Bucklin Truck Accident Lawyer
Bucklin Truck Accident Lawyer Helping Fight Trucking Companies with Negligent Truck Drivers in Semi-trucks and Grain Trucks to Get Financial Compensation for Injury Victims.
Our Bucklin truck accident lawyers help fight trucking companies with negligent truck drivers operating semi-trucks and farm and grain trucks by getting financial compensation for truck injury victims in Ford County that have had a truck accident with smaller cars, pickups, vans, or motorcycles. Injury victims can get increased financial compensation in a serious truck crash cases.
The Bucklin truck accident attorneys in our firm have created a unique method of building trucking cases that was developed over 40 years. It helps make your truck accident claim as large as possible. We provide free legal representation until we win. Our trucking personal injury attorneys have settled thousands of car-truck crashes across Kansas since 1983.
Our client results are remarkable, being in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Our track record is recognized by insurance companies for motor carriers. We have had many seven figure cases that are between one and nine million dollars and hundreds in the high six figures having settled 50 million dollars in settlements in 2021 alone.
Truck Accident Lawyers Group (TALG) is associated with Bull Attorneys®. Our offices are in Wichita and Garden City. We will drive to your home or hospital room. Our office in Wichita is at 10111 E. 21st Street North, Suite 202, Wichita, Kansas 67206. In Western Kansas, our office is at 3102 E. Kansas Avenue, #100, Garden City, KS 67846.
We help car and truck injury victims get financial compensation for pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, disability, past and future medical bills, past and future wage, and economic loss and for wrongful death when an injured loved one passes from a truck crash.
The 2021 Kansas Traffic Crash Book reported that Bucklin had 5 motor vehicle crashes resulting in 1 injury. Ford County had 762 motor vehicle crashes with 135 injuries and 6 fatalities.
Bucklin is In Southwest Kansas and is mainly a farming, agricultural and oil and gas industry area where most of the large trucks coming through are farm and grain trucks, oil and gas service trucks and other dangerous large tractor-trailers.
Our Bucklin semi-truck injury attorneys are experienced in federal and state regulations like the FMCSR and CSA BASICs. We know how to bring legal claims for injuries caused by negligent truck drivers lacking in safety training.
Whenever you have a car or motor vehicle accident with a large truck, farm truck or oil and gas service vehicle, you need to hire a Ford County personal injury trucking attorney. You can call us 24/7 for a free consultation at 620-690-0600 or write us on our contact page.
What are 9 Common Causes of Semi-truck Accidents that Routinely Happen?
The top 9 common types of semi-truck accidents that routinely happen are:
- Driver distraction and error.
Driver distraction and driver error are a leading cause of semi-truck accidents. There are many typers of distraction. The FMCSA published distraction reasons from real accidents in 2018. The most important distractions are:- Distracted by outside person.
- Talking or listening to cell phone.
- Using or reaching for a device.
- Adjusting audio and climate controls.
- Looked but did not see.
- Following too closely.
The Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) found that 5 percent of truck crashes occurred when the commercial motor vehicle driver was following the lead vehicle too closely. - On-time Delivery.
Work requirements like requiring drivers to make on-time deliveries are another major cause of tractor-trailer crashes. Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and many food delivery services require delivery in a limited period of time. Late drivers are punished by warnings, suspension, and termination. - Drunk driving and intoxicated driving.
Drunk driving and drugged driving is subject to Part 382.301 which requires pre-employment testing for controlled substances on alcohol and drug testing prior to allowing the driver to operate a truck on behalf of the company. - Fatigued driving.
Part 392.3 of the FMCSR requires that truck drivers may not operate and a motor carrier shall not require drivers to operate when they are too tired or sick. - Nighttime driving.
Nighttime driving is inherently dangerous according to the DOT and Federal Highway Administration. This is because at least half of traffic fatalities occur at nighttime. - Driving in bad weather and high wind conditions.
Part 392.14 requires truck drivers to slow down and when weather conditions become sufficiently dangerous, they must stop operation of the tractor-trailer. The problem with this rule is that the trucking companies do not teach it to the truck drivers and many companies barely know it exists. - Failure to yield right-of-way.
Truck drivers are so negligent that they commonly fail to yield right of way to other vehicles when necessary to avoid a crash and happens so often that the FMCSA lists list as one of the 16 crash types eligible for evaluation in their Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP). - Speeding.
The FMCSA identified that speed management is a proper tool to reduce serious injuries and fatalities in the National Roadway Safety Strategy. In 2019 alone, there were 860 fatal crashes in areas with posted speed limits of 70-75 mph.
