If you watch the news after a commercial airplane crashes, you probably know that investigators prioritize locating the craft’s black box. This box, officially called an event data recorder, contains important information about the plane in the lead-up to the crash. Many company trucks have similar black boxes.
If you suffer a serious or life-altering injury in a collision with a commercial vehicle, you may be able to pursue financial compensation from the driver, the trucking company or any other responsible party. Accessing information in the company truck’s black box may help you prove your case.
Your negligence claim
Truckers and trucking companies may cause or contribute to collisions because of negligence. For a successful negligence claim, you must prove four elements: duty, breach, causation and harm. The truck’s black box may help you show causation.
The black box automatically records details about the truck’s operation. These may include any of the following:
- The truck’s speed
- The position of the truck’s brake pedal and accelerator
- The driver’s use of the truck’s seat belt
- The truck’s deployment of airbags
- The truck’s maintenance schedule
- The trucker’s communications with the trucking company
The essence of time
Even though the company truck’s black box may contain information that ranges from helpful to critical to your claim, you should not take its contents for granted. After all, both the trucker and the trucking company may be able to delete information inside the black box. Even the passage of time may cause the truck’s black box to overwrite information automatically.
You probably have a few options for preserving details inside the company truck’s black box. Still, because timing is likely critical, you likely must act quickly to prevent the destruction of potentially valuable evidence.
