Did You Suffer a TBI in a Truck Accident?

We’ve all grown used to the sight of large commercial vehicles on our state’s roads. It’s still important, however, to avoid becoming complacent around these vehicles just because we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing them, as commercial vehicles pose a very real risk to other road users. The kinds of injuries sustained in collisions with these kinds of vehicles are wide ranging and usually serious, but some of the most devastating involve some sort of head trauma and resulting brain injury.

Why Truck Accidents Cause Head Injuries 

Commercial vehicles are some of the largest on the road and are often 20 to 30 times bigger than the average passenger vehicle. For instance, when fully loaded, commercial trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, while most passenger cars weigh around 4,000 pounds. Because of the vast size differential, a large commercial truck striking a small passenger car tends to result in serious injuries for the occupants of the latter. Often, the blunt force impact involved causes the head to violently snap backwards and forwards or to strike the steering wheel, dashboard, or window. This kind of trauma to the head can cause serious injuries.

Types of Truck Accident TBIs 

There are a lot of different kinds of injuries that a person can suffer after sustaining head trauma in a truck accident, but the most common include:

• Concussions, which occur when a violent jolt or blow to the head stretches and bruises the nerves and blood vessels in the brain, causing chemical changes that impact normal brain function;
• Diffuse axonal injuries, which can occur when the nerve fibers in the brain are torn as a result of the shifting and rotating of the brain inside the skull upon impact;
• Penetrating brain injuries, which occur when a break in the skull leaves the brain itself subject to traumatic injury;
• Skull fractures, which occur when a blunt force impact causes the bones in the skull to break; and
• Cerebral lacerations, which occur when the brain tissue is torn, either by a piece of fractured skull or a foreign object.

These TBIs range in severity, but all come with their own painful symptoms, including everything from headaches and memory loss to coma and permanent brain damage.

Recovery for a Truck Accident TBI 

Diagnosing and treating traumatic brain injuries is expensive. Fortunately, injured parties who can prove that their truck accident-related injury wasn’t their fault can recover compensation for these losses from the at fault party. Compensable losses include the cost of:

• Emergency transportation;
• Emergency medical care;
• Diagnostic procedures;
• Surgical operations;
• Medications; and
• Therapies and rehabilitation services.

In addition to obtaining reimbursement for their medical bills, injured parties are also often entitled to compensation for their lost income and pain and suffering.

Work With an Oklahoma Truck Accident Attorney 

To learn more about the ins and outs of seeking compensation from the at-fault party who caused your own TBI, please call 918-492-4433 and set up a meeting with the experienced Tulsa truck accident attorneys at Levinson Law, P.C. today.

Source: 

fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2021