After a Florida Truck Crash, the Evidence Starts Disappearing. Here Is What Matters and How Long It Lasts.

1. The driver’s hours: logbooks and electronic logging devices

Fatigue is one of the most common causes of serious truck crashes, and the federal hours-of-service rules exist to prevent it. For a driver hauling property, the rules generally require 10 consecutive hours off duty before driving, limit driving to 11 hours within a 14-hour window, require a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and cap total on-duty time at 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days, depending on the carrier’s schedule. (49 C.F.R. § 395.3.)

Today most drivers record their time on an electronic logging device tied to the truck’s engine. Those records, along with supporting documents such as fuel receipts, toll records and dispatch messages, can show whether the driver was over his hours or falsifying his logs. Federal rules require the carrier to keep records of duty status and supporting documents for at least six months. (49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1).) Six months goes quickly when an injured person is still in treatment.

2. The truck’s own data

Most modern tractors have an engine control module that records speed, braking, throttle position and other data in the seconds before a hard stop or crash. Many fleets also run telematics systems that track location and speed continuously, and many trucks carry forward-facing or driver-facing cameras. This data can answer the questions witnesses disagree about: how fast the truck was going, when the driver braked, and whether he was looking at the road.

This information is not always kept automatically. Some systems overwrite data as the truck keeps driving. A truck that goes back into service after the crash may be erasing the evidence you need.

3. Drug and alcohol testing after the crash

Federal rules require post-accident alcohol and drug testing of the truck driver after any crash involving a death. They also require testing after a crash in which someone needs immediate medical treatment away from the scene, or a vehicle is towed with disabling damage, if the truck driver receives a citation for a moving violation arising from the crash. (49 C.F.R. § 382.303.) The windows are short: if an alcohol test is not given within two hours the carrier must document why, and it must stop trying after eight hours. The limit for a drug test is 32 hours.

Whether the test happened, when, and what it showed are all questions worth asking early. A missing test is itself evidence.

4. The company’s records about the driver and the truck

Carriers must keep a register of crashes involving their trucks for three years. (49 C.F.R. § 390.15.) They must keep a driver qualification file showing the driver’s license, medical certification, driving record and employment history. They must inspect, repair and maintain their vehicles and keep maintenance records. A pattern of prior crashes, a driver hired without a proper background check, or a truck with known brake problems can turn a case about one driver’s mistake into a case about the company’s choices.

5. Insurance: why truck cases are different

Interstate carriers hauling ordinary freight in heavy trucks must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage under federal rules, and many carry far more. (49 C.F.R. § 387.9.) That matters for people with serious injuries, because the limits on a typical car insurance policy are often a small fraction of the harm a truck crash causes. It also means the insurer has every reason to defend hard from day one.

What to do in the first days

1. Get medical care and follow it. Your health comes first, and your medical records are the core of your damages.
2. Photograph everything you can: the vehicles, the truck’s company name and DOT number on the door, the road, skid marks and your injuries.
3. Get the names and contact information of witnesses before they scatter.
4. Get the crash report number from the responding agency.
5. Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer before you have advice.
6. Talk to a lawyer quickly about sending a preservation letter. A written demand that the carrier preserve logs, device data, video, testing records and maintenance files puts the company on notice. If evidence then disappears, the court can respond.

Florida deadlines and fault rules

Florida’s general deadline for negligence lawsuits is now two years for most claims. (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a).) Florida also changed its comparative fault rule: in most negligence cases, a person found more than 50 percent at fault for his own harm cannot recover anything. (Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6).) Trucking companies know this, and their investigators often look for ways to shift blame to the injured driver. Early evidence is how you answer that.

How we handle truck cases

We treat a truck crash as an investigation from the first call. We send preservation demands, identify every company involved, including the motor carrier, the truck owner, the broker and the shipper, and work with accident reconstruction professionals who can download and interpret the truck’s data. Where it helps, we use three-dimensional reconstructions so a jury can see how the crash happened instead of hearing it described.

If you or a family member was hurt in a crash with a commercial truck anywhere in Florida, call us at 305-748-3789 for a free consultation. Meetings by appointment only.

This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.