Truck Accident Attorney Harrisburg, PA
Your Truck Accident Attorney
Your Harrisburg Truck Accident Attorney
The roads we drive on are becoming increasingly more dangerous. Truck companies are finding it hard to hire competent truck drivers for their routes. Because of this, some companies take shortcuts in the hiring process, including failure to do background checks on their drivers.
Truck Accident Statistics
- Fatal crashes involving large trucks often occur in rural areas (57%) and Interstate highways (26%).
- The vast majority of these fatal crashes (83%) and non fatal crashes (88%) occurred on weekdays, Monday through Friday.
- Collision with a car or another vehicle was the first harmful event in 73% of fatal crashes and 84% of injury crashes involving large trucks.
- There were 13.5 fatal large truck crashes per million people in the United States in 2018, a 27% increase from 10.6 in 2010.
- In 2018, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 5,096 large trucks and buses were involved in fatal crashes.
- There were 121,000 injury producing crashes in 2018 involving large trucks and buses.
- In 2020, Dauphin County, Harrisburg, PA recorded 2,531 total crashes.
- In 2020, Dauphin County, Harrisburg, PA also recorded 1,030 crashes that resulted in injury, while 18 crashes were recorded as deaths.
Our Process
The attorneys at Baratta, Russell & Baratta perform a full investigation into the root cause of the accident to understand where the crash could have been preventable.
When we investigate truck accident cases, we can often times find mishaps in the trucking company’s hiring processes, screening, or training. The driver might not have had a thorough background check when they were initially brought on. Other instances could revolve around poor training or scheduling with the newly hired driver, making them unfit for safe driving on the road. At Baratta, Russell & Baratta, we never assume these accidents are simply the driver’s fault. We will work hard to review the entire case details to help uncover how the accident could have been prevented prior to the wreck.
When we accept truck accident cases, we investigate and prosecute with the notion that a system failure was the source of the wreck. We go into cases with the mindset that when a bad truck accident occurs, it was the process, not the person that created this result. Our trial team at Baratta, Russell & Baratta have won countless cases for victims of truck and bus accidents in Harrisburg for over 20 years. If you or someone you love has suffered a serious injury or death due to a truck or bus accident, please consider our team to fight for you.
Harrisburg Truck Accident Frequently Asked Questions
All companies that employ commercial drivers in interstate transport, and trucks that do intrastate trucking in Pennsylvania, are governed by the Pennsylvania and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) Regulations. The primary mission of the FMCSA is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. The rules require that a trucking company properly screen its drivers before hiring them, train them properly, and then constantly supervise them following certain rules like the “hours of service rules”. It also mandates the ways in which the truck must be maintained and what safety devices, such as reflective tape, are installed on the truck.
The purpose of these rules is to limit driver fatigue. The hours-of-service regulations limit the number of hours a truck driver can drive/work per day and per eight hour period. These rules are put in place to ensure that drivers will stay awake and alert while driving and on a continuing basis to reduce the possibility of driver fatigue. According to Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a nationwide census educating the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Congress and the American public, in 2016 an estimated 68,769 crashes are caused by drowsy or fatigued drivers.
We will help guide you to get the right medical treatment, preserve evidence such as vehicles and black box information, obtain video from dash cams or other sources, interview witnesses, photograph and measure the scene, recreate the cause of the wreck with accident reconstruction experts, discover and prosecute the trucking company for its safety rule violations with the help of trucking experts, and prove your damages with the right medical, vocational and economic experts.
Yes. The results can be far more devastating because the amount of force generated, and injuries caused, by vehicles in excess of 26,000 pounds is so much greater. Trucking companies and their insurance carriers vigorously defend these cases. Unlike in car accident cases, the trucking companies and their insurance carriers are on the scene of the accident immediately taking photos of the property damage and the scene, interviewing witnesses and coordinating their activities with investigating police officers. You need a lawyer capable of investing great resources right away to preserve evidence that can otherwise be manipulated or lost.
BRB handles all trucking accident cases on a contingency fee basis. That means that the attorney is paid only he or she wins money damages for you. This allows anyone to hire the best possible attorney for your situation. It allows everyone equal access to justice, allowing you to compete fairly on the same battle ground with insurance companies and transportation companies. After a wreck with a tractor trailer your injuries may be life threatening, the medical costs might be overwhelming, you might be disabled from work, and you may not be able to get back to life as you knew it before the wreck. You need an aggressive advocate and trusted advisor.
