Syracuse Truck Accident Attorney
Syracuse Truck Accident Lawyer Helping Fight Trucking Companies with Negligent Truck Drivers in Cattle Hauling and Farm and Dairy Semi-trucks to Get Financial Compensation for Injury Victims.
Our Syracuse truck accident lawyers help fight trucking companies with negligent truck drivers operating farming trucks, cattle hauling and dairy trucks by getting financial compensation for truck injury victims in Hamilton 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 Syracuse truck accident attorneys in our specialty boutique law practice have been specifically trained to help victims of commercial motor carriers and negligent truck drivers. We have an emphasis in cattle hauling negligence. We provide free legal representation until we win. Our trucking personal injury attorneys have settled thousands of car-truck crashes since 1983.
Our client results are great for Kansans and display a proven track record of success over four decades for injury victims from car-truck crashes. 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 Syracuse had 54 motor vehicle crashes resulting in 19 injuries and 1 fatality. Hamilton County had 72 motor vehicle crashes with 23 injuries and 2 deaths.
Syracuse is known for dairy farms, agricultural farming and grain elevators as well as having major feedlots for cattle. It lies adjacent to the Arkansas River and is the home of the Syracuse Sand Dune Park with more than 1,000 acres of sand. The feedlots and cattle business with dairies combined with cattle haulers makes the county unusually dangerous to passenger cars.
Our Syracuse truck injury attorneys are knowledgeable and experienced in federal and state regulations like the FMCSR and CSA BASICs. We are skilled in bringing legal claims against cattle haulers, farming trucks and grain trucks regardless of DOT licensing and agricultural exemptions.
Whenever you have a car or motor vehicle accident with a cattle hauler, dairy truck or other large semi-truck hauling grain or freight, you need to hire a Hamilton County trucking attorney. You can call us 24/7 for a free consultation at 620-690-0600 or write us on our contact page.
Are Cattle Hauling Truck Drivers Required to Log Hours of Driving Time?
Any cattle hauler exceeding the 150 air-mile radius must log their hours of driving through the ELD Logs. If a livestock hauler operates only within the 150 air-mile rule they are not required to use ELD. Cattle haulers often believe they are beyond the reach of law and this is untrue.
What are Common Types of Accidents with Cattle Haulers, Grain Trucks and Dairy Trucks?
There are several type of cases that are unique to cattle haulers, grain trucks and dairy trucks. The common types are:
- Lane change accidents.
Lane change accidents frequently happen when a truck driver is tired and distracted or fails to look to the sides of his truck or semi prior to lane change. Cattle haulers and dairy trucks are no exception. Avoid these highly untrained and unsafe truck drivers who may or not be complying with the FMCSR. - Fatigued drivers.
Cattle haulers have a unique industry and claim to be exempt from the federal regulations under the FMCSR agricultural exception. They are not. Most cattle haulers in Kansas are traveling from Nebraska or farther north traveling south to Texas or vice-versa. The 150 air-mile radius rule does not provide any regulatory exemption to them. They must log hours. - Failure to yield right-of-way on red lights, stop signs and left turns.
Cattle hauling semi-trucks and dairy trucks wrongly believe they do not have to follow safety rules due to an exemption. When these untrained and unsafe drivers are unleashed on passenger cars, there is a high probability that a fatigued cattle hauler will cause a severe truck crash. - Wide turns.
Cattle haulers and dairy trucks with tanks of milk often make wide turns from the wrong lane. These types of accidents usually result with a stopped vehicle or slowly approaching vehicle coming up beside the truck and the truck driver fails to surveil the areas to the sides and makes an illegal turn causing a vehicle crash. - Bad weather driving.
DOT licensed truck drivers must comply with Part 392.14 and slow down or cease operations when bad weather arises. Cattle haulers and dairy truck drivers rarely are rarely properly trained. As a result, they operate recklessly even in high winds, dust, smoke, rain and ice and stormy weather conditions making them dangerous to motorists. - Head-on Crashes.
