Overweight / Overloaded Truck Accidents

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act divides the vehicles into several different types like school buses, dump trucks, and 18-wheelers. Regulated weights may depend on the vehicle. The absolute maximum weight under the federal limits is 80,000 pounds. However, smaller trucks might have lower maximum weights.

If you or a loved one were injured in a collision with a truck that was overweight or overloaded, you might be entitled to compensation. Reach out to a Richmond overweight/overloaded truck accident lawyer. A dedicated truck accident attorney could help you recover the damages that you deserve.

A truck that is overweight or overloaded could cause the truck driver to lose control of the vehicle and wreck. An overweight truck may not stop in time or make turns in the same manner that a truck that is under the weight limit.

There are risks to infrastructure when a truck is overweight or overloaded. Many secondary roads have overpasses and there are bridges that have certain height and weight limits associated with them. There is a chance that if a driver is not paying attention to the weight limits or height limits on overpasses or bridges, they could cause damage to the bridge or the overpass that could cause damage to other vehicles or drivers on the road.

There could be a difference between a truck that is too heavy and a truck that meets acceptable standards of weight but is carrying too much cargo or is improperly loaded. There may be certain circumstances in which a truck is within an acceptable standard of weight in terms of the overall gross vehicle weight, but the cargo within the truck or on the truck may not be loaded safely or balanced properly. In this situation, it may pose an unreasonable risk that the driver of the truck might lose control, jackknife, or overturn.

Could the Contents of the Cargo Pose a Risk?

A load of boxes could pose a different risk than other types of cargo, such as hazardous material. There are additional regulations governing the operation of trucks that are loaded with hazardous materials like certain gases, liquids, or extremely flammable materials that could cause severe injuries if those materials are not handled correctly.

A person could suffer catastrophic injuries as a result of being in an accident with an overweight or overloaded truck. Even unloaded, 18-wheelers weigh thousands of pounds more than other vehicles on the road. Because overloaded or improperly loaded trucks pose a rollover or a jackknifing risk, it could give rise to scenarios in which it might turn over on top of something else, spill materials onto the roadway or onto other drivers, and have a crushing impact. An overweight/overloaded truck accident lawyer in Richmond could help an injured victim recover the damages they deserve after a wreck.

Any number of people could be found liable for accidents that occur due to overweight or overloaded trucks, including the driver of the overloaded or overweight truck, the shipper who may have had a hand in loading the cargo onto the truck, or a third-party that had a role in overloading the truck. It could also be the trucking company for not properly monitoring the truck's weight or for not properly training the driver on how to properly load or weigh the truck.

A Richmond overweight/overloaded truck accident lawyer could help you establish liability and recover compensation if you were injured in a collision. Call today to get started on your case.