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A Scottsdale, AZ personal injury lawyer knows that truck accidents are one of the most catastrophic types of personal injury cases that victims and their families suffer. These accidents often lead to such catastrophic injuries that the victims in these crashes do not survive. Those that do survive are often left with permanent disabilities that have a significant impact to their quality of life and their families.
A truck accident lawsuit can be complex because of the potential issues of multiple liabilities, as well as the gathering of possible evidence. One piece of evidence that can be critical in these cases is the event recorder.
What is an event recorder?
A black box is a device that records important data of a vehicle’s activity, especially in the event of an accident. Many people have heard about the black boxes that federal investigators utilize when there are plane crashes. Many commercial trucks are equipped with a similar device, referred to as an event data recorder.
What type of data does the event data recorder collect?
These devices record the vehicle’s movements, including when the truck accelerates, what the speed of the truck is, and what the distance was for any braking the truck engaged in. The box also records the truck’s fuel flow rate and the engine’s RPM. If there is a crash, the event data recorder will even show what the force of impact was and the timestamp for airbag deployment.
How could the event data recorder help in a truck accident case?
The event recorder stores all the data mentioned above, including the activity both right before a crash and immediately following the crash. Your Scottsdale personal injury lawyer can use that evidence to help prove the truck driver or other party’s liability for the crash.
For example, in a truck accident where the lawsuit claims the truck accident was speeding and that was what caused the crash, the event data recorder should show what the trucks speed was in the moments leading up to the crash. If the truck driver slammed on the brakes right before the truck crashed into the vehicle, that limited braking distance would also be included.
How can an attorney obtain the information from the event data recorder?
It is unlikely that the truck company will voluntarily hand over the event data recorder to a victim’s lawyer in a truck accident case. However, an attorney can obtain a court order that authorizes the company to do so.
One important point, however, is that if there is a lapse of time between the crash and when you retain the help of a Scottsdale personal injury lawyer, this gives the trucking company ample time to “accidentally” erase or lose the data that from the device.
What does the lawyer do with the data?
Once the data from the electronic device is obtained, it is usually turned over to an accident reconstructionist who will use the data to create a report of how the crash occurred. The reconstructionist will use this data, as well as police reports, accident scene data, and other available evidence to show who was at fault.
