Fatal Wheel-Off Accidents

Washington, D.C., Maryland, & Virginia

Large commercial trucks need to be held to high maintenance and inspection standards in order to ensure the safety of other motorists on the road. Though many truck accidents occur due to the negligence of a driver, others involve faulty components in the trucks themselves.

Wheel-off truck accidents are one of the most devastating types of vehicle accidents that can occur. In many cases where a wheel has separated from a large commercial truck, a motorist has been killed.

Reasons Wheel-Off Truck Accidents Occur

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has investigated wheel-off accidents for several years and determined a number of common causes:

Over- or under-tightening of wheel fasteners
Poor wheel maintenance practices
Use of low-quality wheel and axle parts
Wheel bearing failure from misalignment and/or inadequate lubrication

Although many training programs and safety measures have been put in place to help prevent wheel-off accidents, they continue to happen and take people’s lives every year. Lack of accountability is the ultimate reason; some fleet managers do not have wheel-retention programs in place, or else do not readily enforce wheel re-torques.

Responsible Parties in Wheel-Off Accidents

Wheel-off truck accident cases can be quite complex, involving several different liable parties. If one of your loved ones has died due to a wheel separating from a commercial truck and striking their vehicle, our experienced attorneys and investigators can investigate the circumstances of your claim and determine who is at fault.

The responsible parties could include:

The truck’s manufacturer
The truck’s parts manufacturer
The trucking company
The truck’s owner
The truck’s maintenance company (if off-site)

In most cases, these fatal truck accidents could have easily been prevented if a trucking company’s fleet management had simply taken a pre-emptive and proactive approach to wheel maintenance. The overwhelming fatality rate for wheel-off truck accidents should not be ignored; these companies need to be held responsible for the wrongful deaths caused by their inadequate safety measures. The competitive nature of today’s trucking industry cannot be allowed to threaten the lives of other motorists.

If one of your loved ones has been killed in a fatal wheel-off accident in Virginia, Washington D.C., or Maryland, please contact the experienced truck accident attorneys at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel, P.C. today to schedule a free consultation. We can help you obtain justice and compensation to help you through this difficult time.

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Fatal Wheel-Off Accidents

Washington, D.C., Maryland, & Virginia