New Tractor Trailer Safety Guard: May Protect Smaller Vehicles During Accidents | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

When tractor trailers and cars are involved in wrecks it typically leads to a very scary situation. Depending on how the collisions occur, victims can be left with serous head or neck injuries or even possibly be killed.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released new crash test results for eight types of semitrailers. These tests revealed that under-ride guards do a better job at keeping cars and trucks from sliding underneath the big rigs. The typical under-ride guard is steel bars that hang from two vertical components relatively near the center of the truck and sticks out toward the ends of the truck. Many trailer manufacturers have been installing under-ride guards on new trailers and are going above and beyond to install guards that are even stronger than guidelines require.

This is a picture of a crash test between a passenger vehicle and tractor trailer.

The Virginia Personal Injury Lawyers’ Perspective

Accidents involving tractor trailers usually result in very serious injuries that can lead to a permanent decrease in the victim’s quality of life. A loaded commercial truck can weigh up to eighty thousand pounds compared to the average passenger vehicle weight of about three thousand pounds; this makes even a minor collision with a tractor trailer very serious and possibly deadly for those in a smaller vehicle. Tractor trailer injury cases are complicated and take a lawyer with the tenacity to fight for the client the whole way through.  For decades our Virginia (VA) trucking accident lawyers have provided legal representation for persons who have been injured in accidents involving large trucks, including tractor trailers, tanker trucks and construction vehicles.

For one family we settled multiple cases stemming from their car being rear ended by a tractor-trailer at a stoplight. The husband, wife, and two daughters all suffered injuries. The wreck was so severe the front seats of our clients’ car collapsed backwards. The trunk of the small car was smashed into the passenger compartment of the car driving the little girls into the head rests on the top of the front seats, causing traumatic brain injuries to each girl. Through extensive work with medical professionals, a life care planner, and a structured settlement annuity consultant we determined the amount of the amount of money needed to cover the potential future needs of our brain injured client. We were able to resolve the case at mediation with sufficient funds to establish a trust to provide for the children’s short term medical and educational needs and a structured settlement to provide long term financial security for our client.

 

RW