Not all truck crashes are big-rig collisions

Commercial vehicles are everywhere on the Colorado highway system. They can be involved in activities ranging from delivering goods to retailers and other distributors to making roadside pickups, often stopping in the roadway when working. A prime example of vehicles that constantly stop while discharging work responsibilities is trash trucks. These commercial vehicles make daily pickups with regular starting and stopping along their routes. Trash trucks can range from being city-based services operations to private sanitation companies, but they all can present problems for other motorists on the highways when they stop without proper signals. When injuries occur in an accident, claims can get complicated due to unique accident situations and Colorado accident law.

Unusual driving actions

One characteristic of trash truck operations is that they are always looking for a safe place to stop when picking up debris. Stopping in the roadway or on a median is not uncommon. In addition, they also commonly drive short distances going the wrong way on a one-way street for easier access to trash pickups. This can spell real problems when victims suffer a personal injury in a head-on collision, even at a low rate of speed. While it is obvious a truck is violating road rules by driving in an unauthorized direction, claims can still be contested based on the comparative negligence of all involved drivers.

Determining fault in a trash truck accident

Fault is the primary concern in any Colorado accident when passengers suffer serious injury due to the state-modified comparative negligence accident law. The state bars any driver who is at least 50% at fault for an accident that produces injuries from being compensated for those injuries. This presents a dilemma for many trash truck accident victims because the truck is often sitting still at the time of impact. All commercial entities fight accident claims vigorously, and determining what actually happened in the collision can be challenging.

This means that having an experienced and aggressive Colorado personal injury lawyer is vital for a successful outcome in any trash truck accident. Injured victims are commonly denied claims by respondent insurance companies in Colorado because of the negligence law, and a comprehensive personal injury attorney can investigate the accident independently in building a case for maximum damages.

Category:

• Truck Accidents