Common Truck Accident Injuries from 18-Wheeler Wrecks, Explained by the Trucking Accident Injury Lawyers in Springfield, IL
Personal injuries are common in motor vehicle accidents involving commercial vehicles such as 18-wheelers, semi-tractor trailers, big rigs, and other box trucks. According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), large trucks are responsible for approximately 5,000 fatalities and 150,000 personal injuries each year in the United States. In Illinois, statistics from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) reveal that roughly 170 people are killed and another 3,000 people are injured each year in traffic accidents involving single-unit or tractor-trailer trucks. Many of these truck accidents are caused by the reckless, careless, and outright negligent conduct of a truck driver, trucking company, or another entity. Unfortunately, defendants and their insurance carriers will not always fairly compensate victims for their truck accident injuries. Anyone who has suffered any type of injury in Illinois should call the experienced trucking accident lawyers in Springfield, IL for help.
At the Noll Law Office, the bodily injury lawyers here are dedicated to serving personal injury victims and their families throughout Illinois. This includes serious or catastrophic trucking accidents, which are often more complicated and difficult than other types of car accidents. The compassionate and experienced trucking accident lawyers can help you and your family recover compensation for conscious pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and other damages under Illinois law. To learn more about your rights to compensation, contact them to schedule a free case evaluation.
Why Trucking Accidents Often Result in Serious or Catastrophic Personal Injuries
Although all types of motor vehicle accidents can result in serious, catastrophic, disabling, or fatal injuries, trucking accidents are simply more likely to cause these types of personal injuries. That is because commercial vehicles are much larger and heavier than passenger vehicles. That means that trucks generate more momentum and force in an impact, which is then transferred to occupants and others who are involved in the crash.
As a result, 18-wheeler wrecks in Illinois often cause personal injuries resulting in broken bones, brain injuries, paralysis, and other types of catastrophic harm. Victims and their families will often have significant medical bills and lost wages due to these injuries, as well as consider future damages tied to home or vehicle improvements, nursing costs, and other financial losses due to their injuries. Thus, victims suffering trucking accident injuries should contact trucking accident lawyers in Springfield, IL who have the skill and knowledge necessary to handle these complex issues.
Common Types of Personal Injuries From a Trucking Accident in Illinois
There are many different types of personal injuries that may be caused by a trucking accident in Illinois. Nearly all types of personal injuries may result in compensation if the injuries are causally related to the accident.
Some of the most common and catastrophic trucking accident injuries include the following:
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Also known as a TBI, a traumatic brain injury is a catastrophic and often disabling type of personal injury that is often caused in trucking accidents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), TBIs are injuries that affect how the brain functions. There are several different types of TBIs, including the following:
- Concussions – caused by a jolt, bump, impact, or another type of violent hit to the head, a concussion is a shock to the brain that can cause physical and chemical changes to brain tissue. As a result, concussions can result in disability affecting an individual’s language, cognitive function, focus, memory, problem-solving, and other brain function. Even if a concussion fully heals, a victim usually has an increased risk of significant future injury from a second impact.
- Diffuse Axonal Injuries – this type of TBI is caused when brain tissue shreds, rips, tears, or otherwise suffers a physical injury that results in damage to vital structures in the brain. Also known as a DAI, many victims who suffer from this type of TBI will have some type of permanent disability.
- Coup-contrecoup Injuries – the brain sits inside the skull and is cushioned by cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). However, in a violent collision, the brain can slide back and forth, striking the inside of the skull and causing injury at opposite ends of the brain. This type of TBI is serious because it can cause widespread swelling that can damage the brain tissue. It is important to note that a coup-contrecoup TBI can be caused even if a victim does not strike his or her head on anything in a collision.
- Penetrating brain injuries from debris
- Brain bleeds or hematomas
- Combinations of various brain injuries, and
- Other types of serious or catastrophic brain injuries.
Spinal Cord Injuries
A spinal cord injury (SCI), is another type of catastrophic personal injury that is common in trucking wrecks. The spinal cord is part of the central nervous system and acts as the messenger super highway between the brain and the rest of the nerves in the body that sense and move (the peripheral nervous system). Damage to the spinal cord can affect how the brain and the rest of the body communicate, often leading to paralysis and some form of disability.
The level of disability caused by paralysis depends on the extent of the SCI. There are two types of spinal cord injuries. One is an incomplete or partial SCI, where the spinal cord has suffered damage but there is still some connection between the rest of the body and the brain. The second type is a complete or total SCI, where there is a complete severance between the brain and the rest of the body.
As a result, individuals with truck accident injuries may suffer:
- Paraplegia – loss of use of the lower extremities and torso
- Quadriplegia or tetraplegia – loss of use below the neck, sometimes allowing the top of the arms or chest
- Monoplegia – damage to one branch of nerves that affects one limb, such as a severe brachial plexus injury that causes complete paralysis of an arm, and
- Other types of paralysis.
Other Types of Serious Trucking Accident Injuries in Illinois
Besides these two very catastrophic types of trucking accident injuries, the experienced trucking accident lawyers in Springfield, IL at the Noll Law Office can help victims recover compensation for the following types of injuries:
- Broken bones or fractured bones, especially those requiring surgical intervention (open reduction) and resulting in the installation of painful hardware like screws, plates, pins, rods, buttress pins, and other devices
- Amputations or loss of a limb
- Organ injuries or organ damage
- Blindness (either total blindness, partial, or a combination based on damage to one eye but not to the other)
- Neck and back injuries, especially those resulting in a cervical fusion, lumbar fusion, or another type of fusion surgery
- Shoulder injuries such as SLAP tears, rotator cuff tears, dislocations, separations, and other injuries
- Knee injuries including a torn meniscus or ligament such as an LCL, PCL, ACL, or MCL
- Joint injuries, including those requiring a partial or total replacement
- Significant scarring or disfigurement, especially in tanker accidents or truck crashes causing fires or explosions, and
- Any other types of serious or catastrophic personal injuries caused by a trucking wreck in Illinois.
If You Suffered Trucking Accident Injuries in an Illinois Motor Vehicle Accident, Call Our Experienced Trucking Accident Lawyers in Springfield, IL for Help
Anyone who suffered personal injuries in a commercial vehicle accident including a semi-tractor trailer, big rig, box truck, or another type of motor vehicle should call the compassionate and experienced team at the Noll Law Office. They offer personalized and dedicated representation for victims and their families who have suffered trucking accident injuries due to the negligence of a truck driver or trucking company.
That’s why they offer free case evaluations for victims to ask questions and get answers. There is no obligation to sign up either. If you choose their bodily law firm and if they accept your case, they will pay forward the litigation costs of your case. These expenses are only reimbursed, and their legal fees are only paid after they recover compensation for you in a settlement, verdict, or another type of award. That means there is no upfront cost and no financial risk to begin working with the personal injury law firm in Springfield, IL.
To learn more about your rights, contact the Noll Law Office today by dialing (217) 414-8889 or using their “Contact Us” box available here. Let their family help yours.