Indianapolis Delivery Truck Accident Lawyer

You may have noticed more delivery trucks in your neighborhood compared to past years. Like it or not, our lives are different from 20 years ago.

Amazon started by selling only books. Now, they sell just about anything you can imagine. Along with Walmart, whose internet business is trying to give Amazon a run for its money, these companies serve as modern-day general stores. Add in all the other businesses on the internet, along with local deliveries (pizza, meals, and flowers), and the number of delivery vehicles on the road, especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas, can be astonishing.

Cyber stores now rack up millions of dollars in sales and have UPS and FedEx trucks rolling through our communities in record numbers. Drivers are pressured to meet deadlines by having a package delivered overnight, this afternoon, or ASAP in the case of meals. No one wants a cold dinner, even in the age of easy reheating using a microwave oven.

Being a delivery truck driver isn’t easy. The hours are long, the traffic is frustrating, and the time pressures can be intense. Most drivers do their very best, and that is usually quite good. Yet, drivers rush, trucks aren’t properly loaded or maintained, and accidents happen.

Drivers Under Duress

When you are in a hurry, cutting corners becomes attractive. For example, you might creep through a stop sign when you can see that no one is coming. However, delivery drivers under pressure might stop abruptly and even back up with no warning if they miss their turnoff. They might try to beat a light, especially when making a left turn. They might not properly re-secure their cargo after a delivery. Drivers might forget to close cargo doors or set their brakes when they hop out to take parcels to someone’s door. It wouldn’t be the first time a truck rolled on its own, striking parked cars and causing much mayhem.

With so-called light trucks (the kinds used by UPS, FedEx, and the white boxy trucks you often see), truck accidents and fatalities are rising. Statistics compiled by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) indicate that in Indiana in 2013, there were 3,752 crashes involving trucks of all kinds, with 113 fatalities and 1,854 injuries. In 2014, those numbers rose to 4,833 crashes, 132 fatalities, and 2,169 injuries. Nationally, these numbers showed similar increases.

Other issues exist when it comes to the reasons delivery trucks can be dangerous:

• Drivers often can’t see you because of the truck’s size and boxiness.
• GPS or cell phone distraction. This problem is becoming more widespread, with scary implications.
• Bad weather creates control issues, especially with a truck that is poorly loaded.
• Work compensation systems that cause drivers to hurry and cut corners.
• Unrealistic workload expectations by employers when it comes to the hours and physical labor expected of a driver.
• The sheer weight of delivery trucks, which can run up to 26,000 pounds, versus the average passenger vehicle’s weight of 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. The laws of physics tend to dictate accident outcomes in such cases.

With all of these risk factors, are you surprised that accidents and injuries are the result?

It’s Not Just Trucks You Have to Worry About

More and more, deliveries are handled by people who drive their own cars. They get paid a token amount (often below minimum wage) but get to keep any tips they make. Add on any requirement to deliver items within a certain time, and tragedy is bound to ensue.

Domino’s was hit with a judgment of $78 million over 30 years ago (1993) because a delivery driver left a woman with head and spinal injuries. Since then, most pizza corporations have eliminated any delivery promises involving time. But the accidents keep happening.

While pizza delivery is still the industry most likely to hire drivers who use their own cars, some larger urban areas have other delivery systems that hire drivers who use their own cars. Deliveries so far are mostly restricted to food and meals. Still, pharmacies and other enterprises hire local drivers who use their own cars to deliver various time-sensitive items in some areas.

You can’t count on such drivers to have sufficient commercial insurance; as independent contractors, they are responsible. Some insurance companies prohibit pizza and other delivery jobs from being covered on personal car insurance policies because of the risk. Personal insurance rarely covers commercial usage; special riders are required.

Be careful out there when you see one of those logo identifiers on the top of a car.