quickly and get the necessary help, you’ll be much better equipped to win in any legal battles. There are also a few laws in place which place a timescale on how long you can wait before a legal claim becomes void. While these are usually placed at a number of years, you can never be too careful and should aim to act as quickly as possible to get all the potential from your case.
Obviously, you need to make sure you find yourself a good lawyer and law practice as well. If you’re in the false set of mind that court is a fun place and is always full of riveting cases, you need to get out of it- it tends to be very serious, very boring and you need someone who knows the law very well in order to have any success. Now, there are a number of law practices in Houston and it’s up to you to decide which one you want to work with. There are a number of different ways to do this. Firstly, you could get online and search up different law practices. After you’ve done this, you can compare them and the kinds of work they provide for people like you. This will allow you to build up a portfolio of sorts; you can list the pros and cons of different lawyers and then make a well-informed decision. You could also read online reviews and ask about any friends or family who’ve had law work done for them; this will allow you to get a good idea of what law practices are the favourites of other Houston residents and have good customer service.
You should also be looking for a law firm that are real experts with traffic law. They’ll need to have expert knowledge of all kinds of traffic incidents (particularly truck collisions) and will hopefully have a plethora of experience in this department. Some firms may even specialise in traffic law, so looking for these kinds of lawyers will give you a much better chance of winning your case. A lawyer who knows what they’re talking about is always a good thing and you should strive to find one who does.
Staying calm at all times is also really important. I can’t emphasise this enough; I’ve heard about a lot of cases where victims panic, make mistakes, mishandle any evidence and end up ruining their entire cases. If you’ve done nothing wrong then you don’t have anything to worry about- as long as you keep a level head. Any opposing law firms will be looking for signs of weakness to use against you and it’s up to you to make sure you don’t give them any. Staying calm will also benefit you overall- there’s no point in stressing out over the whole situation and it’ll help your mental health if you keep calm. You’ll make more well-informed decisions regarding everything that’s going on and will have a much better chance of getting the insurance you deserve.
Dealing with truck accidents is never easy (both physically and in the aftermath) but if you keep calm and have a plan you’ll be alright. You need to make sure that you act as quickly as possible and keep any evidence in tip-top shape, and getting a good law firm in your books is vital. They’ll know about all the laws and will give you a much better chance at winning your case. Good luck!
