Commercial Truckers
Driver's who have a commercial driver's license (CDL) are trained and licensed by their home state requirements. Commercial truckers differ from regular truck drivers in that the US DOT and the Federal guidelines for interstate travel govern them. Guideline for rest and fatigue are mandated and these truckers must subject themselves to drug testing and rest schedules to operate on the highways. Commercial truckers do not always own the load they are carrying. For example Wal-Mart Transportation, LLC is a subsidiary of Wal-Mart stores and insulates the main corporation, Walmart, from transportation risks. Wal-Mart Transportation usually owns the rigs and employs the drivers who ship goods interstate. The relationship between commercial truckers, the rig owners, and the trailer owners can sometimes be complicated based upon the business arrangement. Many truck drivers are independent and thus own their own rigs and for a fee will drive the goods from point X to point Z. Risk of loss is usually spelled out in common carrier contracts.

If you have been injured by a commercial trucker and need a Las Vegas Trucker Attorney, please call us for a free consultation.

Hazardous Materials
Trucks carrying hazardous materials need special licenses to operate, and must be listed with an identifying mark for HM. These specially endorsed vehicle often require a hazmat team to clean up at the scene. These can be the heaviest loads around as they are liquid, which carries no air. Not only is the clean up a mess to deal with, the hope is that the chemicals or hazardous material does not interact with the human occupants. Burns can horribly afflict the passengers or drivers, and the recovery can be a very long road.

Head On Collisions with Trucks
The most devastating truck collisions are head-on collisions. These types of collisions result in fatalities most of the time given the extreme weights of the vehicles and the heavy loads. A head on collision with a tractor-trailer usually means the rig or the opposing vehicle left its lane of travel into oncoming traffic. Sleep deprivation, fatigue and other factors including distracted driving can cause complete devastation. Cars will lose this battle 100% of the time. Benson & Bingham are Nevada trucking accident attorneys that will do a full investigation into the accident.

Jack Knife Accidents
When tractor-trailer's jack-knife causing the cab and trailer to pinch the body of the trailer can cross multiple lanes of travel. Much of this is caused by severe braking or sudden deceleration by way of a rear-end collision. Under high speeds and high force the resulting accidents are horrific given the rig will take up many lanes. When a tractor-trailer jack-knifes the trailer is exposed creating an extreme hazard for oncoming and ongoing traffic. Major head injuries result when cars go under trailers at high speeds including decapitation, fatal head contusions, and brain damage.

Overloading of Trucks
Trucks are limited to 129,000 pounds to driven on US highways. To put this in perspective, a fully loaded truck is equivalent to 32 cars (@4,000 pounds); now, imagine them colliding at a normal freeway speed of 65 mph. The damage is often unrecognizable. Trucks that are overloaded put a strain on the braking system, the tires and the engines. Moreover, they become so heavy that an already slow vehicle is even slower

Rental Trucks, UPS, & FEDEX Trucks
Budget Leasing, U-haul and other commercial trucks are involved in numerous accidents every year. The problem is with these trucks is lack of insurance coverage that usually piggybacks larger carriers. Leasing trucks are only covered under Nevada Law for $15,000 limits. Nevada's short-term lessor statutes control the mandatory insurance requirements. For this reason, rental truck accidents can be horrible because not only are the damages great, the injuries significant, but the insurance coverages are usually low.

UPS and FEDEX carriers are much larger businesses and thus carry much larger policies. Utility Trucks, Water Trucks, Nevada Energy Trucks, Flat Bed Trucks, Tow trucks, Refrigerated trucks, gravel trucks we have dealt with nearly every type of trucking accident and we look forward to helping you.

Rear-End Accidents
The laws of physics dictate that forces will continue on when acted upon by another force. Newton's laws of physics stand for the proposition that the velocity of a body remains constant unless an external force acts upon the body. The acceleration of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to the mass, and the mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite, and collinear. When a Truck fails to slow down and rear-ends another the force of the rig is transferred into the stopped vehicle in front.

Trucking rear-end accidents are horrific. The Las Vegas Trucking Accident Attorneys of Benson & Bingham have handled many, very severe, accident cases. The forces often push the vehicle occupants through the front shield window causing major head, neck and shoulder injuries if the victims are lucky enough to survive. Catastrophic brain injury is also a likely result. It is imperative that the proper trucking experts are retained and the proper medical experts hired to explain the extent of the damage. We only work with the top physicians to help our clients make the best recovery possible.

Johnson vs. Truline (actual pictures) $1.3 Million dollar verdict. Pahrump, NV
Rule vs. Rule (pending case) (truck vs. truck accident) Battle Mountain, Nevada
Pierce ($2.4M settlement) I-15 Nevada.

Run-Away Trucks
Nothing could be scarier then a truck that has lost its brakes. Heavily inclined roads are usually constructed with run away truck ramps that are filled with gravel to lessen the damage and slow a fast moving truck. Runaway trucks can smash into homes causing tragic results. The brakes on trucks must be vigilantly inspected and constantly tested to prove they work. Unlike aircraft, independent trucks may skip maintenance to save money causing brake pad failure. Brake lines that are not inspected may bleed causing a total hydraulic failure or air brake failure. It is important to get the vehicle inspected prior to any truck repairs to ascertain who may be liable in a truck accident. A failure to do this may relieve a paying party of their legal obligation to pay simply because the proof is missing. Do not let a repair occur to a rig until our attorneys have investigated the physical damage.

Tractor Trailer Accidents
As one of the leading tractor-trailer accident lawyers in Nevada, Benson & Bingham and their staff vigorously litigate tractor-trailer accidents throughout the State of Nevada. While most of the trucker accidents occur in the vicinity of Clark County, we handle truck accidents in ALL Nevada counties including:

Clark County Trucking Accident Attorneys
Washoe    Trucking Accident Attorneys
Elko Trucking Accident Attorneys
Carson City Trucking Accident Attorneys
Douglas County Trucking Accident Attorneys
Humboldt County Trucking Accident Attorneys
Lincoln County Trucking Accident Attorneys
Nye Trucking Accident Attorneys
Esmeralda Trucking Accident Attorneys
Mineral Trucking Accident Attorneys
Storey Trucking Accident Attorneys
Pershing Trucking Accident Attorneys
Whitepine Trucking Accident Attorneys
Lander Trucking Accident Attorneys
Eureka Trucking Accident Attorneys
Lincoln Trucking Accident Attorneys
Churchill Trucking Accident Attorneys
Lyon Trucking Accident Attorneys