Truck Accident During a Storm in New Mexico
Understanding Liability in a Truck Accident During a Storm in New Mexico
A large commercial truck like a tractor trailer, tanker, big rig, or other 18 wheeler is a very complicated vehicle to drive in the best of conditions. When inclement weather comes into the mix, it makes this already difficult vehicles much harder to handle. Even some snow and ice can result in catastrophic accidents such as 10 truck pileups that we reported on a few weeks ago. These types of accidents can be severe and result in devastating personal injuries, including amputation, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and wrongful death. This leaves victims and their families of a truck accident during a storm in New Mexico with many questions how to protect their rights to compensation.
We have those answers at the Caruso Law Offices, P.C. Our experienced Albuquerque trucking accident lawyers know how to prove a damages claim by helping to establish injuries with your treating healthcare providers and medical experts. We can also prove liability by establishing your damages with an engineer or other liability experts. Learn how we can help you during a FREE consultation with our compassionate law firm.
Liability for Inclement Weather in New Mexico
Victims who are serious injured in a truck accident during a storm in New Mexico have multiple ways to prove a case. These ways can be used to help establish a claim against a negligence truck driver or trucking company.
Negligence Causes of Action
The first and most obvious way is through a standard negligence cause of action, or claim alleged in a lawsuit. Negligence is a type of cause of action that is based on reasonableness. A party could be negligence if the party’s actions were unreasonable and unnecessarily exposed another to a foreseeable risk of injury. In operating a motor vehicle, all motorists must exercise reasonable care in the use or operation of their motor vehicle. This includes truck drivers. A trucker driver that operates a motor vehicle at an unreasonable speed during inclement weather could be unnecessarily increasing the risk of injury to others. If this type of accident happens, it is likely that the truck driver and the trucking company will be found negligent.
Negligence Per Se
In addition to negligence, truck drivers could also be liable for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulatory violations. This violations apply to truck drivers and trucking companies throughout the United States. This is important because the trucking industry is an interstate business, meaning most trucks start in one state and travel through many other states before ending in a final state. These FMCSA regulations apply no matter what state the truck driver is in or traveling through.
The applicable regulation for inclement whether is 49 CFR section 392.14. This section is about hazardous conditions on the roadway for commercial vehicles such as 18 wheelers, tankers, big rigs, box trucks, tractor trailers, and other semis. This section provides that “[e]xtreme caution in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle shall be exercised when hazardous conditions, such as those caused by snow, ice, sleet, fog, mist, rain, dust, or smoke, adversely affect visibility or traction.”
However, if extreme caution cannot protect the truck driver and others from harm, the truck driver must take certain steps to mitigate or avoid this danger. This includes that “[s]peed must be reduced[.]” Even if reducing speed does not work, “[i]f the conditions become sufficiently dangerous, the operation of the commercial motor vehicle shall be discontinued and shall not be resumed until the commercial motor vehicle can be safely operated.”
A truck driver that operations in inclement weather and causes a catastrophic big rig accident during inclement weather will likely be liable under the FMCSA.
Get Help From Our Lawyers in New Mexico For Injuries After a Truck Accident During a Storm
Trucking accidents are very serious types of motor vehicle accidents because of the sheer size and weight of these vehicles. If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a New Mexico 18 wheeler wreck, please call to schedule your FREE appointment with our lawyers at the Caruso Law Offices, P.C. by dialing (505) 883-5000. We can help you, and the call is free and the case evaluation is free. If we accept your case, we will investigate your claim and bring a claim on your behalf. We do not get paid until we recover compensation for you in a settlement or court award.s
We handle causes throughout New Mexico, including Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Roswell, Cuervo, Rio Rancho, Clovis, Farmington, Hobbs, Albuquerque where our office is located, and anywhere else throughout New Mexico. Please call to schedule for FREE appointment by dialing (505) 883-5000 or contact us through our website’s easy to use and convenient contact box available here.
