Bigger trucks cause worse injuries & insurance companies ignore that

You’ve probably noticed that pickup trucks keep getting bigger. We’ve noticed too, because we see the results. Larger, taller, heavier trucks are sending people to us with more serious injuries, and they’re behind a rising number of death cases. What injured people don’t realize is that insurance companies rarely account for this, at least not until they’re forced to.

Attorney Vern Ready with a big truck in the wild in Colorado

Here’s what’s actually going on, and why it matters for your case. We have also made a video on this topic that you can find here, on our YouTube channel, @readylaw.

These aren’t semi-trucks, and that’s part of the problem

We’ve always had semi-trucks on the road, but the people who drive them get special training, follow special rules, and are held to a higher standard. Today’s oversized pickups are bigger and heavier than trucks used to be, but the people driving them aren’t required to do anything different. That is a gap that is resulting in rising danger.

The view from up there isn’t as good as it looks

Part of the appeal of a big truck is the feeling that you can see everything and you’re riding above everyone else. It turns out the opposite is often true. As these trucks get taller and their hoods get bigger and flatter, it becomes harder for the driver to see what’s directly in front of them. This is illustrated really well in a recent Consumer Reports article, “As SUVs & pickups grow in size, so do blind spots.”

It’s not just what’s straight ahead. The pillars that run from the dashboard to the roof, called A-pillars, are built thick and reinforced in heavy trucks so they resist crushing in a rollover. Manufacturers have also made them larger and added grab handles, because those big trucks are often hard to get into from the ground. The problem is that a bigger pillar blocks more of the driver’s view, causing yet another blind spot that overlaps the hood’s blind spots. You can really see this when a large truck makes a left turn, and that pillar sweeps right across the crosswalk, exactly where you’d expect a pedestrian to be. If the timing lines up, the driver may not see the person at all. The New York Times recently published a great interactive article on this, including vivid reconstructions of this problem.

Height changes how a person gets hurt

Truck height doesn’t just affect what a driver can see. It changes how badly someone is injured when hit by an oversize vehicle.

• Location of impact: When a pedestrian is hit by a large modern truck, he or she is more likely to be injured more seriously. For the pickup trucks that many of our grandparents drove, a collision with a pedestrian would mean that the pedestrian is hit in the waist, hip, or chest, and could be knocked onto the hood. While serious, the injured person was more likely to survive. Today, the taller the truck, the more likely it strikes a person at the head or neck instead of the waist or chest, more vulnerable areas less able to absorb a blow.
• Aftermath of impact: A pedestrian hit by one of these big trucks with a higher grille is more likely to fall under the truck than be knocked onto the hood. Both are serious, but going under is often far worse, because a person can be run over if the vehicle doesn’t stop immediately.
• Override and underride: In a crash between a tall truck and a smaller vehicle, the smaller car can slide underneath and lift the truck, or the taller truck can drive straight into the passenger compartment. Either way, the injuries are more severe and more likely to be fatal.

Insurance companies act like this isn’t real

These trucks have been getting bigger for decades. You’d think auto insurers, whose entire business is understanding crashes, would build this into how they value a claim, right? That’s not what we see. When we raise it, the response is often some version of, “Huh? What are you talking about?”

That’s why it helps to work with someone who has raised this issue before and can back it up. When we can point to our own track record and say, “Look at this other case and what we did with these exact facts,” the conversation changes for an injured person’s claim. Being hit by a big, oversize vehicle affects how a person was injured, what their recovery looks like, and what their damages should be. Someone has to make the insurance company see it, because they won’t account for it on their own.

That’s a big part of what we do at Ready Law. We look for what makes your case, your collision, and your recovery stand out from the crowd, and we make the insurance company look at the human side of what you’re going through.

If you own one of these trucks, this is for you too

We understand the appeal, and this isn’t about blame for owning a big truck. But a larger vehicle asks more of you. Just like any bigger vehicle, it needs more attention. Semi-trucks come with special training and special rules. These pickups don’t, no matter how large they get. If you drive one, you take on a serious responsibility to be extra attentive and to make up for the blind spots with added care. And what better time to up your attention game than headed into the fall, with National Pedestrian Safety Month right around the corner in October? When we taught our kids to drive, we told them that they needed to employ the 360-degree awareness program, and that’s especially true of big vehicle drivers.

If you’ve been hurt, you don’t have to do this alone

If you or someone you care about has been seriously injured or killed by a large or lifted pickup truck, reach out to someone who has handled these specific facts before. Regardless of whether you are in Colorado, when choosing a lawyer, look for trial experience and a willingness to go to trial when a case calls for it.

In Colorado, that’s us and that’s trial lawyer Vern Ready. We handle serious injury and wrongful death cases, we’ve made these arguments before, and we’re ready to show the insurance company we’ll do it again. Our goal is full and fair compensation and making sure you don’t have to face any of it alone.

Get ready.

Injured by a large truck? Contact Ready Law for a free consultation.