Most people aren’t aware that their vehicle contains a black box. In fact, most of us are only familiar with black box records in airplanes. Unless your vehicle is very vintage, there’s a good chance it contains a black box or event data recorder.
These event recorders capture information that is important in helping determine the how and why of vehicle crashes. If you’ve been involved in an accident with a commercial truck, the evidence captured on the black box of the truck can be vital to help you with your personal injury claim.
Finding Fault
Trucking accidents can be catastrophic. The sheer weight and size of a commercial truck make collisions more likely to be fatal than collisions involving passenger vehicles. If you’ve been injured in a truck collision, it may be tricky to determine who the injury claim is against, especially if the vehicle was operated by a third party.
Determining fault in a truck accident helps you get your claim paid, and the information contained in the truck’s black box can help support your case.
Evidence on the Event Data Recorder
The black box contains key pieces of information that can help you build a case for your claim. It’s important that this information be collected by your attorney to help prove the liability of the truck driver in your case.
Information from the event data recorder isn’t actually collected in a black box but rather a computer chip (usually located behind the steering wheel in a vehicle).
Several key pieces of information are collected on this chip:
1. Speed
The event data recorder records the speed of the vehicle immediately before the crash. If the truck was going faster than the posted speed limit, this information might be helpful in establishing a case.
2. Acceleration or Deceleration Prior to Impact
Whether a truck was accelerating or decelerating before a crash can be determined from the black box.
3. Application of Brakes
Determining when and how brakes were applied prior to an accident can help pinpoint when the driver was aware that a collision was impending and when they attempted to avoid it.
4. Airbag Deployment
If the truck was equipped with airbags, the black box could show whether or not they were deployed at the time of impact.
5. Seatbelt Usage
If the truck driver was injured in the crash and you find yourself in the middle of a counterclaim, knowing whether or not a seatbelt was in use could be major. All the data available can help your attorney protect your rights.
6. Vehicle Diagnostics
From tire pressure to gear engagement, the black box recorder captures pertinent information about the condition of the vehicle at the time of the crash. This information may be useful in helping to determine whether or not a faulty piece of equipment caused an accident.
7. Steering Wheel Movements
The turns and jerks of a steering wheel are captured by the vehicle data recorder. That relays information about whether or not the driver attempted to avoid the collision. It also helps show the course the driver took prior to the collision.
8. Rest and Use Hours
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration allows truck drivers to drive 11 consecutive hours before they must take a required rest. Rules also require drivers to take a 30-minute driving break for every eight consecutive hours of driving. The black box in a truck records drive time so it is possible to know whether these rules are being obeyed.
9. Crash Events and Collisions
The event data recorder contains evidence of all collisions that have occurred in a vehicle, which may be important to your case.
It’s important to understand that the black box located in a truck belongs to the owner of the truck, which could be the driver or the trucking company. To obtain this data, an experienced trucking accident lawyer can prove critical, especially since they likely will have to go about getting a court order to access this information.
Obtaining Justice
The trucking industry is necessary and vital to our nation, but that does not mean that truck drivers and the companies they work for should not be held accountable for their actions. There are numerous ways that drivers can ensure safety on the roads, including wearing Bluetooth headsets instead of holding their phones, obeying rest rules, and maintaining safe distances between themselves and other vehicles.
Even with every precaution, accidents can occur with commercial trucks. If you’ve been injured in the Lehigh Valley area, our team of Allentown trucking accident lawyers is here to help protect your rights and help accident victims get the fair settlement they deserve.
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