(845) 802-0047One of the most dangerous types of New York trucking accidents are crashes involving garbage trucks. In fact, garbage trucks are some of the sturdiest and strongest vehicles on the roadway. This is because garbage trucks need to be heavy and strong enough to hold a significant amount of trash and recycling. Garbage trucks also need to be powerful enough to withstand the impacting of trash that also occurs. This means that most garbage trucks are very heavy. Therefore, garbage trucks generate more force in an impact.
This is why smaller, passenger vehicles that are involved in New York trucking accidents with garbage trucks are likely to be completely mangled, warped, and otherwise destroyed. This means that passengers inside are likely to suffer serious personal injuries and may be wrongfully killed. While this could happen in any auto accident, garbage truck crashes are just more likely to generate these serious injuries due to the weight and power of these vehicles.
Causes of Crashes with Garbage Trucks
Garbage trucks are involved in New York trucking accidents for many reasons that are unique to garbage trucks. This is because garbage trucks are vehicles that start and stop along the side of the roadway. Garbage trucks usually also stick out along the side of the road and randomly jet back out into traffic to move to the next pickup location. This stop and go, and random movement in and out of traffic is a recipe for a New York trucking accident.
Some of the most common types of crashes with garbage trucks in New York include the following:
- Pulling back into traffic without yielding the right-of-way;
- Failing to use blinkers or directional lights;
- Sticking out into traffic too far;
- Colliding with other vehicles when using devices used to pick up trash;
- Opening passenger doors without looking if traffic is coming;
- Aggressive driving;
- Failure to obey traffic signs and traffic control devices; and
- Other types of negligent conduct.
Common Injuries After New York Trucking Accidents Involving Garbage Trucks
Since garbage trucks are very heavy and built to withstand extreme weight and pressure, garbage trucks are one of the most dangerous vehicles on the roadway to collide with. Simply put, a garbage truck is built tough to withstand extreme forces and a smaller passenger vehicle is not. This translates into serious personal injuries to the occupants of the smaller passenger vehicle.
As a result, the most common injuries from a garbage truck include the following:
- Amputations and loss of limbs;
- Traumatic brain injuries or TBIs;
- Head injuries, including cranial nerve injuries, facial disfigurement,
- Broken bones or fractured bones;
- Organ injuries, including ruptured organs, lacerated organs, or other damage;
- Penetrating injuries, including vehicle debris damaging, lacerating, or otherwise cutting into a victim;
- Spinal cord injuries;
- Paralysis such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, or another related paralysis;
- Extreme emotional distress;
- Derangement of the shoulder, knee, hips, ankle, elbow, or other parts of the body;
- Wrongful death;
- Many other serious personal injuries.
Special Issues with Garbage Trucks
There are some special issues with garbage trucks that cause New York trucking accidents. This is because some garage trucks may be owned by a municipality. This means that the State, County, or local municipality may be the employer of the garbage truck. When this occurs, there are special statute of limitations periods or the time that a victim has to commence an action. If a victim commences an action outside of the statute of limitations period, it could result in the victim’s case being outright dismissed.
Under New York Law, a government such as the State of New York or municipality must receive a notice of claim within 90 days. Sometimes that is not possible given the extreme injuries after a trucking accident. Therefore, a victim may be able to request permission to file a late notice of claim up to 1 year and 90 days after the subject big rig collision. This is very fast, and if a victim fails to commence an action in that time, the claim may be forever barred.
Depending on where you live, some garbage trucks are privately owned. This means that they have independent businesses that are not related to the municipality. When one of these garbage trucks is involved in a New York trucking accident, it means that a victim will have a claim directly against the truck driver and trucking company. The time to file this claim is 3 years from the date of the subject crash. But it is again important to know that some private companies are contracted by municipalities, which may mean that the State or a municipality may be liable for your crash. These means that victims should also guard themselves and seek legal counsel as soon as possible after a collision to ensure their rights are protected.
Victims Injured When Garbage Trucks Cause New York Trucking Accident Should Call Our Law Firm
Any trucking accident is going to result in serious personal injuries or even the wrongful death of an innocent person. This is particularly true of garbage trucks which are heavy and powerful vehicles. If you or a loved one were injured in a serious New York trucking accident involving any private or municipal garbage truck, please call our New York trucking accident lawyer to learn what your rights to compensation may be and how we can help protect your rights today.