Delivery trucks move through Brooklyn every day. They stop at warehouses, retail stores, restaurants, apartment buildings, bike lanes, and busy commercial streets. Accidents involving commercial vehicles, including Amazon vans, UPS trucks, FedEx vehicles, grocery delivery trucks, and moving trucks, can result in serious injuries. These are large vehicles with blind spots that stop frequently and often travel through congested city blocks.
After a delivery truck crash involving injuries, disputed fault, or several insurance companies, injured people should consult a Brooklyn truck accident lawyer who can review the claim. This blog explains what to do after a Brooklyn delivery truck accident, who may be responsible, and how injured people can protect their legal rights. New York drivers must file a motorist crash report when anyone is injured or killed, or when one person’s property damage is more than $1,000.
What Should You Do After a Brooklyn Delivery Truck Accident?
Report the Crash and Get Medical Care Quickly
The first priority after a delivery truck accident is safety. This matters even more near a crosswalk, bike lane, loading zone, intersection, or double-parked truck. Call 911 if anyone is injured, traffic is blocked, or the truck driver flees the scene of the collision.
A police report can help document crash locations, parties involved, witness information, vehicle details, injuries sustained, and any violations committed during or as a result of this crash. Injured parties should seek medical care as soon as possible, as concussions, neck and back injuries, fractures, and soft-tissue injuries may become worse once the scene has cleared away.
Preserve Evidence Before the Truck Leaves
Drivers follow strict schedules and delivery trucks often leave without gathering sufficient evidence. When it is safe, take photos of the entire truck. Take photos of company markings, license plate number, vehicle number, delivery logos, damage, road conditions, traffic signs, bike lane markings, skid marks, and nearby cameras.
Gather witness names, phone numbers, store details, security camera locations, the driver’s employer or delivery platform details, as well as evidence such as dashcam footage, delivery route data, GPS logs, driver schedules, app records, maintenance records, or company safety policies as evidence of driver misconduct.
Who May Be Responsible for a Delivery Truck Crash?
Delivery Drivers and Trucking Companies May Be Liable
Careless driving may have contributed to a crash on Brooklyn streets. There’s little margin for error around pedestrians, cyclists, and parked cars; common culprits may include speeding, distracted driving, unsafe backing up, double parking, failing to yield at red lights, blocking bike lanes, making wide turns without checking blind spots, and speeding.
Delivery companies may also be held liable when drivers were acting within the scope of their employment or when company rules contributed to unsafe driving behavior. Such cases could involve driver training, hiring practices, route pressure, supervision, vehicle inspections, or unrealistic delivery deadlines.
Other Parties May Share Fault in the Accident
Delivery truck crashes can involve more than one responsible party. The driver may be only one part of the claim. Possible parties may include subcontractors, vehicle owners, cargo loaders, maintenance companies, leasing companies, rideshare drivers, other motorists, cyclists, or property owners.
New York’s no-fault system usually provides first-party benefits for medical expenses and lost earnings after motor vehicle crashes, regardless of who caused the crash. Serious injury claims may also require reviewing whether the injury meets New York’s serious injury threshold before pursuing pain-and-suffering damages against an at-fault driver.
How Can Victims Protect Their Legal Rights?
Understand Insurance and Reporting Deadlines
Insurance issues can become more complicated when a crash involves a delivery truck, company vehicle, leased vehicle, or independent contractor. More than one insurer may be involved.
Crash reports can be requested from the NYPD during the first 30 days after the report is filed. Later requests generally go through the New York DMV. In most cases, the DMV keeps crash reports for four years from the crash date. Victims should keep insurance letters, medical bills, treatment records, wage records, repair estimates, prescriptions, and transportation receipts.
Avoid Mistakes That Can Weaken the Claim
An insurer and a trucking company can investigate a claim quickly. It is best for victims to avoid making uninformed statements or guessing at facts they do not fully understand, signing quick settlement releases, or posting details of their accident online without thought, recording statements before they understand their rights.
Save any torn clothes, bike parts, helmets, photographs, doctors’ orders, and all correspondence between you and insurance companies. An attorney can help determine proper coverage, preserve business records, investigate employment status, and determine if multiple parties may be liable.
Conclusion
Accidents involving Brooklyn delivery trucks can result in serious injuries, complications with commercial insurance, company regulations, driver negligence, and a variety of liable parties. If involved in an accident, you should contact authorities, get medical attention, write down details of the truck and the scene of the accident, get statements from witnesses, and protect the evidence before it disappears.
The delivery driver, employer, vehicle owner, contractor, maintenance company, cargo loader, or another careless road user may be liable. Prompt action can help an injured person protect his or her legal rights after a Brooklyn delivery truck accident.