Have you been injured?
Hire the big guns. Call the Bull Attorneys!
Wichita’s Bull Attorneys are Wichita’s top truck accident lawyers who have expertise suing truck drivers and trucking companies. Our Wichita truck accident attorneys fight trucking companies every day of the week. Our trucking litigation firm understands the complex nature of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) to help truck accident victims win millions of dollars for severe injuries and death.
Bull Attorneys have offices across Kansas with our main offices in Wichita and Garden City and we take truck accident cases throughout the Midwest and the entire United States. This allows our experienced truck accident attorneys to help truck injury victims in Wichita and Garden City and across the entire state.
Why Wichita and Garden City for our main offices? Because Kansas is in the middle of the country. It is home to east and west routes, north and south trucking routes, truck routes crossing from the northeast to our southwest give rise to many unruly truck drivers taking back routes where they can speed, be overweight and drive when they are out of legal hours to drive.
We studied the trucking patterns across Wichita and Kansas and found that most of the horrible Kansas truck accidents happen not just in Wichita but also out in Western Kansas within a 100-mile radius of our office in Garden City, Kansas. There are more Kansas Highway Patrol CHART team death investigations in that part of the state than anywhere else in the state.
We are close to where the trucking accidents happen and when further away, we jump on our plane to instantly visit you or see the scene of the accident no matter what state it is in. It is always free to talk to us and we charge nothing unless we win.
With over forty years of trucking law experience fighting for victims of commercial trucking accidents, Bull Attorneys has earned a solid reputation across Kansas and the entire Midwest. Our Wichita based truck accident lawyers study trucking law and we know how to manage the complex world of truck accident injury cases. We use the CSA Basics to prove safety violations.
To help trucking injury clients we study whether the truck driver and their motor carrier that caused your injury properly followed their safety plan. Many trucking companies never follow their own plan of safety and cause thousands of needless accidents.
Kansas Traffic Crash Facts studies the high number of truck accidents in Kansas because Kansas had 33,403 large and heavy truck crashes in 2020 causing 9,357 injuries and 716 deaths. The National Safety Council Injury Facts found that the states with the highest percentage of large trucks involved in fatal crashes in 2021 was:
Distracted driving: Distracted driving does not mean just not paying attention, it means that the truck driver is looking down at a phone, texting, looking at instructions from company dispatch and otherwise not keeping their eyes on the road.
Fatigued driving: Many truck drivers must make on-time deliveries. If they deliver late, they pay huge fines, lose salary, are reprimanded, suspended and fired. This makes truck drivers drive when they are too tired to drive and violate their maximum daily or weekly hours which causes severe truck accidents.
Speeding truck drivers: Truck drivers who are late for a delivery drive over their legal hours at speeds way too fast for safety. The massive size of the tractor-trailer makes it a deathtrap on wheels. Speeding increases stopping distance and the force and severity of the impact.
Drunk Driving: Whether the truck driver is drunk, stoned or on methamphetamine, they are a danger to all drivers on the road. Some of the intoxicated truck drivers will caused massive chain reaction accidents with 5 or more cars in a row.
Lack of a Safety Plan. All truck drivers and motor carriers must have a safety plan and follow it to prevent accidents. The majority of smaller and medium size trucking companies never bother to create a safety plan and their drivers cause mayhem on the roads.
Preventability Studies Crashes After Accidents. The concept of preventability means that the safe trucking companies will study each accident after the crash to figure out the cause of the accident to help prevent future crashes. Unfortunately, of the trucking companies we have sued very few follow this safety rule.
Negligent Hiring, Training & Supervision. Many car accident lawyers treat a large truck accident case like an ordinary car accident case only bringing negligence claims against the driver. Real truck accident attorneys like Bull Attorneys, understand that better trucking companies use HireRight to help reduce trucking accidents caused by the negligent hiring, training, and supervision of bad truck drivers.
Injuries suffered in a large truck accident are usually severe and often lead to wrongful death claims. We have represented families of truck drivers involved in high-speed crashes where the truck driver or occupants of a car or truck were burned alive. Our Kansas 18 wheeler accident lawyers are excellent at proving conscious pain and suffering prior to death.