The wind across the western Kansas plains blow large cattle hauling and dairy trucks over the center line causing them to have head-on crashes with innocent motorists. Many truck drivers refuse to stop driving in poor visibility conditions making it difficult for them to see the correct lane of travel. Beware these truck drivers.
For other major causes of large truck crashes click here.
What are the 7 Common Injuries Caused by Cattle Hauling Trucks and Dairy Trucks?
Tractor-trailers hauling cattle or other livestock and large dairy trucks with tankers of milk on them flow through Syracuse daily. The danger they pose is incredible. When an accident occurs with a smaller passenger vehicle the smaller motor vehicle and its occupants usually suffer catastrophic injuries.
Common injuries from cattle haulers and dairy trucks include:
7 Common injuries from cattle hauling and dairy semi-trucks are:
- Internal injuries.
The weight differential of cattle hauling trucks or dairy tankers will cause crush injuries to the human torso that end up damaging lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, and other vital organs. When there is multi-trauma to several organs the likelihood of death increases. - Broken Bones.
The force of the impact with a cattle hauling or dairy truck can cause broken bones and fractures to your entire body. This can be the spine, shoulders, knees, and hips. The fractures may be fragmented bones called comminuted or even worse, retropulsion burst factures to the spine which can end up causing paralysis. - Head Injuries, Concussions and Traumatic brain injuries.
Truck accidents from the rear or front by cattle haulers and milk tankers can cause a rapid jerking motion of the head, neck or back. This is due to acceleration and deceleration forces where your body is shaken. The severity of force can kill small nerves in your brain called axons. - Burn injuries from fire due to explosion.
Farm vehicles are well known to carry extra tanks of gas while working fields. When high impact crashes happen, the vehicle carrying gas can be set on fire where it results in the occupants being burned alive. These types of burn accidents are always deadly. - Tendon, ligament, and rotator cuff injuries.
The impact from cattle trucks and dairy tankers can easily tear ligaments, tendons, and muscle sheath in the extremities. Rotator cuff tears are common in shoulders following a significant crash with a semi-truck. - Spinal Cord Injuries.
A spinal cord injury is where nerves in your spinal cord are damaged and quit sending appropriate signals to the brain and can cause your body to lose function and become paralyzed. - Wrongful Death.
A wrongful death is where a person dies from negligent, wanton, reckless, or intentional conduct of another driver that causes the injuries leading to the death.
Can I Recover Monetary Damages After a Wreck with a Cattle Hauler or Dairy Truck?
You can recover monetary damages for injuries and financial losses after a wreck with a Cattle Hauling Semi or Dairy Truck.
You can recover some or all of the following types of damages:
- Noneconomic damages for pain and suffering.
Noneconomic damages are for subjective and non-monetary 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.
How Difficult is it to win in a Cattle Hauling tractor-trailer or Dairy Truck case?
Winning financial compensation in a car wreck with a cattle hauling tractor-trailer or dairy truck is difficult because of the need to prove the cattle hauler was outside the 150 air-mile radius which requires them to log all miles, on duty time and off duty time to meet Part 395 of the FMCSR.
Reasons cattle hauling and dairy truck accident claims are difficult:
- Multiple parties may be at fault.
Cattle haulers and dairy farms require investigation into who the motor carrier is that is controlling the operation and their hours of service. The difficult part comes from discovering how many business entities are shipping the cattle or milk. - Cattle haulers usually have questionable employment histories.
The cattle haulers are typically like rebels in contrast to the dairy truck drivers who tend to follow laws and regulations better. Both think they can claim the farming exemptions to avoid logging driving time. The difficult part is tracing past employment history and whether the driver was properly qualified and hired. - Proving the control over the cattle hauler or dairy truck driver.
