Truck accidents can result in severe and sometimes fatal injuries for those involved. When pursuing a personal injury claim after an incident, proving the truck driver, carrier, or dispatcher acted in a reckless or careless manner is essential to obtaining fair compensation for your losses. Thus, seeking help from a seasoned lawyer with collecting evidence in Denton truck accidents is key to achieving a successful result in your case.
Having a trustworthy truck collision attorney on your side with in-depth knowledge of and past experience dealing with the trucking industry is a huge asset. After being retained, they could immediately begin the process of preserving the evidence that might be vital to proving another person’s negligence was to blame for the accident, such as driver logs, onboard communication data, and ECM data that tracks driving metrics such as speed, brake force, signal indicators, and other potentially important evidence in an 18-wheeler accident. Reach out today to schedule your consultation.
In any kind of trucking wreck, but especially those resulting in catastrophic injuries, it is important to preserve the electronic control modules (ECM) found within the 18-wheeler and passenger cars. ECMs—more commonly known as black boxes—can capture all of the evidence that is critical in proving fault following an incident.
ECMs can reveal how fast a person was driving or even their breaking history. Thus, if a truck driver was speeding or failed to hit their brakes due to distracted driving, or any other reason, an ECM can help prove this story in court. However, the driving data stored within ECMs does not last forever, which is why it is so crucial that this information is gathered quickly following an accident. If a person does not act swiftly, they risk the information disappearing due to the truck being put back on the road and the ECM being overwritten with new data.
ECM data can also reveal how long the truck driver had been operating the vehicle. That information can then be cross-referenced with the trucker’s official driving log to reveal if any of the documentation has been falsified. Truck drivers have legal restrictions on how long they are allowed to drive at a time. If a trucker was running over their maximum number of hours and caused a crash with another vehicle due to their own exhaustion, ECM data could be utilized to hold them legally accountable for their actions.
On the other hand, if a truck operator went over their restricted number of driving hours because their supervisor instructed them to, then the trucking company could also be sued for damages in a claim. Thus, collecting evidence in a timely manner in Denton truck wrecks is extremely significant when filing a personal injury suit.
When attorneys are collecting evidence in Denton truck crash cases, they often bring in experts to help review and verify the information gathered. An accident reconstructionist can play a substantial role in accessing an incident and determining who is to blame. These forensic experts examine all of the available evidence in great detail in order to establish how and why the wreck occurred, and most importantly, which party is responsible.
These analysts write up reports and often will even create 3D animations to display a step-by-step of what happened leading up to and during an accident. This kind of evidence is extremely compelling for the injured individual’s case in court and helps tell the story to the jury in a much more effective way.
After being involved in a severe truck accident in Denton, collecting evidence is likely the last thing that you are worried about. However, as you can see, it is crucial to proving another party is to blame and securing the monetary damages you deserve for your losses. Plus, it is essential to act quickly when preserving evidence so that it is not lost or altered.
Enlist the help of a capable and confident lawyer who can handle the entire legal process so that you can focus on what is most important—your own physical recovery. Contact our team of dedicated lawyers today to get started.
McCraw Law Group