For other major causes of large truck crashes click here.
What are 7 common types of large truck accidents?
7 common types of large truck accidents are:
- Jackknife accidents.
A jackknife accident is where the tractor-trailer folds at the connecting point of the tractor and trailer and the trailer swings out to a 90 degree angle from the truck sometimes going past 90 degrees. These are deadly accidents that typically result in catastrophic injury or death to passenger vehicles in the adjacent are4a of the of the semi-truck. - Rollovers.
Rollover accidents occur when the driver starts to lose control of the tractor-trailer and the weight in the trailer causes the entire big rig to rollover. These are normally caused from driver error, bad weather conditions, speeding around curves and unsafe steering. If a load is improperly loaded in the trailer, it could cause the semi to go out of control and rollover. - Underride accidents.
Underride accidents happen when a smaller motor vehicle approaches the back of a stopped or slowing semi-truck with an attached trailer and slides underneath the back of the truck. Underride rear impact guards are required by federal law to try and prevent these known accidents. - Blind spot accidents.
Blind spots are a known hazard for all truck drivers operating big rigs. The blind spots are in the front, back and on both sides. The CMV driving tips from the FMCSA teach truck drivers that inadequate surveillance happens when the driver is in a situation where he is required to look to safely complete a maneuver and fails to do so resulting in a truck crash. - Lane change accidents.
Lane change accidents frequently happen when a truck driver is tired, fatigued and distracted or fails to use his eyes to make a proper sweep of the areas to the sides of his tractor and trailer and changes lane without giving prior notice. This usually ends with a collision into the adjacent vehicle and ends up badly for the occupants of the smaller vehicle. - Failure to yield right-of-way on red lights, stop signs and left turns.
Failure to yield right of way for other vehicles on red lights, at stop signs, yield signs and in left turns is a common violation for truck drivers under the FMCSR under Part 392.2 of the FMCSR. - Overloading cargo claims.
Truck drivers can have jackknife accidents, rollovers, and other catastrophic types of large truck crashes from being overloaded or when they are improperly loaded where the cargo shifts in the trailer and causes the truck to jerk across the roadway or to turn over.
What are the top 7 Common Injuries Caused by Big rigs?
7 Common injuries caused by big rigs are:
- Head Injuries. The shifting acceleration and deceleration forces from an impact between a passenger car and an 18-wheeler are substantial. They result in concussions, brain bleeds, skull fractures, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and confusion, memory loss, changes in personality and the inability to perform normal work activity.
- Bone Fractures. Bone brakes and fractures happen from the impact force. Bones can be crushed, splintered, or even explode. The magnitude of these bone fractures is only limited by the imagination. Most occupants of passenger cars end up getting surgery and having difficulty performing life activities and working.
- Nerve Damage. Nerve damage is a common medical problem resulting from an accident with a semi-truck. Damage to the sciatic nerve in the lower back is a common problem. When the force is catastrophic it can result in a much more significant nerve injury like a brachial plexus nerve tear where it is difficult to use the arm and shoulder.
- Back and Neck Injuries. Back and neck injuries are common aftereffects of car-truck crashes. They can be as small as strains and sprains to injuries to the extremities and spinal column requiring surgical treatment through epidurals, radiofrequency ablations, discectomy, laminectomy, fusion, and instrumentation with titanium parts inside the spine and extremities.
- Spinal cord injuries (SCI). Spinal cord injury is an extreme injury that usually ends us in paralysis with either paraplegia, tetraplegia, quadriplegia, or spinal cord syndrome. All are life changing and require lifelong rehabilitation. They make a person’s life bad enough that the ability to enjoy life is normally taken from them.
- Burn injuries from fire due to explosion. Tractor-trailers can explode or catch on fire when they collide with other large vehicles or hit bridges that make the gas tank explode. This results in the truck driver burning alive being consumed by fire and is one of the worst types of injuries that large truck accidents can have.
- Wrongful death. Wrongful death can happen easily after a car-truck crash because of the powerful force of the heavier truck. The death may come rapidly or over weeks or months. When a loved one lives after the accident for any period of time, they also have a Survival Claim for conscious pain and suffering.
Why do They Call Injuries Damages?
They call injuries and the compensation you receive from those damages because they are compensatory and are meant to restore the injury victim to as normal as possible for their injuries, losses, and damages.
The following types of monetary damages may be available to a truck injury victim:
- Noneconomic damages for pain and suffering.
Noneconomic damages are for subjective and nonmonetary losses like pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life and disfigurement, inconvenience, emotion distress, loss of society and companionship along with other similar types of losses. These damages typically have no mathematical calculation and are assessed by an adjuster, jury, or court. - Economic damages.
