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DUI Truck Accident

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Approximately 500,000 truck accidents occur in the United States every year. An estimated 10 percent of these, or 5,000 in number, result in a fatality. There are many reasons that can be the cause of a truck accident, such as truck driver fatigue, truck driver error, mechanical failures, other drivers negligence, surface conditions, and DUI.

What Is DUI?

DUI refers to Driving Under the Influence. If an even higher blood-alcohol level is present, then one is said to be DWI, Driving While Intoxicated. Driving under the influence of any kind of alcohol, drugs, or other vapor-releasing substances, or a combination of any of these substances, is against the law. No person is legally allowed to drive a vehicle or be in control of a vehicle, while under the influence of intoxicating substances. These substances can seriously impair the physical and mental capabilities of the truck driver, and can cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle, thereby resulting in a DUI truck accident.

There are many causes of truck accidents that are unavoidable, but of course any DUI truck accident could have been avoided, had the driver not been drinking before driving. In these cases, the victims of the accident and their families are often eligible to receive some sort of monetary compensation due to their pain and suffering. The first step in this process if finding a truck accident lawyer to help you determine what it is you are entitled to.

DUI Limits

If any person has a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, he is considered as legally drunk, and should not be driving any motor vehicle. A blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more indicates a case of extreme DUI. If anyone with such a high concentration of blood alcohol gets behind the wheel of a commercial truck, the chances of a DUI truck accident are increased significantly.

DUI Truck Accident Litigation

In a truck accident lawsuit, it is necessary to prove the negligence of the responsible parties, in order to receive any kind of damages. If you can prove that the truck driver was legally drunk (either by the breathalyzer test or by the field sobriety test results), then that is enough to prove negligence of the truck driver in the DUI truck accident.

But if a plaintiff was himself guilty of drinking and driving, the lawsuit may take an entirely different course altogether. The law regards what is known as comparable negligence and uses this to determine the amount of damages awarded. For instance, if a truck driver was drinking and driving above the legal speed limits, and crashes into you, you can prove full negligence of the truck driver and will receive compensation with that in mind. But if the truck driver was speeding, but you were the one who was drinking, then the entire negligence is not on the part of the truck driver alone.

To learn about all your options in a DUI truck accident case, talk to an experienced attorney today. An experienced DUI or DWI truck accident attorney can help you assess the validity of your case, and take it to court if necessary. He or she can gather all the evidence and present the strongest case possible, so that you can recover the maximum amount of damages under the law in order to compensate you for your losses, as well as for your pain and suffering.

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