A loaded tractor-trailer weighs up to twenty times what your car does. When one hits you, the injuries are rarely minor and the carrier knows it.
Major carriers dispatch a rapid response team to serious crash scenes the same day. Their people are photographing the scene, interviewing witnesses, and preserving the evidence that favors them while you are still in an emergency room.
A trucking case is a federal regulatory case that happens to involve a collision. Interstate carriers operate under Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules governing driver hours, qualification, vehicle inspection, maintenance, and drug and alcohol testing.
Violations of those rules frequently explain why a crash happened, and they open avenues of liability that do not exist in an ordinary car accident.
Much of this is subject to limited retention periods. A preservation letter sent early is often the difference between having the proof and arguing about why it is gone.
Truck crashes frequently involve several potentially responsible parties, each with separate insurance. Identifying all of them is a substantial part of the work and is often where the real recovery is found.
The Port of Savannah moves an enormous volume of container freight, and nearly all of it leaves by truck. Drayage traffic feeds onto I-16 and I-95 continuously, mixing heavy commercial vehicles with local commuters on corridors that were not designed for it.
The result is a concentration of serious truck crashes in Chatham, Bryan, Effingham and Liberty counties that most parts of Georgia do not see. If you were hurt in one of them, the case deserves someone who takes it seriously from day one.
As quickly as you are able. Electronic data and camera footage are subject to retention limits, and a preservation demand needs to reach the carrier before those windows close. The carrier's team began working the day of the crash.
You are not obligated to give a recorded statement, and it is generally not in your interest to do so before you understand your own injuries. That call is part of their investigation, not a courtesy.
Not automatically, but interstate motor carriers are required to carry substantially higher liability limits than personal auto policies, and injuries in these crashes tend to be more severe. Available coverage is often the practical ceiling on any claim, which is why identifying all of it matters.
Small carriers are still subject to federal safety regulations and still must carry minimum coverage. There may also be additional policies through the shipper, broker, or trailer owner.