What does a truck accident lawyer look for after a commercial crash?

The short answer

A crash with a commercial truck feels like any other crash on day one. After that it stops resembling one.

In a car crash, the other side is a person with a policy. In a truck crash, the other side is a company: with commercial insurance, with lawyers already working for it, and above all with files.

This page explains what those files are and who holds them. It cannot tell you whether you have a claim, what anything is worth, or how long you have. That comes from a licensed attorney reading your facts.

Why it is not just a bigger car

Some carriers, drivers and commercial-truck operations are subject to federal motor-carrier rules; others may be governed mainly by state or intrastate rules. When the federal rules apply, they address driving time, duty-status records, driver files and certain crash records.¹⁴

That can create records that would not exist after an ordinary car crash. Many of those records are held by the carrier or its vendors rather than by the people involved in the crash.

It also means the work starts fast on the other side. Not because anyone is acting in bad faith, but because a company with commercial insurance has a procedure for this and a person who just left a hospital does not.

The paperwork that exists on the other side

Without having seen your crash, it is possible to say what kinds of files may exist when a commercial truck is involved.

• The driver’s duty-status records and supporting documents. For a covered driver and carrier, the records can include logs and qualifying supporting documents such as dispatch records, bills of lading, expense receipts, electronic mobile communications or payroll records.¹
• Electronic logging device records. An ELD automatically records specified data at certain events and intervals, including time, location, engine hours and vehicle miles. The driver also records and certifies duty status, and the carrier must keep a backup copy of required ELD records on a separate device.¹
• The driver’s alcohol and controlled substance tests. When the rule applies, the company has to attempt them within hours of the crash, and if they did not happen it has to write down why.²
• The company’s accident register. A carrier subject to 49 CFR 390.15 keeps a register for crashes that meet the federal definition, with the date, place, driver, injuries, deaths and certain hazardous-material releases.³
• The driver qualification file. Employment application, driving record from every state that licensed them, road test, annual review, and medical certificate.⁴
• The engine control module data, the black box. Road speed, engine speed, throttle, brake use, and the seconds around a hard stop.
• Forward facing camera footage and telematics. Many fleets run a camera watching the road and a second one watching the driver, plus tracking data from the same box.

What can be gone before anybody asks

Here is the part almost nobody knows, and it is the reason this page exists.

For carriers and records covered by these federal rules, several records have minimum retention periods. After a federal minimum ends, that particular rule no longer requires retention, although state law, preservation duties, contracts or company policy may still apply.

Engine control module data and camera footage have no general federal motor-carrier retention period that this page can convert into a date. Continued use may overwrite some data, and whether video was saved depends on the system and the carrier’s policies. Other preservation duties or rules may still apply.

This site has a tool that builds that schedule from your crash date and puts the regulation setting each window next to it: the truck evidence clock. It is free, it asks for no contact details, and it is not legal advice.

The company has a public record

Commercial vehicles covered by the federal interstate-carrier marking rule must display the carrier’s legal name and USDOT number on both sides of the vehicle. State rules can differ for trucks that operate only within one state, so check the cab doors, the police report and any company paperwork instead of assuming the number will be present. With a USDOT number, anyone can look up public information about the carrier, including its fleet size, inspections and reported crashes.⁵

A clear photo of the cab door can make the carrier easier to identify. If you did not get one, check the police report for the company name or USDOT number.⁶

What to write down today

What helps after a truck crash is different from what helps after a car crash, because nearly all of it points at identifying the company.

1. The USDOT number and the MC number, and which side of the truck they were on.
2. The name painted on the door and the name on the trailer, if they are not the same.
3. The truck’s plate and the trailer’s plate, which are two different plates.
4. What it was hauling, if you could see, and whether anything spilled.
5. The date, the closest time you can give, and the exact point on the road.
6. Which way each of you was going and in which lane.
7. Names and phone numbers of anyone who stopped to help.
8. Anything the driver said, in their words.
9. Photos of the whole truck, not just the damage: door, trailer, tires, cab.
10. Which agency came and what report number you were told to call about.
11. The first part of your body that hurt and when you noticed.

Put it in the notes app on your phone, the way you would tell a friend. Nobody expects a report and nobody is grading spelling.

What a case check asks

Expect plain questions. Where and when it happened, which agency came, what name and what numbers the truck carried, whether you got photos, and where you went to get looked at.

If you do not know something, the honest answer is that you do not know. That answer is fine. It beats guessing, because a guess that turns out wrong is harder to fix later.

A licensed attorney reads what you send. You get one of three answers back: a request for more detail, an offer to talk about representation, or a plain no with the reason.