Truck & Auto Accident Lawyers

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York

Large trucks and buses are involved in nearly 150,000 accidents each year in the United States. And because of their massive size and weight, these crashes often cause serious injuries and fatalities.

In 2005, accidents involving tractor trailers, big trucks and buses resulted in 5,212 deaths and 91,824 injuries. In Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware alone, nearly 300 people lost their lives in truck and bus accidents, while almost 10,000 suffered injuries in the three-state region. (For a breakdown for all 50 states, click here.)

If you or a loved one were severely hurt or killed in a tractor trailer, large truck or bus accident, you may want to contact a tractor trailer accident lawyer, truck accident lawyer or bus accident lawyer.

While in many cases accidents were not the fault of truck or bus drivers, in many other cases they were to blame. Though professional drivers, those who pilot trucks and buses generally log many more miles than typical car drivers, creating potential problems.

Trucks make up 3 percent of all registered vehicles in the U.S. but accounted for 7 percent of total miles traveled – and were involved in 8 percent of all fatal crashes. Large truck tractors pulling trailers accounted for 62 percent of trucks involved in deadly accidents.

Truck drivers often log many miles and long hours. Although there are rules and limits on how many hours they are allowed to drive, the rules are sometimes broken. (In an exhaustive study conducted in Israel, where truck routes are shorter than in the United States, more than one-third of drivers admitted they had been on the road longer than allowed on the day before they were interviewed and 30 percent said they had “recently” fallen asleep at the wheel.) “Trucker fatigue” can result in slowed reactions, poor judgment or drivers simply falling asleep at the wheel.

In one case litigated by Shanin Specter in 2003, logs showed that a trucker had driven 765 miles in a single day before swerving his tractor trailer into a minivan to avoid missing an exit. A Pennsylvania woman who was a passenger in the van suffered serious injury and was rendered a paraplegic. Specter negotiated an eight-figure settlement in the case.

In some cases involving truck and bus accidents, the vehicles themselves have been found to have contained defects or been inadequately maintained.

Kline & Specter, P.C. with some 30 skilled attorneys, several of whom are also doctors, has the expertise to litigate tractor trailer, truck and bus accident cases. For a free evaluation of your case, contact a tractor trailer accident attorney, truck accident attorney or bus accident attorney today..