Our Wichita Truck Accident Lawyers look for every cause of action against the truck driver and trucking company. It is almost always a combination of multiple negligent acts by the driver, hiring personnel and their supervising dispatch and safety officers. Finding more causes of a truck accident usually allows us to get a much higher settlement for our truck accident injury clients.
The principle of preventability helps our truck accident lawyers explore how trucking companies can reduce accidents. Preventability of tractor-trailer accidents is key to prevention of future semi-truck accidents. Was this accident preventable? Most truck accidents are preventable. If trucking company management would properly study preventability thousands fewer people would be injured or killed each year.
Our Wichita truck accident injury attorneys give free consultations to truck accident victims 24 hours a day, seven days of the week and even on weekends and holidays. Call us at 316-684-4400 our write on our contact page.
Why are large truck accidents so confusing and complex? Because the truck driver and their trucking company must follow rules and laws that make them try to drive safely. Understanding the laws from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) takes extensive study. Normal car accident lawyers are not usually trained well enough to understand these rules.
Whether the truck driver or trucking company is at fault requires immediately studying how the accident happened. Their insurance adjusters and lawyers as well as accident reconstruction experts are usually doing a post-crash investigation to determine the cause of a trucking accident. They arrive at the crash site within 1-2 hours after the accident. You need a truck accident lawyer who can do the same thing to protect your legal rights.
These adjusters, lawyers and experts travel at once to the scene to get statements, photograph road marks and damage and talk to witnesses to nail them down trying to prove the driver of the car was at fault. They give their truck drivers accident kits that tell the truck driver never to admit fault.
At Bull Attorneys, we work tirelessly to protect your interests. Our immediate actions include hiring accident reconstruction and trucking safety experts to help us analyze your truck accident so we can prove the truck driver and their trucking company are at fault.
Hiring bad truck drivers. Motor carriers must qualify their drivers to make sure they meet the minimum requirements of Part 391. The trucking companies usually have ads for truck drivers 365 days a year because of the high turnover rate of truck drivers. Finding a good truck driver means doing employment, criminal, driving and other background checks on the driver. When they do not do a proper background search lives are lost.
Failing to Perform Entry Level Training of Truck Drivers. The FMCSA has implemented new training standards for truck drivers. Many trucking companies simply require the driver to have a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). Trucking companies who do not use a 3-day orientation to train drivers and then comprehensively test their knowledge are recklessly causing truck accidents, injuries, and deaths.
Maximum Hours Violations. The FMCSR requires that drivers limit driving to so many hours per day over an 8-day period. When trucking companies set schedules that have on-time delivery they are knowingly causing their drivers to violate the law.
Improper Maintenance. The trucking company and its driver must do daily inspections as well as periodic and annual inspections to make sure the tractor-trailer is safely maintained. When they have bad brakes and tires or other nonworking safety equipment other drivers are not safe and at risk.
Commercial motor vehicles (CMV) operate under the rules made by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). You need highly experienced truck accident lawyers who know these rules if you want to win the most money for your injuries and damages.
Truck accidents are different from car accidents because they require a skilled truck accident lawyer to learn the laws and regulations which are highly complex. Our truck accident lawyers know how to find the safety record of the trucking company. We know how to get their black boxes to prove speed and braking. Car accidents do not require this study.
The FMCSA checks all DOT licensed trucking companies for safety rule violations. The FMCSA issues ALERTS to trucking companies when their safety record is too high. Our truck accident lawyers know how to get their safety record to help you get substantially more money for your truck accident injury.
The FMCSR, regulations are written rules for truck drivers and under Part 390.3(e)(1) & (2), this very special law mandates that every driver and employee should understand and follow all applicable regulations contained in the FMCSR. Motor carriers include for-hire motor carriers or private motor carriers, inclusive of a motor carrier’s agents, officers, and representatives who are involved in hiring, supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching drivers.
Federal law under 49 U.S.C. § 14704(a)(2) dictates that a motor carrier is accountable for any damages sustained by a person resulting from an action or omission of that carrier in violation of these regulations. Thus, 49 U.S.C. § 14101(a) requires a motor carrier to ensure safe and adequate service, equipment, and facilities.
Typically, construction equipment and heavy equipment weighing 10,001 pounds must follow DOT regulations and understand and follow the FMCSR. Vehicles transporting between 9 and 15 passengers must also comply with the FMCSR.
