How to Gather Evidence for a Strong Truck Accident Case
An accident involving an almost 80,000 pound truck can reshape landscapes and change cities. The sheer size and speed a truck moves at creates accident scenes that can become a puzzle to comprehend. But securing justice and compensation for the accident demands that we understand what happened and how.
So in a truck accident lawsuit, how do you gather the evidence you need to succeed? What pieces of information go furthest in showing that the truck driver, the vehicle, or the company were negligent in causing your injuries?
After an accident the dizzying work of tracking down these disparate pieces of information can exceed the reach of injured victims who need to recover. Instead, My 25% Lawyer’s experienced Atlanta truck accident lawyers go to work for their clients obtaining some of the strongest evidence available.
How Does A Truck Accident Lawsuit Work
A truck accident lawsuit isn’t just another car accident case. The injuries, damage, and potential causes can all exceed the scope of an accident between two vehicles. For one thing, these crashes can be deadlier—recently there’s been an over 25% increase in fatal crashes involving large trucks.
The wide potential scope of injuries also means various causes may explain why the accident occurred in the first place. In a lawsuit, a lawyer for semi truck accidents will need to prove four elements. First, they’ll need to show that the negligent party owed a duty of care to the injured victim. Drivers on Georgia roads owe a duty of reasonable care to avoid injuring or harming others, including pedestrians, while operating their motor vehicle.
Additionally, a personal injury truck attorney will need to show that the negligent party’s actions caused the injured victim’s injury and damages and that those damages existed. Damages can include costs like medical bills, lost wages, disability, prescriptions, and transportation costs. They may also include intangible costs like pain and suffering that the accident caused.
At the heart of a truck accident lawsuit, though, is the need to prove that there was negligence. Searching for and finding negligence can involve more parties, more laws, and more investigation than a car accident lawsuit. There may even be multiple sources of negligence—the truck driver, their employer, and the vehicle itself—can all be sources of negligence.
Strong Evidence for A Truck Accident Lawsuit
Given the broad scope of possible negligence sources, injury truck accident lawyers must sort through vast possible quantities of information to recreate the accident scene. Here are some possible sources.
The Truck’s Data Log
Many trucks carrying cargo throughout the United States have to comply with federal regulations. One way to ensure the truckers and companies comply is through the ELD Rule. The rule requires companies to install and maintain an electronic logging device (ELD) to record the engine power, vehicle motion, how long the engine’s been on, the ID of the driver, and the vehicle’s duty status.
If this information shows that the driver or company were violating federal regulations and that those violations were related to or the cause of the accident, it would help prove there was negligence.
Police Reports
Often the first source of information on any accident, police reports provide what’s considered an objective record of the accident. The police report may also include the officer’s opinion on who was at fault for the accident. While this alone isn’t enough, it can be influential on a jury.
Maintenance Logs
Trucking companies must routinely inspect and maintain their fleet. They must also remove trucks that are unfit to drive immediately. If maintenance logs show that a truck should have been pulled from service but wasn’t—or wasn’t maintained properly—it can show negligence.
Traffic Citations
One theory of negligence, known as negligence per se, can be powerful in truck accident lawsuits. This theory holds that when a driver violates a law intended to prevent certain injuries to others and a driver violates that law causing those injuries, they are negligent automatically.
If the responding officer issued a citation at the scene that was connected to the accident and injuries, that could show negligence. Or, a history of similar violations could show the company was negligent in retaining the driver.
Cell Phone Records & Toxicology Reports
These two records can also help to prove that a driver was negligent. If the cell phone logs show that the truck driver was texting or on a call in the moment right before the accident, it could show another form of negligence per se or outright negligence.
Likewise, a toxicology report could be evidence that the driver was intoxicated at the time of the accident. It may also show that legal prescription medication impaired their ability to act reasonably while driving and that their impairment caused the accident. It can also show that a company may have been negligent in hiring a specific driver.
An Experienced Injury Truck Attorney Knows Where to Look
If you were involved in an accident with a truck, contact My 25% Lawyer for help. We know our clients may be experiencing extensive injuries that put obtaining medical records, cell phone records, ELD data and other critical evidence beyond reach. We use that critical evidence to help our clients get the compensation they need to get their life back. Call us today for an experienced Atlanta truck accident lawyer.
