No matter what type of vehicle you’re driving, you have a legal responsibility in Pennsylvania to keep your attention entirely on the road. It’s especially important for people driving tractor-trailers weighing tens of thousands of pounds to stay focused behind the wheel—something that, unfortunately, not every long-haul trucker does.
There’s no shortage of ways a truck driver can get distracted while driving, but none of them are acceptable, and all of them can serve as grounds for a lawsuit if they lead to a crash resulting in serious injuries. If you want to explore your options for suing over a distracted driving truck accident in York, contact Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers.
An experienced 18-wheeler collision attorney—well-known for winning cases like this—is ready to help you enforce your rights. Call for a free consultation.
Proving a Truck Driver Was Distracted Behind the Wheel
Cell phones and radios, food and drinks, and even books, magazines, and video players—whatever a truck driver chooses to distract themselves with while driving counts as a “breach” of the “duty of care” they have to act lawfully and responsibly behind the wheel at all times. If you can prove that such a breach was the cause of a crash that left you injured, you can sue the truck driver who acted “negligently” and demand money for every form of harm their misconduct caused you.
Of course, knowing that a trucker was distracted is one thing, and proving that they were distracted to the satisfaction of a civil court in York is another. You may have to find, preserve, and make effective use of various kinds of evidence to build a strong civil claim, including things like:
- Witness testimony
- Photos of the crash scene
- Data from a truck’s onboard data recorder
- Help from experts in “accident reconstruction”
- Video footage from a surveillance or dashboard camera
Once retained, your attorney can take the lead in hunting down the information you need to establish fault for your wreck and demand fair repayment for your losses.
Getting Paid Fairly for All Your Losses
Through a successful lawsuit or settlement proposal based on a distracted driving truck crash in York, you can demand money for both “economic” and “non-economic” forms of harm. In other words, you can include losses with objective financial values that you can prove with things like bills and receipts, as well as losses that are subjective and have to be valued based on your own unique experiences.
Specific “damages” that often play a role in cases like this include:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Loss of life’s pleasures
- Mental trauma and distress
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost work wages or working ability
- Personal property damage, including car repair/replacement costs that insurance didn’t cover
Once again, your seasoned legal representative can help you figure out what losses you need to recover for in your specific situation and make sure you’re demanding the right amount of money for them.
Contact a York Attorney for Help After a Distracted Driving Truck Accident
No one deserves to get hurt in a traffic wreck caused entirely by another driver’s negligence. Unfortunately, that exact scenario plays out all too often across the Commonwealth, and it sometimes involves semi-trucks crashing into commuter cars and causing catastrophic injuries.
If you hire an attorney from Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers, you’ll have someone in your corner ready to fight for your rights and get you the best possible outcome from your civil proceedings. Call us today to learn more about suing over distracted driving truck accidents in York.
