What Can a Black Box Tell You After a Truck Accident?

If you’ve been hurt in a crash involving an 18-wheeler, the vehicle’s black box may contain critical evidence after the truck accident. Often overlooked, this onboard data recorder can provide powerful evidence to support your injury claim.

Truck black box data often plays a pivotal role in proving liability after a truck accident. Your lawyer can help you obtain and interpret the data quickly, before it’s lost or overwritten, and use that information to build a strong case for the compensation you deserve. This is just one of many reasons to act quickly to secure access to the black box after a truck accident.

Types of Data Stored By a Commercial Truck’s Black Box 

There is a lot that a black box can tell you after a truck accident in Arkansas. While different manufacturers’ specifications vary, commercial trucks’ black boxes typically record data such as:

• The truck’s speed and acceleration history
• The truck’s GPS data history
• When the truck driver applied the brakes (if the truck driver applied the brakes)
• How forcefully the truck driver applied the brakes (if at all)
• The truck driver’s steering inputs in the moments leading up to the crash
• The truck’s hours of service
• The truck’s engine performance and diagnostics

All of these data points can provide critical insights into the cause of a crash. They can point to potential causes of the accident, including (but not limited to):

• Aggressive or reckless driving
• Distracted driving
• Truck driver fatigue
• Loss of control
• Failure to obey traffic signs or signals
• Failure to comply with federal hours-of-service restrictions
• Mechanical failures and other truck-related factors

When you have a claim for a truck accident in Arkansas, you need to be able to prove the specific cause (or causes) of the crash. If you can’t prove why your truck accident happened, you won’t be able to recover the financial compensation you deserve. Once again, your Arkansas truck accident lawyer can help, and it is strongly in your best interests to hire an experienced lawyer as soon after your accident as possible.

How Your Lawyer Can Use the Black Box After a Truck Accident to Build Your Case

Once your lawyer has access to the black box after a truck accident, he or she will be able to make use of the data in several important ways. Here are just some of the ways that having access to the truck’s black box data can play a key role in pursuing a claim for compensation: 

1. Proving Negligence

In most cases, filing a claim for a truck accident involves proving negligence. Negligence can take many different forms—from driving recklessly or aggressively to falling asleep behind the wheel. If the truck driver’s negligence is to blame for your accident-related losses, the truck’s black box could hold the data you need to seek the financial compensation you deserve.

2. Proving Defects or Maintenance Issues

Black box data can also be used to prove truck defects and maintenance issues. These issues can cause (or contribute to causing) serious truck accidents in some cases. If a defect or maintenance issue played a role in your truck accident, then the truck’s manufacturer or a dealership or maintenance vendor that worked on the truck could be fully or partially responsible for your losses.

3. Proving Violations of the Law

Speeding, violating the federal hours-of-service rules, and other similar types of violations can provide clear grounds for truck accident victims to seek compensation. If the truck’s black box data shows that the truck driver or trucking company broke the law, this is a key fact that you need to know. 

4. Disputing False Claims 

When facing liability for truck accidents, trucking companies and insurance companies will defend themselves by all means available. Unfortunately, this includes making false or misleading claims in some cases. If the truck’s black box data clearly disputes a false or misleading claim, this is a key fact that you need to know. That’s why preserving the black box after a truck accident is essential to protecting your rights.

5. Ruling Out Non-Factors in Your Accident

The truck’s black box data can also be used to rule out non-factors in your truck accident. For example, if the data show that the truck driver was operating safely at the time of the crash (and that there were no mechanical issues with the truck itself), this could point to another driver being at fault in the collision. When you have a truck accident claim, it is critical to consider all potential sources of financial compensation, and the truck’s black box data can play an important role here as well. 

Speak with an Arkansas Truck Accident Lawyer at Oliver Law Firm for Free 

If you need to know more about asserting your legal rights after a truck accident, time is not on your side. The black box after a truck accident can be overwritten or lost entirely if not recovered quickly. The truck’s black box can be overwritten or lost entirely if not recovered quickly. That’s why it’s so important to contact a lawyer who knows how to act fast and preserve this vital evidence.

At Oliver Law Firm, we know what to look for in a truck’s black box after a truck accident. We’ll use every tool available to fight for the justice and compensation you deserve. From the moment you contact us, we’ll begin working to protect your rights and build a strong, evidence-backed claim.

Call us today at 479-202-5200 or contact us online for a FREE case evaluation. We represent truck accident victims across Arkansas and throughout the United States from our Rogers, AR office. Let us help you move forward with confidence.