McPherson Truck Accident Attorney
McPherson Truck Accident Lawyer Helping Fight Trucking Companies with Negligent Semi-truck Drivers to Get Financial Compensation for Injury Victims.
Our McPherson truck accident lawyers help injury victims who have been in a car, pickup, van or other motor vehicle crash with a semi-truck or heavy/large business truck to get financial compensation for severe injuries. Truck Accident Lawyers Group (TALG) is associated with Bull Attorneys®. We help injury victims and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients.
- We help injury victims get money and financial compensation for:
- Noneconomic damages like pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.
- Economic damages like medical bills, wage loss, vocational retraining.
- Payment for surgeries, hospitalizations and physical therapy.
- Future medical compensation for things like rehabilitation, medication and medical devices.
- Wrongful death claims for fatality plus compensation for any conscious pain and suffering your loved one had prior to dying.
The 2021 Kansas Traffic Crash Books reports that the city of McPherson had 115 crashes with 33 injuries. McPherson County had 571 accidents that year with 124 injuries and two fatalities from vehicle crashes. The State of Kansas had 3,791 traffic crashes involving trucks and buses.
McPherson, Kansas is on I-135 Highway, US-81 and US-56 which creates a tremendous amount of trucking traffic and severe injuries from car wrecks with tractor-trailers. McPherson is home to a significant number of industries that require tractor-trailers to ship their products. There are a number of truck stops for semi-trucks like Loves and CAT Scale. Truck stops mean heavy tractor-trailer traffic which brings crashes.
Our experienced McPherson personal injury trucking lawyers study the FMCSR which are federal regulations designed to minimize traffic crashes, injuries and deaths. We use the CSA BASICs to study the 7 behavioral categories for motor carriers that indicate safety or prove a motor carrier is unsafe. This helps us prove the trucking company is also liable for your injuries.
The 7 CSA BASICs are behavioral categories of drivers and trucking companies that help the FMCSA identify unsafe carriers. The include studying their safety plans for the following:
- Unsafe driving by studying all of their drivers’ violations of federal and state laws.
- Crash indicator to study their level of crashes regardless of whether they cause property damage, bodily injury or death.
- Hours-of-service policies to make sure drivers are not fatigued and driving over the legal hours allowed.
- Vehicle maintenance to make sure they inspect and maintain their trucks and tractor-trailers.
- Controlled substances and alcohol safety plan.
- Hazard materials compliance so they do not cause major environmental events or large truck crashes with explosive fuel and other substances causing severe injuries and deaths.
- Driver fitness safety plan to ensure they only use safe drivers and monitor their drivers motor vehicle record and violation history.
Our McPherson truck accident attorneys help injury victims and Kansans since 1983. We use a proprietary case development system that enables our trucking attorneys to work together with your truck crash team using experienced lawyers, case managers and legal assistants who work together to get you the maximum financial compensation. You always get your lawyer’s personal cell phone.
Our McPherson trucking collision lawyers work for free until you win. We investigate all critical facts about the scene of the accident, hire experts, find you the best medical doctors, file insurance claims and negotiate your case to a settlement. If the insurance company sends a lowball offer, we file suit against the truck driver and motor carrier.
Our experienced truck crash litigators send out immediate FOIA requests to the DOT and the FMCSA so we can get the complete trucking history file for the motor carrier. When motor carrier’s get a license to operate from the DOT, they must set up a safety plan and the FMCSA tracks the safety record of the trucking company on a monthly basis. We use that file to help increase your monetary compensation.
We help start your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits with your car insurance to help get wage loss and medical bills for treatment like ambulance rides, emergency room treatment, medication and other urgent care. Kansas no-fault law requires every car and motor vehicle in Kansas except motorcycles to carry PIP coverage.
To get immediate help call TALG for a free consultation at 620-690-0600. You can write to us on our contact page. When you want excellent results, you need to call TALG.
What are the dangerous roads in McPherson?
Major highways connecting with intersections where semi-trucks and heavy/large trucks regularly travel present unique dangers to motorists and pedestrians.
The most dangerous roads and intersections in McPherson are:
- I-135 is a north-south interstate on the west side of McPherson that connects cars and semis with other cities in Kansas like Wichita and Salina.
- US 56 in an east-west highway that runs through Kansas that connects McPherson to many other cities and towns and is a favored route of truck drivers trying to avoid law enforcement. Truck drivers coming into McPherson to factories and industry will likely use 56 when heading east-west across the city.
- US-81 is an older highway and truck route running north-south and comes from the south of Wichita up through McPherson to Salina and beyond. The entire area has heavy semi-truck traffic. US-81 becomes business 81 along East and
- West Kansas Avenue where you should expect heavy truck traffic.
- South Main Street runs north-south through most of McPherson and crosses many intersections where crashes occur frequently.
- Northview Avenue heads east of McPherson to large manufacturing plants and warehouses where obvious tractor-trailer traffic is dangerous and frequent.
What Types of Injuries Happen with Semi-trucks?
Semi-trucks are heavy and cause forceful impacts causing severe injuries to the occupants of smaller motor vehicles. Severe injuries that occur frequently with semi-truck crashes are:
- Broken bones.
