What Are the Most Common Injuries in Truck Accidents?
Commercial trucks account for just 4% of all registered vehicles in the United States. However, accidents with commercial trucks account for 9% of fatal roadway accidents. Crashes involving commercial trucks also result in serious but non-fatal injuries at disproportionately high rates.
These statistics are the product of two distinct factors: (a) commercial trucks spend more time on the road than most passenger vehicles and (b) commercial trucks are bigger, heavier, and more difficult to control than cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs.
7 Common Injuries in Truck Accidents
Given the size and weight of large commercial trucks, accidents involving these vehicles are more likely to result in serious or fatal injuries. If you have been injured in a collision with a commercial vehicle, it is in your best interest to speak to a New Jersey truck accident attorney as soon as possible.
Some of the most common injuries in truck accidents include:
1. Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) can have life-altering and even life-threatening consequences. While different types of TBI are classified as mild, moderate, or severe, all brain injuries are serious and require immediate medical attention.
Types of TBIs commonly suffered in truck accidents include:
- Concussions
- Contusions
- Coup-contrecoup injuries
- Diffuse axonal injuries (DAI)
- Hematomas
- Hemorrhages
- Penetrating brain injuries
2. Spinal Cord Injuries
A spinal cord injury can also permanently impact your life in a number of different ways. Many truck accident victims who suffer damage to the spinal cord are never able to fully recover. Loss of mobility, function, and even paralysis are common in the event of a serious truck accident.
3. Severe Lacerations and Loss of Limbs
Broken glass, metal and plastic shards, and objects entering a passenger vehicle’s cabin can cause severe lacerations. A serious laceration can result in dangerous blood loss, risk of infection, and permanent scarring and disability.
In extreme cases, the force and debris involved in a truck accident can result in amputation injuries. These injuries can occur when occupants are crushed by the weight of a semi-truck or ejected from the vehicle.
Loss of a limb is an extraordinarily traumatic injury with lifelong effects. Although victims may be fitted with a prosthesis, they are generally unable to fully return to the life, work, and activities they enjoyed prior to the accident.
4. Internal Bleeding and Organ Damage
The forces involved in commercial truck accidents can also lead to severe internal trauma. Victims may suffer damage to organs and develop internal bleeding that can be difficult for medical personnel to control. Intense pain, numbness, dizziness, syncope, difficulty breathing, and abnormal bodily functions are all signs of potentially serious injuries for which immediate medical attention may be necessary.
Unfortunately, one of the devices intended to save lives can do some of the most damage in extremely violent accidents. Seat belts can cause serious internal injuries when drivers and passengers are restrained during severe impacts.
5. Bone Fractures
The forces involved in commercial truck accidents are far greater than the forces required to cause bone fractures. Severe breaks, including transverse and impacted fractures, are common in truck accidents.
Broken bones can occur in all areas of the body in a truck accident, with fractures of the ankle, knee, arm, and ribs particularly common. It is also not uncommon for truck accidents victims to suffer multiple fractures in multiple locations.
Fractures sustained in truck accidents will often require surgery. Victims may require extensive therapy and rehabilitation, resulting in a long and difficult road to recovery. In many cases, severe bone fractures can cause permanent disability, chronic pain, and other long-term complications.
6. Burns
Drivers and passengers involved in truck accidents can suffer burn injuries due to fires and other heat sources as well as airbag deployment. Burns can vary widely in terms of severity.
However, a burn has the potential for long-term or permanent consequences regardless of degree.
Treatment options for truck accident victims who suffer severe burns can range from application of creams and bandages (in minor cases) to skin graft surgeries (in the event of a full-thickness burn).
7. Eye, Ear, Nose, and Jaw Injuries
Injuries to the eyes, ears, nose, and jaw are also common in truck accidents. The causes of these injuries can range from being struck by flying debris and airbag deployment to direct impact with solid objects.
In addition to causing sensory impairments, these injuries can also cause permanent scarring and disfigurement. Like the other types of injuries discussed above, truck accident victims may struggle to cope with the effects of facial injuries for the rest of their lives.
Contact Our New Jersey Truck Accident Lawyers Today
At Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi, we rely on more than a century of combined experience to help truck accident victims and their families obtain fair compensation. Truck accidents often result in serious injuries, and you need a law firm committed not only to maximizing your financial recovery but supporting you as you heal physically, mentally, and emotionally.
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Please call Maggiano, DiGirolamo & Lizzi at (201) 585-9111 today for a free case review. Our New Jersey truck accident attorneys serve clients in Fort Lee and throughout New Jersey, as well as New York.