After a severe semi accident, it is important that you hire the best truck accident lawyer you can find. Your truck accident lawyer must prove negligence of the truck driver or their motor carrier or both. For you to have a great chance of a large money award it is important that you only hire a highly experienced truck accident lawyer trained in trucking principles, regulations, and laws.
Accidents, injuries, and wrongful deaths often occur due to truck drivers lacking adequate training and having little knowledge of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR). When our truck accident lawyers routinely settle severe truck accident injury cases for one million dollars or more, we understand FMCSR better than the trucking company management.
When you have a truck accident severe injury and go to a regular car accident attorney you not only get a lawyer who does not understand trucking law, you also get a lawyer who is too lazy to study the law and safety regulations. If you do not have a trucking lawyer you risk getting much less than your true case value and worth.
One of the main ways to prove the truck driver or trucking company is at fault is by proving the truck driver is untrained and improperly supervised. If his employer did not train him/her in proper safe driving and defensive driving techniques through the Smith System or some other training method, the driver is likely to cause bad truck accidents.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a part of the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), was established in January 2000. Its primary goal is to greatly improve safety on the nation’s highways and reduce truck accidents and fatalities.
At Bull Attorneys, our Wichita truck accident lawyers don’t merely claim expertise—we demonstrate it by tirelessly battling against the nation’s largest trucking companies and their insurance companies. We have a dedicated commitment to your case and every truck accident injury case gets specially managed by our team of trained trucking accident law professionals.
After years of taking suing trucking companies and taking depositions of truck drivers, Safety Directors, and Vice Presidents of Safety in large trucking companies we found there is a truly clear learned method to winning truck accident injury cases. Our Wichita truck accident lawyers were trained by the top truck accident lawyers in Kansas and the Midwest.
Truck drivers must have the required knowledge to understand the proper use of safety devices like lights, horns, mirrors on the tractor-trailer, and emergency procedures. They must know basic control procedures, such as setting the vehicle in motion, stopping, backing in a straight line, turning the vehicle appropriately, and shifting gears. Likewise, an experienced truck accident lawyer must know the same thing as the driver.
Truck drivers must be taught visual search methods, space management, speed management, and communication signals for lane changes which are all main areas that a truck driver must master. Understanding the impact of hazardous conditions like bad weather on driving and the harmful effects of alcohol and drug use is a requirement for both the driver and the motor carrier.
Truck accidents in Wichita, Kansas and across the U.S.A. may result from various types of negligence, leading to a collision between a commercial vehicle and another driver. In such instances, different parties, including the victim, truck driver, trucking company, and insurance company, may engage in settlement negotiations. The settlement amount often depends on the severity of the damage and injuries incurred as well as evaluating how much liability insurance is available.
Commercial motor vehicle operators, including the trucking company and the driver, must understand night operations’ challenges, such as vision problems, glare, fatigue, and inexperience. Government studies like the Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2020 found that 82 percent of fatal crashes occur Monday through Friday when most truck drivers are on the road.
Truck drivers must know how to transport hazardous materials and how to drive large trucks in Mountain driving conditions where brakes can easily give out, and the vehicle can speed downhill, posing a grave danger. Other drivers must be aware of how dangerous a runaway downhill tractor-trailer is and how the driver may not be able to stop.
Drivers must also understand the concept of fatigue and awareness. Truck drivers may not operate or drive a commercial motor vehicle when they are too tired or sick to drive safely. Truck drivers must recognize when they are too sleepy to drive and not violate the maximum hours-of-service rules. Understanding air brakes’ operation and how to couple and uncouple combination vehicles is critical. The additional length and weight of these vehicles can pose a considerable hazard.
The Bull Attorneys get great results because our Wichita truck accident attorneys are trained to study these basic driving skill rules so they can ascertain when a truck driver is negligent. In doing so, they can ensure that a Wichita truck crash victim receives the maximum monetary compensation they deserve and hold the responsible parties accountable.
