Box Truck Accidents in Downey | Box Truck Injury Lawyer

A box truck is a truck with a cube shaped cargo area and cab on a single chassis. A box truck is also known by other names such as straight truck, cube truck, cube van, bob truck, or box van. Box trucks range from about 13 to 23 feet in length and are used mainly by moving companies or rental companies like Downey U-Haul and Downey Ryder truck rentals. Box trucks are generally used to haul large items such as furniture, appliances, and large boxes.

Downey Box Truck Accidents

It is not uncommon to see accidents involving box trucks in Downey, CA. Downey is surrounded by several major Interstates and roads.  Additionally, Downey, like most of Southern California, continues to experience rapid population and growth.  These factors contribute to the high number of box trucks in Downey.

Downey, located in Los Angeles County has various agencies that are responsible for maintaining roads and highways in Downey. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is one of the entities responsible for ensuring proper maintenance on many of Downey's roads and highways. Additionally, Caltrans has established several mechanisms that improve driving conditions and safety on roads and highways in Downey. For example, you can obtain current driving conditions and view live traffic cameras by logging on to the caltrans website, or by clicking here.

Along with Caltrans, the Los Angeles County Public Works Department maintains several roads and highways in Downey as well. You can obtain current information about construction, traffic and proposed plans by accessing the City's Department of Public Works webpage, or by clicking here.

Caltrans and Los Angeles County have taken great strides to improve road conditions and safety in Los Angeles County and Downey. For example, Caltrans has several Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTVs) that not only improve the response time in the event that an accident occurs, but can also be viewed by those planning to travel on various roads and highways in California.  Below are various agencies responsible for maintaining Downey roads and highways.

• California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
• Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
• The City of Downey

Downey Box Truck Accident Lawyers Need to Assess Cause

In many cases, Downey truck accident attorneys must retain the services of scientific and medical experts to prove both the cause of the accident and the cause of your injuries. Additionally, a qualified 18-wheeler accident lawyer will obtain all kinds of evidence concerning the scene of the crash, truck logs, and other important information to be used against the trucker, trucking company, or the company’s insurer. Arranging expert witness testimony and preparing important physical and documentary evidence is just one of many ways a Downey tractor trailer injury lawyer can help you after you’ve suffered a truck accident injury for a major commercial vehicle wreck.

If you or a loved one have been involved in a serious box truck wreck, semi crash or big rig accident, hiring a lawyer is the farthest thing from your mind when tragedy such as this strikes you, a family member, or a friend. However, this is when you need a Downey truck accident lawyer most. Do yourself a favor by calling one of the qualified Downey truck accident lawyers listed on this page. Hire a qualified Downey tractor trailer accident lawyer to help protect your rights.

Box Truck Cargo Area Susceptible to Overloading and Load Shifting

Although the cargo area and cab of a box truck both sit on the same chassis, the cargo area is usually completely enclosed and separate from the cab. However, some box trucks have a cargo area that is joined to the cab and in some of these models; the cargo area can be accessed from within the cab.

The cargo area in a box truck is just as susceptible to overloading and load shifting which could lead to an accident on a Downey highway, for example, the intersection of Lakewood Boulevard and Firestone Boulevard remains one of the busiest intersections in the country. This intersection requires careful attention and careful lane changes. However, sometimes sudden lane changes and stopped traffic occur in this area, which can make a once stable load shift and become not only unstable, but dangerous as well.

Downey Truck Rental Companies Offer Box Trucks

There are many U-Haul and Ryder Truck Rental locations in and around Downey, CA and many of them offer box trucks. Following is a partial list of Downey U-Haul and Downey Ryder Truck Rental locations:

Box Trucks Large and Small

A “box van” would be a smaller type of box truck because it would use a van cab similar to a family passenger van. A box van would also be built on a van chassis similar to a common 1/2-ton to 3/4 ton commercial vans.

Larger box trucks would have a bigger cab and use a heavier truck chassis built for heavier load capacities such as a 5-ton or 6-ton box truck.

Vehicle makers such as Ford, Chevrolet and International are manufacturers of box trucks.

Overhead Cargo Area

Some box trucks have an overhead compartment that extends the cargo area over the roof of the cab. The overhead cargo feature is commonly found on box trucks available from U-Haul such as their 14’ truck, 17’ truck, 20’ truck, 24’ truck and 26’ truck. All of these models are configured with an overhead cargo area that they call “Mom’s Attic®”.

The overhead cargo area feature has some advantages over regular box truck designs. It provides extra storage space above the cab and it allows movers to isolate more fragile items from regular cargo.

Box Truck Accident Attorneys Serve Downey and Surrounding Cities

Serving clients throughout Southern California, including Anaheim, Athens, Bellflower, Buena Park, Compton, Cypress, Downey, East Los Angeles, Fullerton, Gardena, Hawthorne, Huntington Park, Inglewood, La Habra, La Mirada, Los Alamitos, Los Angeles, Montebello, Norwalk, Paramount, Rossmoor, Signal Hill, South Gate, South Whittier, Torrance, West Athens, Whittier, Willow Brook, and other communities in Los Angeles County.

Downey box truck accident attorneys are experienced in handling serious injury truck collision cases and can help you fight the trucking company or its insurer in order to get you the compensation you deserve. Contact a Downey box truck accident lawyer today for a FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION.