OldIHC

Get him **** good lawyer, Swift is self-insured (Mohave ins, a div of Swift) and has a bad rep for paying.

We are working on that. Also, Workmans Comp is involved. My Daughter in Law used to work for Idaho Division. We will insure that the Young man is taken care of. Our Vehicle Insurance will pay us, then they will go after Swift. I know that there are good drivers working for Swift, however, I hear and read a lot of stories that talk about the bad ones. Would you believe that the driver that did not secure his load, only got a ticket for that. No Dot officer would respond, or was not called. He also NEVER left his truck to even check on our guys. I am pissed, I also want to know why he did not get a ticket for causing an accident.

You wrote; " the driver that did not secure his load, only got a ticket for that." That sounds like a ticket for causing the incident. I would doubt that there is provision in Idaho law for inventing a law for this situation and then producing a ticket. It may be possible for that ticket to have criminal consequences because of the injuries caused by the failure of the driver to properly perform his duty to secure a load.
It may be time for you to get one of the "too many lawyers" to do some legal recovery work for your damages. There must a lawyer who will take this case on contingency if there is some chance of a big settlement. You need a lawyer to do some investigation into the situation. Does the driver have a history of reckless driving? Was he driving beyond the posted speed? Was the speed too high for the conditions at the time? Was the maintenance of the offending truck kept up? Did the driver do a pre-trip? Has anyone seen the logbook? Was the driver qualified to drive the truck?
Getting "pissed" as you describe yourself is not going to make anything better. Settle down, think, and get some legal help.

Quite often, the officer at the accident is just there to assist the injured and document what he saw, A serious accident then gets a accident investigation by a trained " accident reconstruction "officer who measures skid marks and vehicle final positions. It is why you often see painted marks on the roadway, so they can come back and figure out what was where. Fatalities always get that kind of reconstruction, but some less serious do also. It can take several weeks for the outcome of the investigation as they want to get it right, knowing there testimony is going to be questioned in court.
I can seam like they take a truck-drivers life less seriously then John Q Public sometimes, however.
I have been in two serious accidents in a truck, one where a drunk hit three vehicles (including me) and there were 4 witness who all confirmed what happened, so not much of an investigation. The other was when I was hauling grain for a farmer at night in his truck on a narrow dirt road when a pick-up came over the rise with his brights on and blinded me, I got too close to the edge of the road, and the embankment gave and rolled the truck and trailer. The sheriff interviewed me a few times, but no tickets were issued. The pick-up never stopped to see what happened.
There are times for lawyers and this is one. The driver should have one and the trucking company should get another, the insurance company will have one, but their interest is not your interest! They are similar but not the same. All fee's should be chargeable to Swift, if they are found at fault. Regardless, there is more at stake than a lawyer fee here. Your trucking record and authority can be at risk. Be prepared for a DOT audit. On fatalities they are automatic even if you are not a fault, but a serious accident can also trigger an audit. They go thru EVERYTHING and you better have it all in order. I've know 3 people who have gone thru a DOT audit, all describe it a living hell. Not trying to scare you and it might not happen if the results of the investigation clearly point to Swift, but it might.

Wow. Around here little fender benders get DOT's attention. A lowboy leaned a guardrail over inside a corner with an excavator track and was unlucky enough to have a deputy see it; DOT showed up. I hope your driver is able to get back in the saddle.

Think he is in for around 2 years of therapy.