The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is a government agency that is responsible for regulating the trucking industry. The FMCSA has established a number of regulations that are designed to keep the roads safer, including one that requires all commercial trucks to have an electronic logging device known as a black box.
A black box is a device that records data using multiple sensors located throughout the truck. If you have been involved in a truck accident, one of the first things your attorney will do is ask the trucking company to preserve the data on this device.
The device contains important data from the seconds before, during, and after the collision, including:
- Speed history
- Excessive RPM
- Brake usage
- Cruise control usage
- Deployment of airbags
- Sudden stops
- Number of hours driven
- Unusual accelerations/decelerations
- Seatbelt usage
This information can answer a lot of questions about how and why a truck accident occurred, which is why it’s so important to recover the data. For example, the black box data could reveal that the truck driver was speeding at the time of the accident. It could also show that the driver was in violation of the federal regulation that governs how many hours commercial truck drivers are allowed to spend behind the wheel at once. This is the type of information that can be used to prove that the truck driver and the trucking company are liable for your injuries.
Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to get your hands on this information, especially if you don’t get in touch with an attorney right away. Each device has a recording time limit, which is usually around 30 days. This means after 30 days, the device will begin to record over existing data. If you don’t ask the trucking company to preserve the evidence before this time, it’s possible that the data will be inaccessible. Even if you do ask for the evidence in a timely manner, the trucking company may be reluctant to hand it over if they know it will be used to prove their liability. Fortunately, an attorney will be able to aggressively tackle this problem in order to recover the information that you need to support your side of the story.
Have you been injured in a truck accident? There’s no time to waste—seek legal representation as soon as possible. Contact Reisch Law Firm today so our personal injury attorneys can begin gathering evidence to prove liability. Schedule a free consultation today by calling 303-291-0555 or filling out this online form.
