The Most Common Types of Truck Accident Injuries
Every day, millions of cars share Florida’s roadways with thousands of commercial trucks. Large, heavy trucks are dangerous to ordinary motorists. Truck accidents often cause pileups on busy, high-speed roadways, killing multiple people. Truck accident victims who survive may face long-term pain, emotional suffering, and challenges with work, insurance, and bills. If you’ve been in a truck accident and think you might need legal representation, call us now for a free consultation. Our attorneys can help you seek the relief you need and the compensation you deserve.
Common Truck Accident Injuries
If you’ve been in a truck accident, chances are you’ve been hurt—and badly. Your injuries may be obvious, painful, or even debilitating. Or your injuries may be hidden. You may have started experiencing pain or impairment days after the accident. Maybe you’ve been treated for injuries but continue to endure lasting effects. We understand. Common truck accident injuries include:
Neck and Back Injuries
Truck accidents jar your body violently, injuring your spine. These injuries are more than “a pain in the neck.” Even minor discomfort may cause you to have headaches, miss work, or abandon physical activities. With a back injury like a dislocated spinal disc, you may be practically unable to move. In some cases, nerve damage or even paralysis may be present. Paralysis is caused by spinal cord damage, which may not be immediately apparent. If you’ve been in a truck accident, you should seek a medical examination right away to make sure you haven’t suffered a spinal cord injury.
Head and Brain Injuries
When you’re in an accident, the impact can cause your head to be flung forward and backward rapidly. This is known as “whiplash.” Whiplash is painful and can cause severe trauma to your brain. Any nausea, confusion, vision or other sensory problems, dizziness, difficulty speaking or thinking, loss of consciousness, or changes in behavior or sleep patterns, following an accident could be a sign of a brain injury.
Broken Bones and Fractures
A loaded semi-truck may weigh ten or more times as much as an ordinary car, so the shock that a collision with one sends through your body is also that much more powerful. It can break many bones. Fractures in bones such as the ribcage that protect vital organs are especially severe.
Internal Organ Injuries
Powerful blunt-force trauma and vibration from an accident can cause internal bleeding to organs like the bladder, liver, kidney, pancreas, and spleen. A broken rib may puncture a lung. Prolonged internal bleeding can cause brain damage or even death. Depending on the type of damage, surgery may be required. While some internal injuries will heal on their own with proper care, others may entail a lifetime of complications, especially if the brain has been affected.
External Injuries
Cuts and lacerations from truck accidents can be painful and often leave scars that may never disappear. Because trucks are so heavy, crush injuries are also common. A limb may be so badly damaged from the accident that it must be amputated. While not generally life-threatening, these injuries can be life-altering. For many, disfigurement is a source of intense emotional distress. Loss of a limb can impair a victim’s ability to work. A truck accident victim may need extensive physical and psychological therapies to restore confidence and independence.
Burns
Burn injuries happen more frequently in accidents involving commercial trucks than in accidents between two passenger vehicles. Commercial trucks carry much more fuel than cars do, and the extraordinary force of the collision can easily cause either the truck’s own fuel tank or the other vehicle’s to rupture. Leaking fuel may contact hot metal or be exposed to a spark. If even a drop catches fire, this will ignite the surrounding fumes and remaining fuel, causing a huge, fiery explosion that engulfs the vehicles in an instant. Burns are exceedingly painful and increase the victim’s risk of infection. Like other severe external injuries, they often result in disfigurement and psychological trauma. Vehicle fires can cause internal injuries, too. Smoke and heat from the fire, as well as toxic fumes of burning upholsteries and other vehicle components, can cause permanent lung damage.
Have You Been Injured in a Truck Accident? Contact us for Legal Representation.
If you’ve been in a truck accident in Florida, we understand what you’re going through—the inconvenience, the pain, the trauma, the bills. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed or your life has been forever altered, your case deserves our attention. Call us today to talk about options for your case.
