With heavy traffic affecting much of Southern California, truck accidents are common. If you’ve been involved in a truck accident, it’s important to understand how black box truck accident data may help you win your case. These pieces of equipment store important information that helps to provide liability in certain circumstances.
The professional team at the Law Offices of Jacob Emrani has helpful information about what these black boxes record, why it matters in a truck accident case, and more.
What Is a Black Box in a Commercial Truck?
What is a truck black box? Similar to a flight data recorder in airplanes, a commercial truck’s “black box” is an electronic system that records a variety of important data. These black boxes are also called Event Data Recorders, or EDRs. They log a variety of information before and during a crash, and are typically kept in a special crash-protected module somewhere in the truck to keep them safe. Some black boxes are also called Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), which track hours of service, or Electronic Control Modules (ECMs), which track specific vehicle functions.
What Information Does a Truck Black Box Record?
The data recorder for a truck accident is a key part of any commercial or semi-truck crash investigation. When it comes to proving truck accident liability in California, this data plays a vital role in proving who’s at fault.
Here are some examples of the information that these black boxes record:
- Speed before impact: This data indicates the truck’s speed just before and during impact.
- Brake usage: The black box records key data like brake usage, timing, and application force, or how much force the driver used when applying the brakes.
- Sudden acceleration or deceleration: Recording a truck’s sudden acceleration or deceleration before an accident is an extremely important piece of commercial truck accident evidence.
- Hours of service logs: This information is linked to the black box as the truck’s ECM data for an accident, showing a driver’s active driving and rest hours to help ensure compliance.
- GPS location: A commercial black box records the truck’s route history and the exact GPS location at the time of the accident.
- Engine RPM: This data shows the engine’s RPM and gear changes.
- Seat belt usage: The black box should also show whether the driver was wearing a seat belt before and during the accident.
- Airbag deployment: If any airbags were deployed, the black box should record this information in its data.
- Hard steering or lane deviation: Some black boxes record whether there was any evidence of hard steering or lane deviation on the part of the driver.
Why Black Box Data Matters in Truck Accident Cases
Black box data is important in truck accident cases because it can help to show big rig accident liability. These data recorders provide attorneys on both sides with concrete information they can use in court. Black boxes provide a range of objective evidence that helps support claims for damages, prove driver negligence, identify mechanical failures, and may help show that federal regulations were violated. Truck black boxes are a powerful tool for accident investigators and legal teams.
How Black Box Data Helps Prove Liability
Here are some examples of how black box data proves fault in a truck accident case:
- Shows driver behavior: Black box data demonstrates the truck’s speed, braking usage and application, steering inputs, and other information that can prove whether a driver was speeding, driving while drowsy, or braking erratically.
- Proves compliance or non-compliance: The hours-of-service data shows whether the driver complied with state and federal rest requirements designed to prevent fatigue-related crashes.
- Shows mechanical issues: If there was a mechanical failure, such as brake loss or another problem, the black box data can prove that such failures existed at the time of the accident.
- Records the sequence of events: The black box helps reconstruct the moments just before the crash and provides a timeline of the vehicle’s and driver’s actions and inputs that may support or disprove liability.
Who Controls Black Box Data After a Crash?
The vehicle owner or lessee, usually the individual or company that owns the truck, controls the black box data after a crash. However, law enforcement officials, insurance companies, and your truck accident lawyer in Los Angeles can access it via court order or with the owner’s consent.
It’s important to note that most victims can’t obtain the black box data without help from an attorney, a judge, or their insurance company. In most cases, crash reconstruction experts work with lawyers and insurers to retrieve and analyze the data.
How Lawyers Obtain and Preserve Black Box Evidence
Lawyers can obtain black box evidence by sending a formal legal notice, called a spoliation letter or “preservation of evidence letter,” to the trucking company, stating that they are legally required to preserve the data. To extract the data, lawyers must work with experts who meticulously analyze and document the chain of custody to ensure the evidence retrieved is admissible in court. Black box data can be overwritten in as little as 30 days, so accident lawyers must act quickly if they want to obtain this information as evidence.
Challenges in Using Black Box Data
Some challenges may affect your ability to obtain and use black box data in a truck accident case. Certain companies may push back against providing the information from the black box, since it could establish their liability in court. Many trucking company insurers are resistant to providing this data and might claim that it’s protected by privacy regulations.
Most black box systems overwrite data after anywhere from seven to 30 days during routine maintenance, so time is of the essence if you want to obtain this data to use in court. Technical issues may also be present, such as malfunctions with the black box itself, or the black box could become so damaged during the accident that the data can’t be retrieved. Raw data from black boxes is technical and complex, so it requires analysis from trained accident reconstruction professionals or engineers.
What Compensation Black Box Data Can Help You Recover
If the black box data proves that the truck driver or the trucking company is liable for your accident, it can help you recover various forms of compensation, provided that you win your personal injury case.
First, proving liability means that your medical bills and any time off from work as a result of the accident may be compensated. Next, you may also be eligible to receive non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering or emotional distress. Property damages, such as the cost to repair or replace your vehicle, should also be included.
Contact the Law Offices of Jacob Emrani Today
If you’ve been involved in a truck accident in Southern California, the Law Office of Jacob Emrani is here to help. As the go-to truck accident lawyer in Los Angeles and Southern California, we work hard to make sure that you receive the compensation you deserve. Contact us today to learn more or to schedule a no-cost consultation.