Cameron Park is a small, relaxed community of just around 18,000 people. While the city offers its residents a relatively peaceful atmosphere, there’s still a fair amount of vehicle traffic on local roads. Furthermore, because it sits on Highway 50 and is located directly between the Sacramento metropolitan area and Placerville, numerous large commercial trucks pass through the city daily. While truck traffic is a sign of a healthy economy, it also presents a serious risk to local drivers, and accidents that involve big rigs frequently result in significant injuries.

The injuries that people suffer during truck accidents can significantly impact their lives. As a Cameron Park truck accident lawyer, it is my job to help people who’ve been affected by trucking accidents recover compensation and move forward with their lives after traumatic collisions.

Semi-trucks are massive vehicles. In California, these trucks can legally weigh as much as 80,000 pounds. Because of their enormous size, big rigs can cause extreme damage during accidents. Trucking accidents can result in severe or possibly deadly injuries, even in low-speed collisions or crashes that would have otherwise been fender-benders.

Additionally, big rigs are less able to avoid accidents than other vehicles. Because they carry so much weight, big rigs have a lot of momentum, meaning it takes more force to stop them. For this reason, semi-trucks cannot brake suddenly or make sharp turns to avoid accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that around 100,000 traumatic auto accidents involving commercial trucks occur in the United States annually.

Data from California Highway Patrol (CHP) and other local traffic enforcement agencies shows 8,081 injury-causing auto accidents in El Dorado County between 2008 and 2020. These 8,081 crashes included 161 collisions involving large trucks. Notably, around 55 percent of El Dorado County truck accidents happened on a state-operated highway, not a county or municipal road. In contrast, only about 38 percent of auto accidents in the county occurred on state highways.

While truck accidents accounted for less than one percent of El Dorado County accidents, they were significantly more dangerous. Truck accidents across the county were more than 25 percent more deadly and had a higher rate of severe injuries when compared to collisions overall.

Big rigs present a severe risk to drivers of smaller vehicles. While nobody can say when or where a crash will happen, there are steps that drivers can take to decrease their risk of being involved in a trucking accident. To learn more about defensive driving near semi-trucks, watch this short video:

Big rigs are almost always owned by a large company operating a fleet of similar trucks. Trucking companies know these vehicles’ dangers and usually see accidents as an average business risk. This means these companies are typically ready to take legal action immediately after crashes happen. In many cases, the company will have a legal team ready and send them to the accident scene to conduct private investigations. Unfortunately, such aggressive defense can put crash survivors at a disadvantage when it comes to injury claims.

The best way to ensure you can receive the payments you deserve from negligent parties is to contact a Cameron Park truck accident lawyer immediately. If your lawyer can start working on your case early on, they will be more able to hold at-fault parties financially responsible and ensure you obtain the compensation you deserve.

Because accident injuries can affect many aspects of your life, the damages available through injury claims cover many losses. These often include economic losses like medical expenses, lost wages, and property damage, as well as losses related to personal suffering.

However, every case is different, and the compensation available depends on the details of your specific case. Because of this, it’s always best to consult with a Cameron Park truck accident attorney before you move forward with filing a claim. Most lawyers will happily offer free advice to you over a phone consultation, so there isn’t anything to lose by reaching out for trustworthy advice.

Trucking collisions frequently cause significant injuries. If you have been injured in a commercial truck accident, call our legal team as soon as you can at (530) 392-9400 or (800) 404-5400.

Our law firm has worked with people in the Cameron Park area since 1982. We’ve achieved many outstanding settlements and verdicts for our clients throughout this time.

^{Editor’s Note: updated [cha 8.2.23] Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels ms cha [cs 787]}