New York Sleep Deprivation

A New York 18-wheeler sleep deprivation accident attorney is the first person you should contact after being catastrophically hurt in an accident. Sleep deprivation and fatigue are unfortunately, a leading cause of trucking accidents, not just in New York, but around the country. Truck drivers who are too tired to operate their vehicle safely put everyone on the road at risk.

There are strict rules developed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regarding how long truck drivers can be on the road and the break time that they must have in between shifts of driving. The primary purpose of this is to cut down on instances of sleep deprivation and fatigue.

An 18-wheeler sleep deprivation attorney in New York will tell you that far too many people are seriously injured in these types of accidents and are left to cope with the consequences for the remainder of their life. Sleep deprivation and fatigue can be prevented when drivers have the right amount of sleep, but often these drivers find themselves pressured by their employers to meet delivery deadlines and to maximize their time on the road.

Drivers who have outside pressures that could cut down on their ability to get sleep such as a medical condition, a newborn at their home or a similar situation, may be hesitant about telling their employer about these concerns. They may allow it to impede their ability to operate a truck safely and can catastrophically injure or hurt numerous people in the process. Because of the severe consequences associated with an accident like this, New York personal injury law makes it easier for victims to pursue personal injury lawsuits.

Any victim who can show that the truck driver was sleep deprived, fatigued or asleep behind the wheel at the time of the incident will be likely to recover compensation. You can anticipate that even in these cases when it is relatively clear to you, how the accident occurred, that the other side will push back and try to minimize their liability. This is true even when there is clear evidence that the driver was sleep deprived or fatigued behind the wheel.

The burden of proof falls to the plaintiff to illustrate that the driver did not have enough sleep and was at risk of such an accident. There may have been other competing factors that could have increased the severity of the accident as well, such as a truck driver who was not safely trained about the best ways to avoid incidences or a failure to conduct appropriate maintenance on the truck itself. In all of these conditions, a thorough investigation of the truck accident scene and the truck itself needs to be completed immediately.

Trucking companies often dispatch their own accident response teams in order to get the best possible benefits to prepare a case. It is very difficult to move forward with a claim like this if you do not have the support of a lawyer who has been working on behalf of victims like this for many years in New York. The right 18-wheeler sleep deprivation lawyer in New York will be able to fight back when the insurance company and the other side try to allege that it is not their responsibility that you were seriously injured. With so many unique facets of these claims to consider, it is always better to schedule a consultation immediately to figure out whether or not you have grounds to pursue a claim against the trucking company and any other parties that could be held accountable in such a lawsuit.