TRUCKING ACCIDENTS

Dump Truck Accidents in Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs Dump Truck Accident Law Firm

Colorado Springs is a historic and attractive city, but it is also a bustling metropolis with people employed in various fields. Garbage trucks and dump trucks are essential for keeping Colorado Springs clean and attractive, as they are in any city.

On the other hand, dump trucks and trash trucks may be significantly more hazardous and cause numerous accidents while travelling on the highways owing to their vast width and height.

You are not alone if you have been involved in a dump truck or trash truck accident in Colorado Springs. There are many reasons why this may have occurred, and if you were harmed as a result of a dump truck or trash truck driver’s carelessness, you might be entitled to compensation.

This article will explain why trash truck and dump truck accidents occur so often and what you should do if you are involved in one.

What Causes Colorado Springs Dump Truck and Garbage Truck Collisions?

Garbage and dump trucks are enormous. Small dump trucks can carry between 13,000 and 15,000 pounds (6.5 to 7.5 tons), but big dump trucks may handle up to 28,000 pounds (14 tons).

Large trash trucks weigh 64,000 pounds, whereas small garbage trucks weigh 40,000 pounds (20 tons) (32 tons). If there is a collision, so much weight on the road might pose a significant risk to drivers of smaller cars.

It might be tough to drive a dump truck or a trash truck. It might be exhausting to be on the road for long periods with no one to chat to. Drivers may be required to work long hours, resulting in weariness.

According to current statistics, dump trucks were involved in 8% to 9% of heavy truck accidents, whereas trash cars were involved in just around 2%. This is most likely because dump trucks and trash trucks spend more time on back roads or at construction sites, where they must go slower. Accidents do, however, happen in certain circumstances, and the consequences are typically disastrous.

You’re probably aware of how difficult staying focused and alerted when driving for lengthy periods on motorways and roads. It might be even more difficult for truck drivers to remain awake and drive properly when they work on the highways for a livelihood. Whether the accident involves a local trash service such as Infinite Disposal, or a major business like

After 10 hours of rest, truck drivers are only allowed to drive for 11 hours and take a 30-minute break every eight hours. Even such measures, however, cannot eliminate the risk of tiredness on the road.

Of course, no one denies that operating a dump truck or trash truck is tough. In huge, heavy trucks, navigating traffic and adverse driving conditions may be extremely difficult.

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The following are the most common causes of truck driver accidents

Driving while distracted

Distracted driving killed 3,142 individuals in a single year, according to the most recent statistics. Texting, chatting on the phone, conversing with other passengers, eating, drinking, and even changing radio stations or playlists may all cause a driver to get distracted enough to overlook a hazard and crash.

The state of the roads It’s challenging enough to manage a large truck around, but it gets much more difficult when you add slippery, rainy, or snowy roads to the mix. Many drivers lose control when driving in such circumstances, but losing control of a truck is considerably more difficult due to its size.

Obstacles in the way

Large cars find it difficult to stop or dart out of the path of animals or debris on the road. If they come across anything unexpectedly, they will have to either strike it or swerve, risking colliding with another car on the road.

Driving when inebriated

Truck drivers often consume compounds that impair their perception and response times, whether drugs, alcohol, or weariness.

According to research by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, fatigue, sickness, the impact of drugs (legal or illegal), and alcohol were responsible for 36 per cent of accidents.

Issues with the Driver

Car causes caused most collisions; however, braking difficulties caused roughly 29% of heavy truck collisions. Large trucks work long hours and are prone to unexpected engine or braking issues. Technically, the manufacturer or trucking firm, not the driver, is at blame for these collisions.

Mistakes made by drivers

Other causes of collisions come under the umbrella of driver error. These include driving too fast for the circumstances, feeling pressed to do the work as soon as possible, performing illegal maneuvers, being unfamiliar with the route, or following too closely.

What Should I Do If I’m Involved in a Dump Truck or Garbage Truck Accident?

Dump truck and trash truck collisions may be exceedingly deadly. The enormous car will not only endanger you and other drivers, but the massive weight these trucks carry may cause further harm.

Here’s what you should do in the aftermath of an accident to protect everyone’s safety.

Get to a safe place

Get everyone off the main road and away from any cars that could explode as quickly as possible. Because moving wounded persons is more difficult when hurt, you should only move them if they are in immediate danger from cars or other impediments. When moving them, try to twist their back and neck as little as possible.

Request an ambulance

Even if no one seems to be hurt, you should still contact an ambulance. Some injuries don’t show up until later, so get medical attention as soon as possible.

Contact the authorities

You’ll have to contact the cops if they aren’t already there. In every significant accident that results in injury or death, get official accident reports and witness accounts.