Many cattle haulers and dairy truck drivers have their own DOT license and are motor carriers in their own right. Finding the broker and shipper to make them liable for controlling pickup and delivery times is the difficult part of this type of litigation. - Rural road evidence disappears.
When the cattle haulers or dairy trucks are on paved highways the task of assigning fault is easier. Once they drive on dirt and rural roads, the evidence can be lost in a few hours which makes the cases more difficult than a normal trucking case.
What is the Statute of Limitations for an Injury Claim from a Cattle Hauling or Dairy Tanker Truck Accident?
Car and pickup collisions with a cattle hauler or dairy truck 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 Syracuse City and Hamilton County?
Syracuse City and Hamilton County are in Western Kansas right along major cattle hauling routes with two main highways from the north-south or east-west. The feedlots and dairy farms are mainly on dirt roads which causes significant rural big rig traffic.
The most dangerous roads and intersections in Syracuse City and Hamilton County are:
- K-27 highway.
K-27 travels north-south through Syracuse and intersects in two separate areas with US-400 which allows tremendous movement of cattle trucks, grain trucks and dairy trucks and tankers. The entire county is dangerous to passengers cars and smaller motor vehicles. - US-400 highway also known as US-50.
US-400 travels east-west through Syracuse with a slight diagonal slant to the southeast area. This same road is US-50 which is known as one of the most dangerous highways in the United States. It intersects with K-27 in the center of town and again to the western side of Syracuse where K-27 splits.
- Main Street and Avenue A.
Main Street and Avenue A form intersect in the center of Syracuse and creates an area for multiple types of large trucks to travel and collide with smaller motor vehicles.
- Avenue A and McDow Street.
Avenue A intersects with McDow Street further west in the town where Avenue A is known as US-400. This is a dangerous T-intersection that has heavy trucking traffic.
- Northwest Hamilton County Road M.
Hamilton County Road runs north-south and provides direct access to the Winners Circle Feedyard, making the area dangerous because of cattle trucks moving in and out of the feedyard. - NE Hamilton County Road 20.
County Road 20 leads directly to the Syracuse Feed Yards making it an extremely dangerous area for cattle trucks. - Hamilton County Roads 31 and 32 and Road 28. Hamilton County Roads 31 and 32 as well as Road 28 and others surrounding Syracuse provide access from Syracuse to K-27 and US-50. All of these roads have heavy traffic with cattle trucks, milk tankers and other dangerous commercial motor vehicles that provide immense danger to passenger cars.
How do My Medical Bills Get Paid After an Accident with a Cattle Hauler or Dairy Truck?
In the unfortunate event that you have a trucking accident with a cattle hauler or dairy truck you should immediately turn to your own car or pickup insurance to pay your initial medical bills with your Personal Injury Protection benefits (PIP). This usually provides at least $4,500 of medical bill coverage and $4,500 of rehabilitation medical bills.
If the other driver is at fault, they owe you your medical bills. After your PIP benefits are exhausted, if the truck driver who was hauling cattle or transporting dairy trucks was negligent from driver error you can get your remaining medical bills paid from the insurance company for the truck driver and their employer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do cattle haulers drive so fast?
Cattle haulers drive fast because they are trying to get the cattle delivered on-time without weight shrinkage of the cattle from the stress of transportation. This makes the truck drivers rarely stop and causes them to exceed federal driving limits to avoid fines, penalties, and reductions of pay.
How many cattle fit into a cattle trailer?
The number of cattle that fit into a cattle trailer are dependent on the length and width of the cattle trailer and the weight of the cattle. A 24 x 7 foot cattle trailer should hold 11 cows weighing around 1,200 pounds each while a 34 x 7 foot cattle trailer can hold 15 cows weighing 1,200 pounds each.
How long can cattle stay in a trailer without resting?
Federal law prohibits cattle from being transported more than 28 consecutive hours, which requires they be offloaded for 5 consecutive hours go get feed, water and rest per the 28-hour law from USDA.gov.