Tractor Trailer Accident

Answer:

When someone is injured in a tractor trailer wreck, you need to do a couple of things really quickly. First thing is you need to get medical treatment. You need to get to a doctor to be checked out. A lot of times, you’ll have serious injuries and you might be hospitalized. Don’t be in a hurry to get out. Don’t be impatient. Follow the doctor’s orders. If he tells you that you need to rest, rest. If he tells you that you need more tests, take the tests. If he tells you that you need to go to therapy, do that. You need to listen to the professionals when you’re involved in these wrecks because you could be permanently injured and impaired if you don’t take care of business and do what your doctor tells you to do. If you don’t even think you’re hurt, still go to a doctor and make sure you’re not. Do a thorough evaluation.The second thing you need to do is you need to hire an experienced, seasoned tractor trailer attorney. This is important because tractor trailers are very technical cases. You need to preserve the evidence on this tractor trailer rig. They have devices there that record the speed, determine if the signal light was on, and determine how long they were stationary. They have electronic logs that tell you how long this driver’s been driving without a wreck, and also how long he’s been driving without a rest. Tractor trailer drivers have to rest so many hours a day. It tells you if they’ve been driving recklessly or if they’ve been making sudden turns, if their brakes aren’t working. These are all things that you need to preserve. You preserve those by hiring an experienced lawyer who deals with tractor trailer wrecks; that’s important.

The other thing you have to realize is that you have to preserve the evidence, that’s what your experienced Oklahoma tractor trailer attorney does. They send letters and things to the tractor trailer company saying to preserve this evidence. We need to make sure we know where the witnesses are. We need to make sure where the driver goes. We need to make sure that the witnesses that were at the scene that maybe saw it are identified. If you don’t preserve that evidence, it’s lost. Many times, I’ve not been able to find witnesses because the evidence wasn’t retrieved early on in the case, and it really hurt the value of our case.

Make sure that you don’t try to do it alone. Make sure you don’t fall into the trap that the insurance companies and the trucking companies want you to do. You might think, “Oh, they’re going to be fair with me. I’m going to wait for the first offer and see what it is.” If you wait to do that without an attorney, you’ve already let the insurance company and the tractor trailer company win. Get somebody who can help you make informed decisions. That’s what lawyers do. They help you make informed decisions. They give you all the information you need to make a good decision. They’ll make you their recommendation; it’s your choice to follow it or not.