It may surprise you to know that trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, which is more than 8x the weight of the average vehicle. When you add this to the size of a truck, you’ve got a recipe for some of the most catastrophic and fatal collisions on the roads. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), there are more than 388,000 truck accidents every year, of which 110,000 result in serious injuries and over 4,000 of them are fatal. In a truck accident investigation, these are the things we will look at here at Karns & Karns Truck Accident Attorneys.
Black Box (Event Data Recorder)
The majority of truck accidents are caused by commercial drivers, which means our expert road traffic accident lawyers have to analyze a range of different evidence during the investigation. For example, many commercial trucks have a black box, which has the technical name “Event Data Recorder (EDR)”. This intuitive piece of safety data collection technology is programmed by businesses to collect various pieces of information including:
- Tire pressure
- Vehicle speed
- Cruise control information
- Brake, throttle, and acceleration percentages
- Gear position
- Seat belt status
- Crash severity
- Traction control
This information is monitored by the block box, which starts storing data for a few seconds before the crash. Typically, an EDR is hooked up to an Airbag Control Module (ACM), which triggers the storing facility upon deployment.
When your truck accident injury lawyer has access to this type of data, they can liaise with crash experts to determine if there is any evidence of reckless driving, which may include breaking the speed limit.
Maintenance Records
Truck companies and drivers have a duty of care to make sure all vehicles are fit for purpose, which involves carrying out regular maintenance checks. If these tasks aren’t completed or they’re ignored, this is considered serious negligence that can lead to catastrophic injuries. For example, if a truck experiences a tire blowout, it can collide with an adjacent car and cause a sideswipe accident.
When you hire an expert truck accident lawyer with Karns & Karns Truck Accident Attorneys, our investigative powers allow us to acquire business maintenance records, which should show every single task carried out. We will also liaise with crash reconstruction experts to verify that information from the records agrees with the story told by the wreckage.
Dispositions and Interviews
When a commercial truck is involved in an accident, you can guarantee insurance representatives are on the scene swiftly to begin a thorough investigation. They will speak with witnesses when the incident is fresh in their minds. To make sure your case has the chance of being just as strong, it’s important that you have a reputable vehicle accident lawyer at the crash site as soon as possible, which is something Karns & Karns Truck Accident Attorneys can facilitate.
Statements taken from police officers, truck drivers, and witnesses could be the difference between winning and losing a claim or lawsuit. Our team will act with haste to obtain and record this information, which we can then present during settlement discussions or in court.
Training Records
Many truck accidents happen because drivers don’t have enough experience, which means they make errors during complicated turns, or they brake suddenly. Trucking companies have an obligation to make sure employees are trained to a competent standard.
Where easily avoidable errors are to blame for a truck accident, our team will get hold of company training records, which will tell us if there are any gaps.
At-Fault Driver Investigation
When police arrive on the scene, they’ll manage traffic and conduct an investigation, but this is normally more concerned with the state of the truck and witness statements. However, it’s just as important to spend time investigating the at-fault driver.
By digging into the background of the driver, we often recover evidence that may have been missed. For example, a truck driver may have a prescription for sleeping tablets to help get a good night’s rest. Although there’s nothing wrong with this, the slightest miscalculated dose could lead to drowsy driving or falling asleep at the wheel, which would be a clear indication of liability.
Truck Accident Reconstruction
While our road accident lawyer team has years of experience seeking out critical evidence, we often need to liaise with external professionals to obtain a clear picture of what happened. In particular, we work with truck accident reconstruction experts, mechanical engineers, and vehicle inspectors.
Having access to reconstruction data can bring up pivotal evidence, which can spell victory for our clients. For example, the professionals mentioned above can carry out a thorough examination of a commercial truck’s braking infrastructure, including:
- Gauges
- Valves
- Pressure supply
- Any additional braking information
As well as brake-related information, an inspector can check the following tire elements to determine the condition:
- Hub and wheel assembly
- Lug nuts
- Studs
- Tread
After the vehicle inspector has finished carrying out essential assessments, the reconstruction expert will put together a clear picture of the truck’s speed, the time distance between both vehicles, the point of impact, and any other relevant crash-related insights. Even though this information is stored on the ERD, they have a tendency to erase data swiftly, which is why it’s essential you contact Karns & Karns Truck Accident Attorneys to start the investigation immediately after the collision.
Determining the Liable Party
During the course of a truck accident investigation, as outlined above, we’re constantly searching for evidence to prove the four elements that every compensation claim needs to get off the ground. These elements include:
- Duty of care: Both independent and commercial truck drivers have an obligation to keep other road users safe.
- Breach of care: There must be evidence that a liable party breached said duty of care.
- Injuries and ongoing impact: Your injuries need to be proven, which is why you need to keep hold of medical records; we also have to prove an ongoing impact.
- Causation: The investigative tactics outlined above are designed to prove that a liable party was directly responsible for causing the injury.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a truck accident, call us today for a free consultation! Our team across our offices in California, Texas, and Nevada are ready to help.