The concept of “on-time” delivery requirements is one of the most controversial topics in the trucking industry. The FMCSA recommends that trucking companies do not pay incentives to truck drivers for delivering on-time because it encourages speeding. These requirements may lead to penalizing truck drivers for not delivering their cargo or shipment “on time.” Truck drivers who deliver their load late can be punished, fined, suspended, and fired.e of a large money award it is important that you only hire a highly experienced truck accident lawyer trained in trucking principles, regulations, and laws.
Bull Attorneys have seen “on-time” deliveries that have caused more than one hundred large truck crashes. The truck driver is pushed to drive over legally available hours and becomes badly fatigued by his employer out of fear of being fired, suspended, or be required to cover the cost of the spoiled goods. Profits over safety is never a good thing.
On-time deliveries can cause serious truck and motor vehicle crashes leading to traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and in the worst cases, a wrongful death.
If you or a loved one has been affected by a catastrophic Wichita, Kansas truck accident, it’s important to hire the Bull Attorneys. They can help you quickly get medical treatment, payment for lost wages and restore your life. Remember it is absolutely 100% free to talk to one of our lawyers. You can call or write to us on our contact page.
The Bull Attorneys Wichita truck accident lawyers understand that “on-time” requirements can create dangerous and reckless truck drivers, pushing them to the limits of human endurance. If a truck driver violates the FMCSR due to “on-time” requirements, resulting in injury or death.
The Bull Attorneys know how to prove reckless and gross negligence to increase the money you can get from your truck accident injury. Our results for Wichita truck accidents are some of the best in the state of Kansas.
Many truck accident lawyers do not understand the importance of maintenance inspections and repairs. Part 396.3(a) requires every motor carrier to systematically inspect, repair, and maintain their commercial motor vehicle. They must have safe and properly working tires, brakes, and safety equipment.
Truck drivers must do daily inspections of their tractor-trailer before they leave, if they stop during the day and at the end of the day. Truck drivers who are tired and exhausted rarely follow this rule which causes truck accidents for poorly maintained tractor-trailers.
Part 396.7 prohibits truck drivers or their company from operating the tractor-trailer when it is in a condition likely to cause an accident or a breakdown of the vehicle.
Driver vehicle inspection reports under Part 396.11 requires all truck drivers to write down all daily inspections. These reports must be given to the head of maintenance and be monitored for safety reasons. The motor carrier must take corrective action to repair the broken part of the tractor-trailer.
Poorly maintained trucks with bad equipment cause a tremendous amount of lost life across the United States each year. These needless accidents can be reduced simply by making sure the tractor-trailer is always in a safe condition.
Improperly maintained brake systems on tractor-trailers is a leading cause of rear end crashes. The Large Truck Crash Causation Study – Analysis Brief found that a large truck with brake problems was at least 170 percent more likely to cause a truck accident.
Many trucking companies and their drivers violate the rule on extreme driving conditions under Part 392.14. Truck drivers must reduce speed when driving in hazardous conditions, such as bad weather like snow, ice, sleet, high wind, fog, and smoke. When the weather conditions become sufficiently dangerous the truck driver must discontinue operations of the tractor-trailer until the dangerous conditions are over.
In Wichita, Garden City, and across Kansas horrific semi-truck accidents happen because of high wind conditions. At Bull Attorneys we routinely handle head-on collisions where tractor-trailers and business trucks are blown over the center line by high winds approaching 60 mph and above.
On December 15, 2021, many high wind large truck crashes happened with tractor-trailers in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado. This is because the reckless truck drivers failed to heed all bad weather and high wind reports.
Truck drivers and the trucking companies must pay great attention to bad weather and high wind conditions when they are given weather warnings. They should stop all drivers from moving until the storms are over.
The commercial motor vehicle operator, including the trucking company and the driver, must understand night operations , which include problems with vision, glare, fatigue, and inexperience. Truck drivers must be trained on how night time operation of a tractor-trailer affects space management, vision and proper use of lights to avoid large truck crashes.
All truck drivers must understand hazard perception, emergency maneuvers, skid control and recovery, the relationship of the weight of their cargo to vehicle control, and principles of weight distribution and cargo securement. When truck drivers are not properly trained in the recognition of hazards, called hazard perception ,they are more likely to cause severe truck accidents. Hazard perception training helps truck drivers identify and respond to dangers on the roadways.