Broken bones in the neck and back, arms, legs and hips occur frequently with semi-truck accidents. The more serious injuries are comminuted fractures and severe injuries where the bones sticks through your skin requiring surgery and external fixation devices to stabilize your fractured bones. - Spinal Cord injuries.
Spinal cord injuries often arise from severe bone fractures to the spine with require surgery to stabilize you while healing and many require rigid neck and back braces be worn for months following your accident. - Traumatic Brain Injuries.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur frequently due to the great force and impact that an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer causes when it strikes your vehicle causing your brain to be thrown about where you can hit windows, windshields, steering wheels and other objects in your vehicle. - Paralysis.
Paralysis arises from fractured bones and severed nerves. This can lead to quadriplegia and tetraplegia which is close to complete paralysis or only lower body level paralysis. All these conditions change your life forever and result in substantial medical bills that sometimes exceed one million dollars. - Amputation.
Amputations occur when a limb is ripped off or you develop cuts and abrasions which become infected and develop into gangrene where the doctors slowly debride you by removing sections of your limb at a time to prevent gangrene and sepsis from leading to death. - Wrongful death.
Semi-truck accidents annually kill thousands of drivers and passengers. In 2021, 5,788 people were killed in trucking crashes which was a 17 percent increase from 2020 according to CrashStats NHTSA.
How Fast Can Truck Drivers Legally Drive?
Truck drivers have different speed limits that vary from state to state. Many states limit semi-trucks to 65 mph. Kansas limits truck drivers in tractor-trailers to 75 mph while Missouri is lower at 70 mph. Neighboring states all have their own limits. Nebraska is 75 mph. Colorado is 75 for both regular cargo and hazmat haulers. Oklahoma limits the truck drivers by area between 70-75 mph. Texas and Utah allow higher speed limits at 75-80 mph.
It is well recognized that speeding by truck drivers is a major cause of accidents. The FMCSA’s Safe Speed Campaign reminds truck drivers that they should maintain safe speed. A commercial motor vehicle (MMV) driver who drives at an excessive speed of 15 mph over the speed limit and does so twice can be disqualified to drive.
Truck drivers should limit driving speeds under certain types of road and weather conditions. They should slow down for roads with any of the following:
- Rain, sleet, snow, ice, fog, smoke.
- Construction zones.
- High wind conditions.
- Heavy traffic conditions.
- Merging traffic lanes.
Part 392.14 of the FMCSR requires that truck drivers slow down and use “extreme caution” in hazardous weather conditions and cease driving and discontinue operation of the motor vehicle when conditions become “sufficiently dangerous.” In Kansas, the high winds routinely blow semi-trucks over the center line and off of the highway causing severe injury claims.
Should I Take an Ambulance After My Car-Truck Accident?
Yes, always take an ambulance after a car-truck crash to the hospital. Many truck crash victims are afraid to incur medical bills for an ambulance ride after a car accident with a semi-truck. The reason is that insurance companies use claims management assessment systems like Colossus tracking how long it takes you to get the first medical care after a car accident.
Colossus is an artificial intelligence computer software program that analyzes every step of an injury victim’s actions following a car accident with a semi or other motor vehicle. It is used as a claims management software to assist managers and adjusters determine the value of your case. It assigns severity points to different categories. The higher the severity points, the lower your offer will be.
The insurance carrier uses a point system tracking the number of hours from the accident scene to the first medical assessment. The severity points assigned by the insurance company for failing to take an ambulance are substantial. Likewise, you must go to the hospital the same day as your accident or your severity points rise.
The best advice to a car-truck accident victim is report all symptoms to 911, the EMS personnel, take an ambulance to a major hospital and be thorough discussing all pain.
Who is Liable for a Semi-truck Accident?
Semi-truck accidents make the truck driver and employer of the truck driver liable where they can be legally responsible for your injuries. This is because a trucking company or other employer of a truck or delivery driver is typically vicariously liable for the negligence of their truck driver when driving in the course and scope of employment.
Other parties can be at fault for a semi-truck accident like:
- Dispatch service companies help monitor hours-of-service for truck drivers.
- Loading companies who improperly load trailers causing them to shift or rollover due to weight transfer and overloading.
- Brokers and shippers who negligently select unsafe truck drivers and motor carriers.
- Outside maintenance companies who negligently repair and maintain tractor-trailers.
- Manufacturers of tires, braking systems and other mechanical parts of tractor-trailers.
There are many other factual situations where another party may be liable to the injured person because their negligence proximately caused a large truck crash and injured someone. Our skilled McPherson truck accident personal injury lawyers can help give you a free analysis of your semi-truck collision.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is a truck driver responsible to pay for my accident?
A truck driver is responsible for the accident when they are negligent and cause injuries to another person.
What is the main cause of car-truck accidents in Kansas?
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) reported that the main cause of car and truck crashes in Kansas is driver inattention.
When is it safe to pass a semi-truck?
It is only safe to pass a semi-truck when you have sufficient space on the road to make a quick wide pass and are not in the truck driver’s blind spot.