You’ve probably heard about black boxes in airplanes, but did you know large commercial trucks also have them? These devices are key to investigating plane crashes, and they’re just as important in investigating truck wrecks.
The information in a black box helps law enforcement and courts piece together what caused the truck to crash. This, in turn, affects the outcome of insurance and legal claims.
What Is the Black Box in Commercial Trucks?
The black box’s technical name is the event data recorder (EDR). It’s a device that records many different inputs simultaneously. For example, it captures information about the truck’s speed, throttle positioning, engine performance and braking. It can even show how the driver’s steering affects the truck.
The black box records and stores this data so it can be used if the truck is involved in a wreck.
How a Truck’s Black Box Data Can Help Injured People
If you’ve been hurt in a truck wreck in Texas, your attorney should obtain black box data as soon as possible. The black box data is essential to your case in several ways:
- Accident reconstruction: Investigators can use the black box data to reconstruct the minutes and seconds leading up to the crash. They can analyze speed, braking activity, steering inputs and more to decipher what happened before the impact.
- Driver behavior: Similarly, the black box can provide details about the driver’s reaction time, adherence to speed limits and compliance with traffic signals. All these details help assess whether the driver was being negligent or perhaps even acting recklessly.
- Verifying hours of service: By law, truck drivers can only be on duty for a certain number of hours in a given day or week. These laws are supposed to prevent drivers from pushing too long and becoming fatigued and drowsy behind the wheel. Black boxes can sometimes help verify whether a driver was complying with these time regulations.
The black box is an impartial witness. It has no bias in favor of the trucking company, the driver or you. Because of this, the data from the black box is trusted as a source of truth among lawyers, judges, juries and insurance companies.
It helps everyone involved make informed decisions. With black box data, courts can decide how much compensation should be paid to an injured person and who should pay it.
Contact a Dallas-Fort Worth Truck Wreck Attorney Today
Ted B. Lyon & Associates is one of the leading law firms handling truck accident cases in Texas. Our Dallas-Fort Worth attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for clients injured in wrecks involving commercial trucks.
To speak with one of our seasoned lawyers about your potential case, please call 877-Ted-Lyon or contact us online. We offer a free initial consultation and case evaluation.
