Hit by an 18-Wheeler and Hurt Your Head? Here Is What to Do Next

If you were hit by an 18-wheeler and suffered a head injury, see a medical doctor as soon as you can, even if you feel okay. Head injuries from truck crashes can be serious, and symptoms can show up later. This page explains the medical steps, the evidence to keep, and who may be responsible under Georgia law. Ugwonali Law Group represents people seriously hurt in truck and car crashes, including traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, across metro Atlanta and statewide in Georgia.

Who This Page Is For and What a Truck Head Injury Involves

This guide is for people whose head struck a vehicle, the pavement, or the cab during a crash with a tractor-trailer. It also helps family members of someone hurt or killed in a truck crash.

Tractor-trailers are heavy, and a crash can move a head hard and fast. The brain can be injured even without an open wound. Many people feel they can walk away from a hit, then notice problems days later.

Crashes with large trucks happen across metro Atlanta, including Fulton, Clayton, Cobb, and Rockdale counties, and on highways throughout Georgia. A head injury from a truck crash is a medical matter first. The legal questions come after you know what is wrong.

Get a Medical Evaluation Right Away

Get checked by a medical doctor as soon as possible after any head impact, even if symptoms seem mild. Tell the doctor about the truck crash so your records show how the injury happened.

Some signs call for emergency care now. Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room if you notice:

• Loss of consciousness
• Confusion or unusual drowsiness
• Repeated vomiting
• A worsening headache
• Seizures
• Unequal pupils
• Weakness or slurred speech

Two types of head injury matter for your care. A closed head injury means the brain moves inside the skull without an open wound, as happens in many concussions. An open head injury means the skull is penetrated or fractured.

Symptoms can appear days or weeks later. Watch for memory and concentration problems, dizziness, sleep changes, irritability, and mood changes. Keep every appointment and follow your treatment plan. Keep a written symptom diary each day, noting pain, memory lapses, and how sleep and work are going.

First Steps to Protect Your Claim After the Crash

Report the crash, document the scene, and keep records of every cost and missed day of work. These steps help you and help anyone reviewing your claim later.

• Get the police report number and the name of the agency that responded.
• Write down the truck’s company name, DOT number, and trailer or unit number.
• Photograph the scene, vehicle damage, your visible injuries, and the truck’s markings, if it is safe.
• Collect names and phone numbers of witnesses and anyone who helped at the scene.
• Save medical bills, pharmacy receipts, mileage to appointments, and pay records for missed work.

Be careful with recorded statements and quick settlement offers from the trucking company’s insurer. You may not yet know the full extent of your injury. A lawyer can speak with the insurer for you.

Evidence can disappear. Federal rules require carriers to keep maintenance records for 1 year where a vehicle is kept, and for 6 months after it leaves the carrier’s control (49 CFR 396.3). Ask early that logs, dispatch records, and electronic data be preserved.

Who Can Be Responsible in a Georgia 18-Wheeler Crash

More than one party can be responsible after a truck crash, including the driver and the company that employed or dispatched the driver. Responsibility depends on what caused the crash.

A driver can cause a crash through distraction, speeding, impairment, or other unsafe driving. Federal rules bar a driver from operating a commercial vehicle when fatigue, illness, or another cause has so impaired, or is so likely to impair, the driver’s ability or alertness as to make it unsafe (49 CFR 392.3). Under 49 CFR 395.8, a motor carrier subject to the requirements of this part must require each driver it uses to record the driver’s duty status for each 24-hour period, using the method prescribed in the section, as applicable. Private motor carriers of passengers (nonbusiness) are excepted.

Maintenance problems can point to the carrier. Vehicles must be kept in safe and proper operating condition at all times, including wheels, axles, suspension, and steering systems (49 CFR 396.3).

Georgia law can hold a business liable for torts its servant commits within the scope of that business (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2). Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, each defendant’s share of damages is its own, not joint liability. The fault of everyone who contributed to the injury is considered.

Fault works both ways. A person who is 50 percent or more responsible cannot recover damages, and a smaller share of fault reduces the award (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33).

A trucking company’s commercial liability insurance may be part of a claim. Identifying each party early helps the claim reach the right insurer.

What a Claim Can Cover

A claim can seek payment for medical care, lost income, future needs, and other losses caused by the crash. The amount is decided on the evidence in each case.

Georgia limits medical damages to the reasonable value of medically necessary care (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1). If you have health insurance, evidence must include both the amounts charged and the amounts actually needed to satisfy those charges, whether or not insurance was used. If a provider treated you under a letter of protection, that letter and itemized charges are relevant evidence.

Lost wages and future earning capacity matter when a brain injury affects work. A life care plan is a written estimate of future medical and daily-care needs.

Pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life are part of some claims. No one can predict their value in advance, and no one can promise a result or an amount.

When death results from criminal or other negligence, the representative may recover funeral, medical, and other necessary expenses (O.C.G.A. § 51-4-5).

How the Process Works, Step by Step

The process begins with a free case review and moves through records, medical updates, talks with the insurer, and, if needed, a lawsuit.

Step 1: Free case review. Reach our team online or through our intake team, in English or Spanish. The first consultation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation to continue.

Step 2: Records and investigation. The team gathers the police report, medical records, employment information, and carrier information.

Step 3: Medical documentation. Brain injuries can take time to become clear. Treatment records keep building as care continues.

Step 4: Demand and negotiation. The claim is presented to the insurer. A settlement can happen at any stage.

Step 5: Lawsuit if needed. Georgia sets deadlines for filing a lawsuit, so timing matters from the start. If a fair resolution is not reached, a suit can be filed in the proper Georgia court. Timing varies by case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Talk With Our Team About Your Head Injury

If a tractor-trailer hit your head and you still can’t tell what’s wrong, you don’t have to sort out the medical and legal steps alone. Our team can review what happened and explain your options. Request a free case evaluation or chat with our intake team on our contact page. Ugwonali Law Group is led by responsible lawyer Adanna Ugwonali, at 3400 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia.