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In accidents involving commercial vehicles, including local delivery vans and over-the-road big rigs, people traveling in a family passenger vehicle are at serious risk of harm. Even an SUV is smaller than the average commercial truck. If you are involved in a collision with a large truck, the vehicle’s size and weight put you at risk of suffering serious injuries. When traveling at highway speeds, a big rig can cause major damage to you and your loved ones.
The team at Latham & Martin has extensive experience in proving liability in truck accident cases. One of the most important pieces of evidence is the truck’s logbook or electronic logging device (ELD). After an accident, you need to obtain this information as soon as possible. Our truck wreck attorneys could explain the role of logbooks in Richmond truck accident cases and help you leverage this evidence.
Under federal regulations and state law, commercial vehicle drivers must keep records of their hours of service. Federal law prohibits drivers from working more than 60 hours in a seven-day period or 70 hours in eight days. They may only drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours of driving, and must take a 30-minute break after every eight hours of driving.
To reduce collisions in Richmond and ensure truck drivers do not suffer fatigue, logbooks are used to track hours driven, total miles, and duty status, including on duty, off duty, and sleep. Most drivers and companies now use ELDs, which also monitor the truck’s status, including engine status, speed, whether the brakes were applied, and other data. The ELD also notes when a driver was off duty and when they took a rest break.
Your Richmond attorney needs as much information as possible to prove liability in your truck crash claim, and the ELD and logbook help prove whether the driver was fatigued or distracted at the time of the accident. For example, the logbook could show that the driver did not take their mandated breaks for several days. The ELD may demonstrate that the truck had not received scheduled maintenance or that the brakes were not working when the driver applied them.
Companies must keep ELD data and logbooks for six months without altering or deleting them. However, after that time, they can delete the data in accordance with the company’s policies and procedures. Sometimes data is accidentally overwritten if the truck is repaired immediately after an accident; however, some unscrupulous ELD manufacturers make jailbreaking equipment to alter ELD data and hide violations.
If you have been involved in an accident, contact our attorneys as soon as possible for help drafting a spoliation letter instructing the company not to delete or alter any data.
The role of logbooks in Richmond truck accident cases is essential to fighting and winning your crash claim. At Latham & Martin, our experienced attorneys could help by notifying the trucking company that you plan to file a legal claim, preventing them from deleting or destroying valuable evidence.
Call our team today to schedule a free and confidential consultation about your case. We are here for our clients every day and are ready to help with your claim.