Plainfield, IL is home to a convergence of traffic thoroughfares. Highway 59 runs through the city to the north and south, Highway 126 to the west and northeast, and Highway 30 to the northwest and southwest. Each of these three local highways crosses paths with Interstate 55, the mighty freeway that carries commerce and commuters between the Chicago area and St. Louis. If you venture on or near I-55 during morning or evening rush hour, you will doubtlessly see vehicles of every type, including throngs of semi-trucks. 

With so much activity, and so much of it ridden with intensity by the time deadlines and the expectations of drivers, accidents involving tractor-trailer trucks are an unfortunate reality in and around the Plainfield area. Fortunately, Illinois state law allows for truck accident victims to seek financial recourse for the harms and losses suffered in a collision. 

Personal Injuries Sustained in a Collision With a Large Truck May Be Severe 

Transportation safety experts have determined that undiagnosed or inadequately treated obstructive sleep apnea in drivers can lead to accidents caused by sleepiness or inattentiveness. Two agencies in the United States Transportation Department had been pushing for more testing to be required of truck drivers and train operators for this disorder.

However, that initiative was recently dropped. The Transportation Department says that the condition is still an “on-going concern,” but that it can be addressed using existing regulations.

When the effort to regulate sleep apnea testing began, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Federal Railroad Administration stated that untreated obstructive sleep apnea "can cause unintended sleep episodes and resulting deficits in attention, concentration, situational awareness, and memory, thus reducing the capacity to safely respond to hazards when performing safety sensitive duties."

When you get into a truck accident, your first instinct may be to accuse the driver as the party at fault. This is a logical thought, and often the driver is all or partially at fault.

Drivers may have been driving fatigued or otherwise not adhering to state and federal trucking regulations. However, drivers are not the only party that can be at fault. For example, if the truck accident was caused by defective brakes the company who manufactured the brakes or the business that inspected the brakes during a maintenance check may also be responsible.

There are many types of entities that may be responsible for your truck accident including: