Our Atlanta Garbage Truck Accident Lawyer Team Can Help After an Accident
After an accident with a garbage truck, you may be entitled to compensation for any injuries you or a loved one sustained. In Georgia, if a garbage truck accident occurs due to the negligence or wrongful act of the driver or their employer, a lawyer can build a case based on that negligence. Negligence is a complicated legal concept with four parts: (1) duty, (2) breach, (3) causation, and (4) damages. For example, garbage truck drivers have a duty to pay attention while operating their large vehicles. If this duty is breached, such as through distracted driving, and it causes an injury to you, the driver (and potentially their employer) can be held liable for the resulting damages.
Our job at Mabra Law is to hold those negligent parties accountable. It’s a job we take seriously because we understand the compensation we gain for you and your family after an injury makes a difference in your life, helping you to heal and move forward after your injuries. If you believe you may have a claim for compensation after an accident with a garbage truck in Atlanta, we offer a free consultation to learn about your legal options.
Common Causes of Garbage Truck Accidents
Massive Blind Spots
Standard commercial waste vehicles are huge vehicles that can weigh 60,000 lbs. or more when full. They are fundamentally designed to prioritize cargo space rather than driver visibility. Furthermore, drivers sit significantly above the ground, which creates blind spots directly in front of the vehicle and behind it. If a pedestrian, cyclist, smaller car, etc., gets in those blind spots, the driver simply has no way to know they are about to hit someone.
Backing-Up Collisions
Garbage collectors drive through all sorts of varied roads, such as dead-end streets, cul-de-sacs, alleys, narrow roads, etc. As a result, garbage truck drivers are forced to put their trucks into reverse much more than typical commercial drivers. Unfortunately, reversing a giant truck with poor visibility in a heavily populated residential area is inherently dangerous. Even with modern safety features like backup cameras and alarms, all it takes is a single mistake or a brief distraction to result in a driver backing over a pedestrian or crushing a vehicle behind them.
Driver Fatigue
Waste management routes usually start early in the morning, before most of the city is awake. Drivers have demanding schedules that force them to meet tight timeframes. This pressure often means they drive recklessly at high speeds. When that happens, the odds of a catastrophic crash dramatically increase.
Typical Injuries Sustained in Garbage Truck Collisions
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
The sheer force of an impact with a massive commercial vehicle often causes the brain to strike the inside of the skull violently. Victims frequently suffer from concussions, hemorrhages, or severe traumatic brain injuries. A TBI can permanently alter a person’s cognitive function, memory, personality, and ability to hold a job, requiring lifelong medical care and rehabilitation.
Spinal Cord Damage and Paralysis
The crushing weight of a garbage truck can easily crush the roof or side panels of a passenger car, applying devastating pressure to the occupants’ spines. Fractured vertebrae, herniated discs, and severed spinal cords are common. These injuries frequently result in partial or total paralysis (paraplegia or quadriplegia), necessitating permanent mobility aids, home modifications, and continuous specialized medical attention.
Crush Injuries and Amputations
Because garbage trucks sit higher off the ground, a smaller vehicle can underride the truck, or the truck can roll over onto the car. The resulting crushed metal can trap occupants, leading to severe crush injuries to the extremities. In many emergency extractions, limbs have been so severely damaged by the lack of blood flow or tissue destruction that surgical amputation becomes the only option to save the victim’s life.
Internal Organ Damage
Blunt force trauma from the steering wheel, deployed airbags, or the seatbelt itself can cause severe internal bleeding. Punctured lungs, ruptured spleens, and liver lacerations are common in high-impact commercial collisions and require immediate, emergency surgical intervention to prevent fatal outcomes.
Relevant Regulations Governing Waste Management Vehicles
To establish that a garbage truck driver or their employer breached their duty of care, we look closely at the specific rules governing their operation. The waste management industry is bound by strict federal, state, and local regulations.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Rules
Most private waste management companies operating large commercial trucks must comply with FMCSA regulations. These include strict Hours of Service (HOS) rules designed to prevent driver fatigue. Drivers are legally capped on how many consecutive hours they can drive before taking a mandatory rest break. If a company forces a driver to ignore these limits, they can be held liable for resulting accidents.
Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) Requirements
Operating a vehicle of this size requires a valid CDL. To maintain this license, drivers must pass strict physical exams and submit to random drug and alcohol testing. If a municipality or private company negligently hires a driver with a history of DUIs, suspended licenses, or failed background checks, the employer shares the liability for the crash.
Maintenance and Inspection Protocols
Trucking companies are legally required to perform pre-trip and post-trip inspections to ensure that the truck can be safely operated. This includes examining the brakes, hydraulics, suspension, and tires. These parts of the truck must be diligently maintained, and the maintenance must be recorded.
How Our Atlanta Garbage Truck Accident Lawyer Team Can Help
As your attorney, our job is to build a case that helps you secure the compensation you need after your injury. We want to make sure you can prioritize your healing and move forward in your life post-accident. You can expect our award-winning legal team to complete these steps to determine the costs and damages related to your injuries:
- Prove the liability of the garbage truck driver or their employer through a theory of negligence the courts will accept
- Accurately measure the short- and long-term medical and occupational costs linked to your injuries and prove them with evidence the insurance companies and courts will respect
- Use the evidence to draft a claim that is either sufficient to get the insurance company to provide complete compensation for your damages or for the court to rule in your favor if the insurance company refuses to take responsibility
An experienced garbage truck accident lawyer plays a central role throughout the entire process, working to gather evidence, draft, and negotiate the best possible outcome on your claim. Insurance companies have teams of claim analysts and attorneys working against you, and having an attorney of your own helps to ensure you achieve a fair and reasonable outcome. We fight for you, and we are on your team.
Speak with an Atlanta Garbage Truck Accident Lawyer Today
We invite you to connect with a garbage truck accident lawyer as soon as possible after you have received emergency medical care for your injuries. Our experienced team has a proven track record of representing injured parties in personal injury litigation in Atlanta and throughout Georgia. We can help you, too, and we look forward to being your legal partner.
Frequently Asked Questions About Atlanta Garbage Truck Crashes
Who can be held liable in a garbage truck accident?
Following a garbage truck accident, there are several different parties that can be held liable. Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to receive compensation from:
- The waste management company for negligent hiring or improper training of the driver
- The maintenance contractor for negligently servicing the vehicle
- The truck manufacturer for a defective design
- The driver for speeding or distracted driving
Those are just a few examples. Determining liability and fault is incredibly complex, which is why contacting the Mabra Law team is essential to getting the maximum compensation.
What if the garbage truck is owned or operated by the city or county?
Accidents involving the government are significantly more complex than private parties. The most important part for injured people is that they have a significantly shorter deadline to file their claim. You may have as little as six months to give the government notice that you intend to file a claim against them. If you miss that deadline, you will typically be unable to receive any compensation whatsoever.
What types of damages can I recover?
If you are injured by a garbage truck driver, you are generally able to get all resulting damages. This includes economic damages, such as your current and future medical bills, physical therapy and rehabilitation costs, property damage, and lost wages from missed work. Additionally, you can recover non-economic damages, which compensate you for physical pain and emotional suffering.
Non-economic damages are significantly harder to prove and evaluate because there is no 100% objective way to measure them (hence the term “non-economic”). By contacting our Atlanta garbage truck accident attorney team, we can help you understand the value of your claim with a completely free consultation.