Take pictures of the accident

Take photographs of the collision site, including any injuries to yourself or others, if you are not severely harmed. To submit a claim with the relevant persons, you’ll need detailed documentation of what occurred and how it happened.

Obtain statements from witnesses

The police will almost certainly gather witness testimonies, but you should also get some. Witness comments might help investigators figure out what occurred and who was to blame for the accident.

Give the other motorist your contact and insurance information. You’ll need information from the other motorist, just like in any other accident, so you can settle any claims as quickly as feasible.

Speak with a personal injury attorney

Whether or not the accident was your fault, you should consult with a personal injury lawyer to ensure that you make the best choices possible about a settlement and that you get the money you deserve.

In a Colorado Springs dump truck or garbage truck accident, who is at fault?

Drivers of garbage trucks and dump trucks in Colorado Springs must have insurance to cover responsibility, damages, and medical costs for persons harmed in incidents involving their cars.

Some insurance policies may cover both the transportation firm and the driver. The driver of a huge truck will often have less coverage than the firm or manufacturer, so you’ll need to figure out who’s to blame to receive the most coverage.

If a driver acts carelessly, they may be at blame. Driver weariness, blunders, and drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs are some of the most prevalent causes of accidents. In this case, the driver’s insurance would normally pay any losses caused by the collision to you and others.

In such circumstances, the trucking firm is to blame. This is frequently the situation when the corporation purposefully overworked the driver, exhausting them. It might also be the case if the firm failed to keep up with car maintenance or made other errors that enhanced the risk of an accident.

If the truck was loaded by a firm other than the trucking company, that company might be held liable. If a dump truck was overloaded or poorly loaded, for example, and an accident occurred due to the error, the firm that loaded the car might be held accountable.

If the loads are overly large or incorrectly secured, sharp curves and high-speed restrictions become highly risky for dump trucks travelling with their relatively open loads.

It’s possible that the local government is to blame in certain circumstances. This is generally the case only when the government should have taken care of massive potholes or other roadblocks.

Finally, it’s possible that the car manufacturer is to blame. If a truck’s brakes or engine fail when they shouldn’t, the manufacturer is usually to blame. If the car was in bad condition when permitted on the road, the manufacturer might be held accountable for your injuries.

Colorado is a state that follows a modified comparative negligence system. Independent adjusters will establish who is responsible for the collision and to what extent, generally from your and the other driver’s insurance companies.

When an insurance company becomes involved in a dump truck or trash truck accident, it typically helps if the plaintiffs retain a truck accident lawyer to assist them. Truck accident attorneys are familiar with the rules governing responsibility and can assist you in pursuing a successful lawsuit.

What Kinds of Damages Can a Dump Truck or Garbage Truck Accident Cause?

The damages you can get in a Colorado Springs dump truck or trash truck accident are comparable to those you would receive in any other form of accident.

These may include the following:

Suffering and pain. Any physical or emotional pain or suffering that you experience due to an accident may be claimed as damages.

Health-care costs Large truck drivers are obliged to have insurance that covers medical expenditures incurred due to an accident they cause. These costs might include hospital bills, surgery expenditures, prescription bills, or other continuing treatment and therapy costs.

Emotional anguish

Any accident has the potential to cause severe mental suffering. You may want to include this in your list of losses.

Loss of earnings

You may need to take time off work to heal if your injuries are serious. In rare situations, your injuries may result in you losing your job totally, and you will be unable to return to that sector. In a truck accident claim, you may be able to receive compensation for this loss.

Death through wrongful means

If anybody was killed in the truck accident, you might be entitled to compensation for the pain and loss caused by the wrongful death.

Damages for retaliation

Punitive damages may be awarded in certain cases. These damages are meant to penalize the truck driver for their carelessness behind the wheel. Punitive damages are more difficult to obtain, although they are more prevalent when the motorist is intoxicated or otherwise reckless.

Do I Need a Lawyer in Colorado Springs If I’m in a Dump Truck or Garbage Truck Accident?

Jeremy D. Earle, JD is a truck accident lawyer.

You may believe that hiring a lawyer for a car accident is too much trouble. It may, however, assist a lot more than you realize. Truck accident attorneys are experienced in dealing with insurance companies and other lawyers who may want to settle your case for less than you deserve.

While you are recovering and do not want the extra burden of dealing with large insurance companies, lawyers may handle the discussions for you.

Furthermore, most truck accident lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis, which means they will not charge you attorney’s costs unless and until your case is won. That implies you won’t have to pay lawyers’ costs out of pocket.

