Wide Turn Truck Accident Lawyer in Northern California

25+ Years Filing Personal Injury Cases

A wide-turn crash isn’t a simple fender-bender. It involves a 70-foot vehicle, a physics problem called off-tracking, and often multiple parties who each played a role in what happened. At Law Offices of Larry S. Buckley, we represent injury victims in wide-turn and other commercial truck accident claims throughout Northern California, and we’ve spent over 25 years filing cases against trucking companies, major corporations, and government entities.

How Wide-Turn Truck Accidents Happen

A standard tractor-trailer stretches over 70 feet, and its trailer doesn’t follow the same path as the cab. Engineers call this off-tracking: the rear wheels cut a tighter arc than the front of the truck, meaning the trailer swings wider than most drivers anticipate. To manage that arc, drivers often swing left before turning right, temporarily pulling the truck into the adjacent lane.

That maneuver creates a dangerous window. One common pattern, sometimes called a squeeze play collision, occurs when a truck moves into the left lane, then cuts hard right into a driveway or lot, trapping a vehicle traveling legally in the right lane. Cyclists and pedestrians at corners face elevated risk because a truck’s turning radius can extend well beyond the crosswalk line. The trailer arrives where the cab was a moment ago, and there’s no safe place to go.

Who Can Be Held Responsible

Wide-turn crashes rarely have just one liable party. We’ve filed cases against major trucking companies, auto manufacturers, and state and local government entities, and we have the resources to pursue every responsible party in a commercial truck claim.

Depending on how the crash unfolded, liability may extend to:

• The truck driver for unsafe speed, distraction, or a failure to signal and position properly
• The motor carrier under vicarious liability, or for negligent training, supervision, or pressure on drivers to meet unrealistic deadlines
• The truck or trailer owner for failing to maintain mirrors, lights, brakes, or steering in safe condition
• A maintenance company for incomplete inspections that left a defect unaddressed
• A cargo loader or shipper for overloading the trailer or poor securement that shifted the load and affected handling
• A government entity for dangerous intersection design or missing signage

California Vehicle Code section 17150 assigns liability to the vehicle’s owner when the driver was at fault, which in most commercial crashes means the trucking company itself may face direct exposure.

California Law and Federal Regulations in These Cases

California law requires drivers to signal continuously during the last 100 feet before turning and to position the vehicle as close to the right-hand curb as practicable before a right turn. A driver who swings wide without signaling violates Vehicle Code section 22108 before the turn even begins.

Under California’s negligence per se doctrine, a statutory violation that causes the type of harm the law was designed to prevent can support a finding of negligence. California also incorporates most Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations into state law, so FMCSA rules on hours-of-service violations, cargo securement, and vehicle inspection apply even to trucks that never cross state lines, including local delivery and construction vehicles common throughout Northern California.

A High-Risk Freight Corridor: Interstate 5 Through Redding

Interstate 5 through the Redding area is one of Northern California’s most active freight corridors, and consecutive interchanges with heavy merging and weaving create conditions where trucks and passenger vehicles compete for the same lane space. The California Transportation Commission has approved $124 million in combined federal, state, and regional funding for the Fix 5 Cascade Gateway project, a Caltrans and Shasta Regional Transportation Agency partnership intended to improve safety and freight movement in the area. Caltrans District 2 has noted that dedicated truck lanes can reduce conflicts between commercial trucks and other vehicles entering and exiting at state highways and local roads.

Until those improvements are in place, drivers near Redding and throughout Northern California face the same merging hazards present on this corridor.

How We Investigate a Wide-Turn Crash

Evidence in a truck accident case disappears fast. Electronic control module data, the onboard record of speed, braking, and steering inputs in the moments before impact, can be overwritten or lost if the truck returns to service. We move quickly after being retained: sending preservation letters to prevent destruction of that data, securing the driver’s qualification file, and requesting inspection and maintenance records for both the truck and trailer.

Our investigation team includes accident reconstruction professionals and biomechanical engineers who map the truck’s actual turning path against the physical evidence at the scene. That work addresses the questions that matter most in a wide-turn case: where each vehicle was, how the trailer’s off-tracking arc extended into the occupied lane, and whether the driver’s actions met the standard of care. We also work with vocational rehabilitation counselors, medical professionals, and economists to document the full scope of your losses.

Why Injury Victims Throughout Northern California Choose Us

Founded in 1999, we’ve recovered tens of millions of dollars for injury victims throughout Northern California and handled more than a thousand personal injury cases, including catastrophic injury claims against major trucking companies and corporations. Larry S. Buckley is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum and is listed among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators. Those recognitions reflect a track record of results, not just years in practice.

We have offices in Chico, Redding, Sacramento, and Roseville, and we handle cases in both state and federal courts across California, accepting cases in virtually every county in the state. Our team is available 24 hours a day, and we offer evening, weekend, and home appointments so that serious injuries don’t also mean inaccessible legal help.

Support Beyond the Legal Case

A truck accident disrupts more than your schedule. If you don’t have a family physician, we can refer you to qualified doctors or medical professionals who handle injury cases. For clients without health insurance, we can often arrange for medical bills to be paid after settlement or verdict rather than out of pocket while the case is pending. Our goal is to remove barriers to care so you can focus on recovery while we handle your claim.

Talk to Our Team About Your Wide-Turn Accident Claim

Wide-turn truck accident cases involve multiple defendants, time-sensitive evidence, and aggressive insurance defense teams. The sooner we can begin preserving evidence and evaluating liability, the stronger your position may be.

Your initial consultation is free, and you pay nothing upfront. We advance all legal costs, and our fees are based on a percentage of your recovery. If we don’t win, you don’t pay.