New York Truck Accident Lawyer

Commercial Motor Vehicle & Truck Accidents in New York

A commercial motor vehicle (CMV) is any vehicle used to transport passengers or property that has a gross weight over 10,000 pounds, is designed to transport more than 15 people at a time, or is used to transport a certain amount of hazardous materials.

Examples of commercial motor vehicles include:  

• City buses
• Coach buses
• Delivery vans (Amazon, FedEx, UPS, etc.)
• Dump trucks
• Plow trucks
• School buses
• Semi-trucks or tractor-trailers
• Straight trucks or box trucks

New York is home to roughly 290,000 trucking industry jobs, according to the Trucking Association of New York. Around 10% of travel on New York’s interstate highways and 21% of travel on its rural interstate highways is by semi-trucks.

While the industry plays a vital role in keeping the state’s economy moving, there were more than 12,800 crashes involving large trucks in a single year — over 30% of which resulted in injuries.

When a passenger vehicle is involved in an accident with a truck or other CMV, those in the passenger vehicle are 6 to 10 times more likely to suffer injuries and fatalities than those in the truck. This is due to the size and weight of most CMVs.

Trucking Accidents vs. Passenger Vehicle Crashes

Several factors differentiate commercial trucking accidents from passenger vehicle crashes in New York.

Some of these factors include: 

• Higher likelihood of serious, catastrophic, or fatal injuries
• Increased vehicle and/or personal property damage
• The size of the company (or companies) involved and their insurance provider(s)

The severe injuries and property damage that may result from a trucking accident are often downplayed or minimized by trucking companies and insurance providers as a way to lower their liability and overall costs.

A New York truck accident lawyer​ with Sokolove Law may be able to help you pursue justice if you or a loved one was injured in a trucking accident.

Where Do New York Semi-Truck Accidents Occur?

Accidents involving large trucks and buses resulted in 4,891 fatalities and approximately 87,966 injuries in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Most semi-truck accidents in New York occur on major interstate highways and busy freight corridors, including I-90, I-87, I-81, and I-95, which carry heavy commercial traffic across the state.

If you or a loved one was injured in a trucking accident, get a free case review to see if a semi-truck accident attorney in New York can help you pursue compensation.

What Causes New York Truck Accidents?

There are many factors that may cause a truck accident to occur. Commercial trucks differ from cars due to their size, weight, and mechanics.

Additionally, some trucking companies encourage drivers to cut corners as a way of maximizing their profits, even though it can put those sharing the road in danger.

Common causes of commercial vehicle accidents include: 

• Distracted driving: 71% of large-truck crashes happened when the trucker was doing something else while driving, like eating, using a cell phone, or adjusting the radio, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
• Driver fatigue or drowsiness: Driver drowsiness can impair a driver’s response time to on-the-road hazards, which increases the risk of accidents.
• Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol: 17% of CMV drivers were using over-the-counter drugs at the time of a crash, some of which (like cold pills, allergy medicines, and sleeping pills) can induce drowsiness, according to the FMCSA.
• Failure to maintain tires, brakes, and other parts: A poorly maintained vehicle increases the risk of a crash and can turn a preventable issue into a deadly accident.
• Following too closely: 5% of truck crashes happened when the driver followed the vehicle ahead of them too closely, not giving themselves adequate time to brake in the event of an emergency.
• Inadequate surveillance: 14% of large-truck crashes occurred due to the CMV driver’s inadequate surveillance or failure to see approaching traffic, like during a lane change.
• Overloading trucks: Carrying more weight than allowed can strain brakes, tires, and other parts, making trucks harder to control and more likely to cause serious accidents.
• Pay structures that encourage dangerous driving: Compensation systems that reward faster deliveries may push truckers to speed, skip rest breaks, or exceed maximum driving hours, all of which increase the risk of crashes.
• Speeding: 23% of large-truck wrecks involved the truck driver traveling too fast for weather or road conditions, according to the LTCSS.
• Unfamiliar roadways: Of large-truck crashes, 22% occur when the driver is unfamiliar with the roadway.
• Unqualified or untrained drivers: Most truck drivers are required to have a commercial driver’s license (CDL). However, many companies send new drivers onto the road with little to no experience.

Trucking accidents can happen unexpectedly, and the results can be devastating. Seeking legal representation may help the injured party level the playing field between them and the drivers or companies at fault.

“My experience working with Sokolove Law was amazing. The whole process was really quick. My attorney was supportive and genuinely cared about my recovery. ”
– Alexandra, Crash Victim & Firm Client

Common New York Truck Accident Injuries

The average semi-truck weighs nearly 20 times more than a typical passenger vehicle. In an accident between a CMV and a passenger vehicle, passengers in the car are far more likely to sustain significant injuries than those in the truck.

Injuries resulting from trucking accidents can include:

• Broken bones
• Burns
• Disfigurement
• Hearing or vision loss
• Lacerations
• Loss of limb(s)
• Paralysis
• Spinal cord injuries
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Death

If you or a loved one was injured in a New York truck accident, you may be able to pursue compensation to help cover your medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and more.

With our New York truck accident attorneys, there are no upfront costs or hourly fees — we only get paid if you do, so there’s no financial risk to taking legal action.

Call (800) 995-1212 now to get started with a free case review. We’re standing by to answer any questions you may have.

How a Truck Accident Attorney in New York Can Help

A truck accident is one of the most complex personal injury cases for several reasons. Since the injuries tend to be much worse, the compensation paid to victims is usually much more than the average car wreck.

Because the stakes are so high, many trucking companies and their insurance providers fight extremely hard to avoid liability — even if it means trying to pin blame on an accident victim.

If you become our client, one of our experienced trucking accident lawyers in New York​ can work on your behalf to set the record straight and fight for the compensation you deserve.

Truck accident compensation can generally be secured in one of two ways:

• Truck accident lawsuit settlements: This refers to when your legal team and the defendant can agree on an amount of compensation for your injuries, usually before the case proceeds to trial.
• Truck accident trial verdicts: If a truck accident settlement isn’t reached, your case may proceed to trial, where a judge and jury can hear your case and give a verdict that decides the outcome.

If you or a loved one was injured in an accident involving a CMV, we may be able to help you file a commercial vehicle accident lawsuit to seek the justice and compensation you deserve.

Maximizing Truck Accident Settlements in NY​

If you or a loved one was in an accident with a commercial motor vehicle, you may have already been contacted by a trucking company’s insurance adjuster. These professionals will typically make a settlement offer so that they don’t have to go to court.

In many cases, that offer doesn’t come anywhere close to the true costs of the victim’s injuries. However, an experienced truck accident attorney in New York​ can compile evidence and fight for a higher payout.

Many different factors affect New York truck accident settlements, like:

• The severity of your injury
• Medical costs, both current and future
• Lost wages if the wreck left you unable to work
• Any pain, suffering, or emotional trauma you have experienced
• Out-of-pocket expenses relating to the accident

In one case, we secured $850,000 for a Hawthorne man who was rear-ended by a semi-truck and suffered hip, back, shoulder, and rib injuries.

Call (800) 995-1212 now to see if we may be able to fight for the compensation you deserve.

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Video Summary: Hear why Matt chose to file a car accident lawsuit with the help of Sokolove Law. View Transcript.

My name is Matt, and I contacted Sokolove Law after getting in a car accident. I'm a big fisherman, I love to hunt, and I'm always exploring stuff in this area. I go to this beach parking lot regularly to check to see if there are any fish biting. It's a drive I take multiple times a day. It's right down the street. I was just driving along, I was minding my own business, driving the speed limit, and all of a sudden someone was just driving into the side of my car and crashing into it. My car was completely totaled. I ended up on somebody's front yard.

Probably a day or two later, I started having some really, really bad back cramps, which is something that I've never in my life experienced. They were really really bad — I actually fell over because my whole back just seized up. It was just a pain I had never felt before. I probably had to go to physical therapy for somewhere between eight and nine weeks. Once I started having to go to physical therapy and once I started to get medical treatment for this, it felt like that shouldn't be something I have to pay for. It wasn’t my fault. It was someone else’s fault. Somebody was irresponsible and crashed into me. That’s when I started thinking about Sokolove Law.

I reached out to the law firm one week after the accident. The reason I did that was I was interested to see how much money would be available for a crash like this. I've never done anything accident-lawsuit-related in my life until now, and I was very surprised at how easy things were. Honestly, it was just so professionally done. That’s how I would describe it. My experience working with the legal team at Sokolove Law was excellent. It was super simple. They were super professional. Everything was laid out very clearly, and there was no confusion about what needed to be done at all. They did a lot of work to get that settlement done, and I’m really happy that I was able to find them, contact them, and get things done.

When the case was settled, I felt very relieved. I felt very happy, actually, because things were done, the check was there, and I didn’t have to deal with any of this anymore. I wish that my car didn’t get totaled, but I ended up getting a new car out of it, and, you know, everything’s going well now. I would recommend other people contact a firm like Sokolove Law after a car accident because injuries from car accidents aren’t always immediately apparent. It could be something that flares up later, like in my case. My back hurt more and more over the following days after the accident. I just feel like not enough people know what their options are when they get into a crash. You don’t have to just call the insurance company. You can talk to an attorney. It doesn’t cost you any money to speak to an attorney at all. It’s completely free to speak to them. I don’t see why you wouldn’t do it if you’re injured in a car accident. It’s a very simple process, and you can get money out of it.

Get Help from Our Truck Accident Attorneys in New York

If you or a loved one has been a victim of a truck or commercial vehicle accident, our truck accident attorneys in New York may be able to help you fight for justice and financial compensation.

At Sokolove Law, we have decades of experience and a long track record of success, recovering over $10.1 Billion for injured clients nationwide, including many in New York.

There are no upfront costs or hourly fees to work with our team — we only get paid if you do.

Call (800) 995-1212 now or fill out our contact form to find out how we may be able to help you after a truck accident.

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