If you’ve been in a dump truck or trash truck accident in Colorado Springs, you should speak with a lawyer who can help you through the process and get the compensation you deserve.

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EXPERT COLORADO SPRINGS LAW FIRM FOR GARABAGE TRUCK ACCIDENT

A dump truck went through an intersection, hit a red car, and then slammed into the side of an apartment complex, displacing many people and injuring three more.

Although the dump truck driver was injured, he refused medical treatment at the site. A lady driving the car that was struck by the truck and a woman who resided on the first floor of the 28-unit apartment complex were both taken to the hospital with injuries.

A 30-year-old man was killed after a trash truck collided with him while riding his bicycle. The driver was in good health, while the apartment occupant received severe injuries. Both the trash truck and the bike were moving in the same direction at the time of the accident, which happened at 9 a.m.

These are two accidents that seem to be unconnected and occur in two cities that appear to be unrelated. They do, however, have specific similar threads. Dump trucks and trash trucks play essential roles in keeping our towns functioning well.

Both sorts of trucks are dangerous to other drivers on the road. If you’ve been in a significant truck accident, read on to find out what a qualified truck accident attorney can do for you.

Hazards Associated with Trash Trucks

Here’s a truth about which we can all agree: We require garbage trucks and the people who drive them. They work in a filthy, stinky, and hazardous environment. Life would be hellish without them. Do you have any doubts? Just read about the plight of the inhabitants of Athens, Greece, when sanitation employees went on strike.

For example, in Colorado Springs, the city-owned sanitation fleet was forced to take roughly three dozen collection trucks off the road owing to maintenance concerns that rendered them hazardous to run. 

However, just because we needtrash trucks does not imply we have to likeor TRUST them to function correctly. Trash trucks and their drivers may sometimes end up posing real dangers to the people whose communities they are tasked with keeping clean. Consider the following scenario:

  • Trash trucks often run on narrow, residential streets, posing a significant danger to pedestrians, joggers, bikers, and children.
  • Garbage truck drivers are distracted by paperwork, dispatcher communication, and constantly changing traffic circumstances.
  • Why Collection hours in the mornings typically overlap with people’s commutes to work or school.
  • Trash falls from the rear of trash trucks, posing traffic dangers.
  • Driver shortages may result in cars overloaded or rushed drivers demonstrating risky conduct such as driving on the wrong side of the road or making dangerous bends to reach collection spots.
  • Why Garbage trucks have enormous blind areas, allowing smaller cars and bikes to pass undetected until it is too late.

Hazards Associated with Dump Trucks

We need dump trucks as well, even though their importance in everyday life isn’t as straightforward. Dump trucks transport and distribute the raw materials required for infrastructure construction and maintenance. See how far you can travel without a dump truck while building a roadbed…

However, just because we need dump trucks does not imply they aren’t hazardous or that drivers and employers should not take the necessary precautions to operate them properly. Consider the dangers that dump trucks pose daily:

Heavy loads of loose material, such as dirt or rocks, shift during transportation, generating a weight imbalance in the car, making it difficult to manage and prone to rolling over. Due to their high center of gravity, dump trucks are more prone to rollovers.

Dirt and rocks can “stick” to the sides of the truck bed, causing a weight imbalance even after the driver has dumped the load, resulting in a rollover even if the driver is not traveling too fast on a curved road or even if the car is not traveling at all but is parked on uneven ground.

Work zones are already bustling hubs of activity, which may cause motorist distraction and confusion. When the dump truck driver is required to make quick stops, turn about or reverse out in unexpected areas, or transport goods near streets and traffic, the chance of an accident rises dramatically.

Why Dump trucks “leak” their contents, posing a threat to the road surface.

How Do Large Truck Drivers Cause Accidents?

Aside from the unique challenges to each truck type, trash and dump trucks are just huge cars. Their sheer bulk and weight endanger their drivers and anybody else using the road with them. Truck collisions result in massive damage and serious injuries. Accidents may occur in a variety of ways, including:

Driving too quickly for the road conditions

Large trucks weigh thousands of times more than passenger cars. As a result, it takes them longer to come to a safe stop if the driver detects a threat and reacts by braking. The more the distance necessary, the quicker this gigantic truck is traveling.

Lack of maintenance

A fast truck driver is at a high risk of failing to stop in time to avert a collision. Trucks cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and they do it in all types of weather. Cars that are hazardous to run on public roads might result from a lack of regular maintenance, such as that encountered by Colorado Springs’ sanitation fleet. Tires, brakes, and steering systems are some car equipment that needs frequent inspection and maintenance on heavy cars.

There are blind areas

Through side and rearview mirrors, all cars have blind zones in which the driver cannot see cars in neighboring travel lanes. On all four sides, large cars have substantial blind areas.

