What Evidence Matters Most in an Atlanta Truck Accident Investigation (Black Box, Logs, Dashcams)

Severe truck accident cases in Atlanta depend on which party, the injury victim or the trucking company, builds the strongest case. It is the available evidence that matters most when it comes to building a case that can withstand the scrutiny of a judge or jury. 

Be aware, however. Evidence in a truck accident case has a tendency to disappear if an injury victim is not careful. Record keeping associated with vehicle maintenance can be destroyed. The truck itself can be repaired – and quickly. The data stored in a black box or dashcam can be erased at the drop of a hat. Event Data Recorders (EDRs) in commercial vehicles typically capture:

• Vehicle speed before impact
• Brake application
• Throttle position
• Seatbelt use
• Sudden deceleration/crash force

Simply put, when a truck accident injury victim does not have a plan, it is safe to say that the trucking company has the advantage. Build a strong case through preparation. At the core of preparing a trucking accident case is safeguarding and building evidence. This starts with understanding what evidence matters most in an Atlanta truck accident investigation. 

What is a Black Box and Why Does It Matter In an Atlanta Truck Accident Case?

Commercial trucks usually carry a Black Box. These devices, also known as an Event Data Recorder, are crucial not only for vehicle safety but also in recreating what occurred in the event of an accident. 

A truck’s Black Box will provide an investigator with the vehicle’s speed prior to impact. Large trucks, no matter how well-maintained, have difficulty braking due to their size and weight. As a result, if a commercial truck was speeding just prior to the accident, that is an important piece of evidence for an injury victim to possess. 

Determining not only the speed of a commercial truck, but also the accelerating and braking patterns of the truck, is also important to building a case that the truck driver was negligent. Consider a large truck driving through a heavily congested freeway or interstate in Atlanta. A truck driver should be cautious and avoid accelerating unless there is ample space to do so. When a Black Box indicates frequent accelerations before a collision, that can be a sign of negligent operation of the vehicle. NHTSA confirms EDR data is used to reconstruct crash events and validate driver behavior leading up to collisions, including braking, acceleration, and speed changes. 

The opposite of frequent accelerations leading up to a truck accident are decelerations, which come out of nowhere. An experienced Atlanta truck accident attorney knows how to decipher the data contained in Black Box when it comes to braking. Making sure this data is available to an injury victim is one of the services provided by an attorney who puts clients first. 

Hours of Service: Why Truck Drivers Are Limited in Their Time Spent Behind the Wheel

There are federal regulations that place limitations on how often a truck driver may drive their truck without sleep. Driver fatigue is a major concern of lawmakers and those who work in the area of commercial truck safety. As a result, fairly stringent measures have been put in place to regulate truck drivers and their hours spent behind the wheel. Truck drivers may drive up to 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty within a 14-hour on-duty window.

Truck drivers typically log their miles driven and rest periods electronically. These logs can show whether a driver took too short a rest period or if the driver continued to operate the vehicle past the legal limit in terms of hours. There are also methods that can help determine whether a driver was less than honest in making any entry concerning their periods of driving or rest. 

Make no mistake… the evidence concerning a driver spending time at rest or in motion is just as impactful as the Black Box data. Taken in combination with one another, it can be difficult for a trucking company to combat. 

How Injury Victims Can Favorably Leverage Maintenance and Inspection Evidence

Commercial trucks must regularly inspect and maintain their vehicles. A daily inspection must occur with logging of the results. These large vehicles travel long distances, which puts a large amount of stress on tires, brakes, and their engine. Poor maintenance is an all too common cause of truck accidents. 

Examples of inspection and maintenance evidence that must be secured and utilized in a trucking accident case include a history of repairs and inspections. If broken parts were noted but not repaired, that must be something that is noted and brought to the attention of a potential judge or jury. 

It is inevitable that a commercial truck will suffer broken parts or other systemic problems. However, it is an entirely different situation to find that the trucking company did nothing to fix the issues or otherwise ignored them. The consequences for motorists sharing the road with their vehicle can be catastrophic. 

Evidence of Medical Treatment 

What happens after a trucking accident, as far as evidence is concerned, is just as important as the evidence of what occurred before the crash itself. In crashes involving large trucks, about 70%+ of fatalities are occupants of passenger vehicles. If you’re a victim, you likely have catastrophic injuries or are dealing with the death of a loved one.

Injury victims must have medical evidence in order to substantiate their allegation of injuries. This may begin with emergency care received immediately after an accident. X-rays and evaluations may give way to surgical recommendations. Their operative reports and any physical therapy records will be critical to establishing damages in an Atlanta truck accident case. 

Even if the victim of a truck accident does not feel injured immediately after the collision, receiving medical treatment still makes sense. Neck and back injuries take hours and sometimes even days to manifest themselves after a truck accident. Once the adrenaline of a truck accident subsides, the pain associated with the impact becomes known to the individual. 

Contact an Atlanta Truck Accident Attorney For a Free Case Review

Trucking companies know how to defend themselves and their drivers from the allegations made by injury victims. To counter these experienced, opportunistic trucking companies and their insurers, it is necessary to develop a strategy geared toward protecting and utilizing all available evidence.

Contact MabraLaw today for a free case review. Our team of legal professionals knows how to preserve evidence early in an investigation. Proper utilization of the evidence strengthens an injury victim’s case and puts the trucking company on the defensive. This allows our clients to pursue maximum compensation for their injuries and other damages.