What are some of the common causes of trucking accidents? Aggressive driving, speeding, driver fatigue, distracted driving, impaired driving, failure to inspect the truck’s tires and brakes, parking on the shoulder of a highway without properly marking the truck, failing to ensure the truck has safe reflective tape, etc.
In contains information regarding the truck at the time of the crash. Recently, in a case involving a truck which rear ended our stopped client, the trucker maintained he was braking for 8 seconds before the crash but that a dusty, dirty road caused the tires to slide into the rear of our client’s vehicle. The black box information helped us prove that the trucker was lying, that he had applied his brakes just 1.7 seconds before the crash and he was traveling 40 mph at the time he applied the brakes. Black box material is vital, but may be difficult to obtain. It will not be voluntarily offered to you by the trucking company and it may be destroyed. It is important to hire an attorney who is experienced in trucking accident cases and knows what must be done to preserve and obtain this vital information.
An insidious consequence of tort reform efforts has been to make victims feel guilty about pursuing justice. Many of our clients tell us that they are not the kind of people who pursue lawsuits, as if seeking justice for the damages someone carelessly caused you is wrong.
You have every right to seek money damages for personal injuries caused you by another’s negligent conduct. We only take cases in which our investigation shows the defendant acted negligently to cause your harm. Your decision to seek justice, to hold the careless person accountable, makes the world safer for everyone else. It also places the responsibility for payment of damages on the bad actor, not society, not other people and not your family.
You have every right to seek money damages for personal injuries caused you by another’s negligent conduct. We only take cases in which our investigation shows the defendant acted negligently to cause your harm. Your decision to seek justice, to hold the careless person accountable, makes the world safer for everyone else. It also places the responsibility for payment of damages on the bad actor, not society, not other people and not your family.
List of Verdicts/Settlements for PA and Harrisburg Truck Accident Cases
- $2,450,000 against trucking company who allowed its driver to drive in excess of the “hours of service rules” on 71 occasions in the 11 months before the wreck, including the day of the wreck, causing its driver to be fatigued and unable to react to normal daylight road conditions.
- $1,775,000 against a bus company for failing to properly eliminate blind spots in the vehicle so that when turning left the driver could not see a pedestrian.
- $675,000 against a tanker tractor company for failing to properly ensure the side of the tractor was properly illuminated so that drivers approaching it from the side could see it resulting in a driver crashing into it at night when it attempted to cross an intersection
- $2,400,000 against a nationwide delivery company for improper training and supervision causing a driver to not pay attention to pedestrians when turning right onto a city street.
- $750,000 against a towing company for failing to ensure that its driver’s medical certificate was proper and allowing him to drive in excess of the “hours of service rules” resulting in the death of a pedestrian
- $500,000 against a limousine bus company for not training its driver and not putting in place polices and procedures to prevent drunk partiers from standing up while the bus was moving causing a passenger to fall and suffer a head injury
Baratta, Russell & Baratta Testimonial:
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Anthony J. Baratta, Esq.
Andrew E. DiPiero Jr, Esq.
Kim Palavoy Kutler, Esq.
Heather Feenan
Diana Wojtylak
Gabrielle Sobel
Victoria Freedman – Holland
Recognized as Top Lawyers in their field:
Anthony J. Baratta (“Tony”) has been recognized by Philadelphia Magazine as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 15 years since 2006. He has received the highest possible rating amongst his peers by Martindale-Hubbel (AV Preeminate), is Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, is a Member of the Million Dollar Advocate Forum, and a winner of the AVVO Choice Award for client recognition.
Andrew E. DiPiero Jr. has been recognized by Philadelphia Magazine as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 16 years since 2005. He has received the highest possible rating amongst his peers by Martindale-Hubbel (AV Preeminate), and he is Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
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How Can We Help You?Harrisburg
Harrisburg, PA was founded in 1785 by John Harris, Jr., who started the town on his father’s land. Since then, the town has grown to be the 10th largest city in the Commonwealth.
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth. The town is located in the county of Dauphin. Since the city’s origin, it has experienced significant growth. Harrisburg-Carlisle is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in Pennsylvania with an estimated 577,941 population (making it 96th most populous in the United States). Harrisburg is located on the eastern bank side of the Susquehanna River.
Harrisburg was rated as the second-best place to raise a family in 2010. The town offers a variety of significant activities that attract thousands of people every year such as hosting the largest indoor agriculture convention in the U.S., annual outdoor sports shows, auto shows, and more.
Harrisburg was rated as the second-best place to raise a family in 2010. The town offers a variety of significant activities that attract thousands of people every year such as hosting the largest indoor agriculture convention in the U.S., annual outdoor sports shows, auto shows, and more.
Harrisburg Resources
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