As the most populous city in Ingham County, Lansing has a lot of traffic. Passenger vehicles and commercial trucks share the roads, which sometimes results in significant accidents. Commercial trucks are large and powerful and require trained drivers, but even experienced truckers can get into accidents.
If you’ve been in an accident with a truck, it’s likely you’ve suffered serious injuries and are facing mounting medical bills. To get help covering these losses, you can file a personal injury claim. Learn more about why truck accidents occur and how our truck accident lawyers at Atnip & Associates, PLLC, can help.
Michigan is a no-fault state when it comes to traffic collisions. As long as you were not more than 50% at fault for an accident, you can claim damages from your own insurance company. What you can claim is limited, however.
You can receive coverage for medical expenses and lost wages, but you’re not able to claim non-economic damages.
If you suffered a severe injury, which is common in accidents involving commercial trucks, the compensation you get from your insurer may not be enough. That’s when filing a personal injury claim can be the right choice.
A personal injury claim means stepping outside of the no-fault laws and requires proving that negligence occurred. To prove negligence, you must demonstrate that the other party owed a duty of care and breached it.
Anyone operating a vehicle owes other people on the road a duty to follow traffic laws and drive safely. If they speed or drive while intoxicated, they’re breaching their duty of care.
You then have to show that the defendant’s conduct led to the injuries you suffered and that you can be compensated for them. If you only received a bruise that required no medical care, for example, you would not be eligible to file a personal injury claim.
In 2024, commercial truck accidents were involved in 5.5 percent (15,888) of the 288,880 total traffic crashes in Michigan. The 2024 crash count is a 5.3 percent increase from 2023. Although there are many reasons why these accidents can occur, some causes are more prevalent than others.. Although there are many reasons why these accidents can occur, some causes are more prevalent than others.
Truck drivers are under a lot of pressure to meet all of their deadlines. Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has very strict regulations about how long a trucker can be on duty, these regulations are often ignored.
Employers may push truckers to drive an extra hour to make a delivery on time, or truckers may want to finish their route faster. This leads them to work beyond what the law allows. A driver who’s tired behind the wheel will be distracted and less able to react appropriately to changes on the road. They could also fall asleep and lose control.
Distracted driving is a serious issue for all drivers throughout the country. Now that everyone has a smartphone, distractions abound. Truckers spend so many hours behind the wheel that boredom can easily set in, leading them to look through social media, answer texts, and even watch shows on their phones.
Someone who’s distracted while driving won’t notice if a light changes or a hazard appears on the road. A distracted truck driver is particularly dangerous because their vehicle requires a significant amount of time to come to a complete stop. Abruptly hitting the brakes can lead a truck to jackknife and even roll over.
Unlike other drivers, who have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit of 0.08%, commercial drivers can only have a BAC of 0.04%, even while driving the truck off-duty. An intoxicated driver will have slower reaction times and impaired coordination. All of that can spell disaster when dealing with a powerful vehicle.
A trucker who doesn’t obey speed limits or drives too fast for weather and road conditions could cause a catastrophic accident. They could lose control of the truck and would not be able to easily stop if they encountered a hazard on the road.
Although driver errors are the most common causes of truck accidents, they’re not always the ones at fault. If a truck part is defective, it can lead to serious accidents. In those instances, the manufacturers are usually liable.
If the issue could have been spotted and addressed during routine maintenance, the trucking company or whoever was in charge of these checks could also be liable. Sometimes, that means the trucker, too.
If the trucking company hired people without experience or didn’t train them appropriately, it could be at fault. It’s the company’s responsibility to ensure its truckers are safe drivers.
A truck that hasn’t been loaded correctly can have issues on the road. The cargo can shift, and that changes the vehicle’s center of gravity, making it more likely to get out of the driver’s control. In these instances, the company doing the loading is responsible.
The first thing you need to ensure after an accident is that you’re safe. Check yourself for serious injuries or pain before getting out of the vehicle. It’s always a good idea to call emergency services, even if you’re not sure whether you have injuries.
Once medical professionals arrive, allow them to check you. This will ensure any serious injuries are taken care of and that there’s a medical record of your injuries.
You then need to call the Lansing Police Department to report the accident. Not only is it the law to report any accidents that result in injuries, but it will also help you get the police report you need to file a claim.
Unless you need to get medical care, exchange information with the other party and start gathering evidence. Take photos of the vehicles, the street, and your injuries. If there were eyewitnesses, get their information, too.
Let your insurer know the accident occurred. Keep this conversation short, though, and don’t mention fault or anything that the company can use against you later.
The next thing you should do is contact a personal injury lawyer. At Atnip & Associates, PLLC, we can help you understand what your options are so that you can get fair compensation for your losses. We will gather evidence to demonstrate the other party was negligent.
One of the most crucial reasons you need a truck accident lawyer’s help is that negotiating with insurers is never easy.
They will do everything they can to keep from paying you, which could mean blaming you for the accident or even bullying you into accepting a low settlement. That’s not something that happens with a lawyer by your side.
| Case | Settlement | Description |
|---|---|---|
“Jackson, M. V. Member Select Insurance Company” | $246,745.59 | First-party claim for medical expenses, replacement services, wage loss and attendant care resulting from a pedestrian and truck accident. |
“Whitaker V. Auto-Owners” | $195,440 | First-party claim for PIP benefits including medical expenses, attendant care, home modifications, mileage and out-of-pocket expenses incurred by 10-year old pedestrian (now 39 years old) struck by truck. |
“Seasons Change, Inc. V. Farm Bureau” | $176,129.97 | First-party claim for benefits resulting from injuries sustained a 4-year old boy from a car and semi-truck accident. |
If you’ve been in a truck accident and sustained injuries, Atnip & Associates, PLLC, can help. Our team has years of experience helping people who’ve suffered because of someone else’s negligent or wrongful conduct.
Because we know how difficult dealing with the aftermath of an accident is and how much of a strain it can place on your finances, we work on a contingency fee basis. Unless we win, you don’t have to worry about paying our fees.
Contact Atnip & Associates, PLLC, to schedule a free consultation with one of our Lansing truck accident lawyers.