Economic damages are for actual financial damages that are a direct result of a negligent truck driver or motor carrier causing harm and injury to a person for medical bills, lost wages, rehabilitation costs, future medical bills, future wage loss and future medical needs. These damages can be calculated by using experts like medical doctors, economists, lifecare experts and nursing experts. - Wrongful death.
Wrongful death damages are financial damages meant to compensate the family for lost financial support, suffering and loss of services, guidance, and counseling. This can include a survival claim for the conscious pain and suffering. It includes funeral expenses and many other types of losses from your loved one dying. - Punitive damages.
Punitive damages are known as exemplary damages and are awarded by a court to punish a defendant for reckless, wanton, and willful acts causing harm to another person. They serve to punish and remind others that they should not engage in similar reckless conduct.
5 Important Reasons a Semi-truck Case is Hard to Win?
Winning financial damages in a semi-truck case is hard. There are many different problems that arise in these car-truck accidents that make them hard to win unless you have a really experienced Bucklin County trucking injury lawyer.
5 reasons semi-truck cases are hard to win:
- Identification of all at fault parties. Sometimes the at fault parties are not readily identifiable. In many cases, it is difficult to find all at fault parties before your trucking lawyer has filed a lawsuit. Each at fault parties should get a percentage of the total negligence and if you miss one or two you have a significant problem.
- Studying the truck driver and motor carrier prior safety history. It is hard to locate and find all of the past employment and safety history of truck drivers who may change CDLs moving from state to state. The motor carrier safety history is obtainable but only with a substantial effort after FOIA requests and multiple communication attempts to the FMCSA.
- Proving Respondeat Superior or Vicarious Liability. The typical motor carrier or trucking company should be vicariously liable for the acts of their employed driver performed in the course and scope of employment or agency. There are a number of legal tricks that defense lawyers pull trying to get the motor carrier out of trouble.
- Contracts shifting fault. Motor carriers, brokers and shippers go to great lengths to enter into contracts, attempting to shift liability away from themselves. The hard part is getting through the contracts to show that they are a sham and the broker, shipper, or master motor carrier, actually controls the place, time and location of the pickup and delivery of freight.
- Finding critical evidence quickly. One of the hard parts about car-truck accident cases is finding all the critical scene evidence, witness statements and black box information before a crafty defense lawyer or insurance adjuster changes the scene or destroys the information to protect the trucking company.
How Long is the Statute of Limitations in Kansas for a Car-Truck Crash Resulting in Bodily Injuries?
In Kansas, when you have a car-truck crash resulting in bodily injuries you only have a two year statute of limitations under Kansas statute 60-513. Minors have a longer period of time depending upon their age.
What are The Dangerous Roads and Intersections in Bucklin and Ford County?
Bucklin is in Ford County, near Dodge City, just to the west of Pratt making the area a high traffic area for tractor-trailers, grain trucks, farm trucks and oil and gas service vehicles which increases the danger of driving for regular motorists in passenger cars and pickups. The grain elevators in Bucklin are some of the largest in Kansas drawing semi-trucks from the region.
The most dangerous roads and intersections in Bucklin and Ford County are:
- US-54 highway.
US-54 highway runs east west coming through Wichita, Kingman, Pratt and Greensburg, heading directly through Bucklin adjacent to their large grain elevators and then onto western Kansas and south through Oklahoma, Texas and into New Mexico making it a favored trucking route for fatigued drivers. - K-34 highway.
K-34 highway runs north south intersecting with US-54 in the most dangerous of areas near the large Coop and grain elevator. K-34 extends north intersecting with US-400 heading straight into Dodge City and then west. The area has multiple highways that interconnect with cattle hauling routes down US-183 and US-283 on either side of Bucklin increasing the danger. - Main Street and West RR Street.
Main Street, which is K-34 and West RR Street which is US-54 intersect right near the Bucklin truck scale and the grain elevator making the area dangerous to passenger cars and pickups.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a grain truck called?
A grain truck is often referred to as a grain hauler or hopper and is a specialized truck that has an open box attached to the trailer chassis which allows it to carry grain, corn, and other agricultural products.
How much grain can a grain truck hold?
The box size of the truck determines the amount of grain that can be hauled but an average grain box trailer holds 300-350 bushels of a particular grain.
How long is a normal grain trailer?
There are different sizes of train trailers that range from a smaller trailer with a single axle around 21’8” to 40’ on a tandem axle and 50’ to 53’ on a triple axle trailer.