Most of the truck accident claims that the Bull Attorneys handle involve poorly trained truck drivers who were never provided any proper safe driving techniques. They are not taught about safety and their employers never test and assess them to see if they understand anything about hazard perception and avoidance.
Truck drivers must understand and be trained about the weight of their load and why air brakes must be used properly. Heavier loads take much longer to stop. When a tractor-trailer is heavy and speeding with poor brakes it is highly likely they will cause severe truck accidents.
Truck drivers that drive combination vehicles with more than one trailer must be trained about the hazards related to coupling and uncoupling, as well as vehicle inspection, which are unique to combination vehicles. The added length and weight can be extremely destructive and hazardous to all cars and pickup around the large heavy tractor-trailer combination.
Bull Attorneys are the Wichita Truck Accident Injury Lawyers who have recovered tens of millions of dollars on tractor-trailer, commercial vehicle, and fleet vehicle accident injury cases. Our founder wrote textbooks teaching our trial lawyers how to sue trucking companies. We usually get more money for our clients than regular car accident lawyers. We are Wichita’s top truck accident attorneys.
We immediately go to the scene of the accident to investigate, photograph, and study the accident site. We get reconstruction experts to evaluate the case to prove the fault. We request very specific government data from the DOT on the trucking company safety record. We record witness statements and put your case in a posture to immediately win. We oversee that you get the best medical treatment.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) are written rules for truck drivers and motor carriers. They mandate that every driver, employee, and even the motor carrier’s agents, officers, and hiring, training and supervising personnel are responsible for safety so that the trucking company safely follows all laws and rules. Most ignore and do not follow these rules.
On-time delivery requirements push truck drivers to take their load and be there by an exact time. When they are late, they are punished with loss of pay, termination, suspension or worse. On-time delivery requirements force truck drivers to break the law and drive over their legal limits of hours which causes fatigue, accidents, injuries, and death.
When a trucking company gives financial pay incentives to truck drivers to make their on-time delivery they are acting recklessly and can be sued for punitive damages. Very few ordinary car accident attorneys understand the Federal regulations aimed at stopping on-time deliveries. Our Wichita truck accident attorneys study how trucking companies cause catastrophic truck accidents.
Truck drivers and trucking companies must follow many rules and laws to ensure safety, efficiency, and fairness in the trucking industry. These include, Hours of Service (HOS), Understanding the FMCSR Handbook, have a commercial driver’s license (CDL), do daily vehicle maintenance checks, go through drug and alcohol testing, and accurately log all driving time so they do not exceed their maximum hours of driving limits.
Part 396.7 requires that both truck drivers and motor carriers maintain all trucks, trailers, and equipment in safe working condition at all times. Drivers must do pre-trip inspections, post-trip inspections, report defects to the motor carrier, make all necessary repairs and they are not to continue operation of the tractor-trailer until the repairs have been safely completed.
Part 396.11 requires truck drivers to conduct regular vehicle inspections and to report any maintenance issue to their motor carrier and is designed to make sure all tractor-trailers on the roads have current maintenance and safety equipment that is in good working order. This is to help reduce accidents and injuries or deaths with other drivers on the nation’s roads and highways.
The Bull Attorneys find missing maintenance records unless they have been destroyed. We issue subpoenas to the trucking company maintenance shops to get them reproduced. When they are totally missing and appear to be lost or destroyed, and the accident was due to faulty maintenance, we use this to prove fault and add a punitive damage claim to punish the trucking company for not obeying the law and destroying their maintenance records.
Bull Attorneys give free consultations and then work on a contingency fee basis where we charge a percentage of the recovery. You do not pay anything unless we win your case. This allows you to hire much better truck accident lawyers without having to pay money by the hour to a lawyer.
A preventable truck accident is a collision or incident with a commercial truck like a tractor-trailer that could be prevented if safe driving practices had been followed. Preventable accidents are caused by driver or company error and negligence from not having a safety plan that is used on a company wide basis with all truck drivers and supervisors.
The Bull Attorneys have a wide range of practice areas, but they focus their expertise in truck accident law to make it easier for you to find relevant information. Learn more about the complexities within truck accident law by visiting Truck Accident Lawyers Group practice areas.
10111 E. 21st St. N #204
Wichita KS 67206
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Wichita KS 67203
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Wichita KS 67216
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