Before turning or changing lanes, be sure no one is loitering in the blind spot. Failure to do so might result in severe consequences to other passengers.

Turns that are wide

Large cars, such as trash trucks or dump trucks, need more room to make turns into small roads, like those found in residential neighborhoods. Drivers who aren’t adequately prepared to make these maneuvers run the danger of hurting others by swinging excessively wide into other cars’ travel lanes.

Putting too much weight on the car

 Large trucks are built to transport a large amount of weight. However, because of a lack of truck drivers and the rushed character of society in general, corporations and their drivers are often pressured to move more than the car is rated to carry. This makes it more difficult to operate the car, damages the tires and suspension, and raises the chance of an accident.

Getting disoriented. Even if a motorist must go within a metropolis daily, they may get lost. This is especially true for rookie drivers or those assigned to a different route. Getting lost or missing a turn increases a driver’s risk of making a mistake, which may lead to wrong turns, wrong-way driving, and other catastrophic errors.

Distractions: Truck drivers suffer the same distractions as other motorists, such as texting and another mobile phone usage, eating or drinking, altering car controls, or simply daydreaming, in addition to the job-related distractions noted above.

Parts that are defective. A giant car requires a lot of components from all around the globe to function, and the pieces that make up the truck come from all over the world. Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their products are safe when used as intended. If the maker fails to do so, catastrophe may ensue.

Fatigue. While long-haul truck drivers are generally connected with tired driving, trash and dump truck drivers are also in danger owing to early morning work hours, lengthy work hours, and stressful conditions that contribute to mental depletion.

Avoiding a Collision with a Big Truck

When sharing the road with a massive car like a trash truck or a dump truck, it needs some actual defensive driving to be safe. You must be aware of your driving abilities and anticipate truck driver movements.

While it is hard to predict every mistake that truck drivers may make, being aware of the common faults that big trucks, such as trash trucks and dump trucks, make and practicing care around these cars may save your life.

The following are some suggestions for avoiding a collision with a considerable truck:

Avoid being caught in the blind area

If you have to go there to pass the truck, don’t stay too long if the driver forgets you’re there. If you can’t see the driver’s reflection in their side mirror, they’re probably blind.

Be cautious at crossroads since huge cars often make wide turns

If you try to squeeze by a heavy truck on the right side, you risk being trapped between the car and the curb as the driver completes the turn.

Keep a safe distance behind a truck

You’re not only in the driver’s blind spot, but because trucks have higher ground clearance than other cars, you’re also putting yourself in a dangerous situation where your car could slide underneath the car (so-called “underride accidents” are among the most DEVASTATING accidents for occupants).

If you hear a truck’s backup warning alert as a pedestrian or biker, proceed with care

However, keep in mind that these backup warning systems might fail at any moment. Whether or whether you hear the alert, never walk in the path of a car traveling backward.

Keep distractions to a minimum

Distracted driving is a leading cause of all types of car accidents. You’re not entirely focused on the road ahead and the job of driving if you’re reading a text, checking on your children in the rear seat, or changing the radio station.

Because it’s difficult to stop a moving truck, greater caution should be used while entering a traffic lane in front of one. Never, When turning or changing lanes, be sure to utilize your turn signal to express your intentions to the truck driver and other cars on the road.

Accidents Involving Dump or Garbage Trucks: Liability

If you were hurt in a dump or trash truck accident caused by a truck driver’s fault, numerous parties might be legally responsible for your injuries.

Aside from the driver, the following parties may be held liable:

The corporation that owns the car and hires the driver. Truck drivers are ambassadors for the companies for which they work. Before recruiting these drivers, the organizations that employ them must complete a comprehensive background check, including their driving history.

They’re also in charge of making sure the driver is prepared for the scenarios they may face throughout their work. It should be noted that in some instances, the driver is hired by a government entity that taxpayers subsidize.

While cities may and do face responsibility if their workers create accidents that damage others, the procedure of initiating a legal claim against a government body differ significantly from that of a privately held corporation. A skilled accident lawyer can help you understand the steps involved in your lawsuit.

Other drivers

If it is proven that maintenance difficulties were a cause of the accident, the firm or person responsible for providing inspection and maintenance of the car will be held liable.

The actions of one driver may sometimes cause a collision involving two cars. If the trash or dump truck driver struck your car as a result of someone else’s negligence or recklessness, that person might be held accountable.

Producers of faulty trucks and car parts

Have you been hurt in a truck accident? Paying for injuries you didn’t cause is a waste of money. No matter where you reside, contact an expert truck accident legal company that can talk with you immediately and at no cost to you.

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