You have probably heard the term “black box” in the news about plane crashes, but did you know that trucks also have these black boxes and they can become a vital piece of evidence when determining fault in a truck accident?
If you are not familiar with the term “black box,” let our Los Angeles truck accident attorney from the Law Offices of Howard Kornberg explain. After a plane crash, these black boxes are retrieved from the plane wreckage to get more details about why the plane crashed in the first place.
How black box data can help your truck accident case
What many people do not realize is that trucks have these black boxes, too, and they can be used in personal injury litigation to establish the cause of the accident and determine who was at fault for the accident. When reviewing the black box data, experts are able to see what happened in the moments leading up to the accident.
That data will then be used by accident reconstruction experts to determine liability. The vast majority of large commercial trucks in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Long Beach, and elsewhere in California are equipped with a black box. With the help of an experienced truck crash attorney in Los Angeles by your side, you can gain access to the black box data to improve your chances of winning compensation.
Warning! Do NOT waste your time after a truck accident, as it is not uncommon for at-fault truck drivers and their trucking companies to destroy or otherwise tamper with evidence at the scene of the accident to escape liability.
What can a truck’s black box reveal about the accident?
So what is the use of black boxes in truck accidents? Well, black box data provides insight into what happened up to 5 to 10 seconds before the accident occurred. But these 5 or 10 seconds can be critical to establishing fault in a truck accident. Black boxes can reveal many things, including but not limited to:
- Truck’s speed (as well as the truck’s average speed prior to the accident);
- GPS coordinates;
- Positioning of the steering wheel;
- Engagement of the brake system (how the brakes were used);
- Whether seatbelts were used;
- Whether the driver slammed on the brakes; and even
- Driving time.
Yes, a black box can even reveal the truck driver’s driving time to help you prove that he or she violated federal hours of service regulations, and his/her fatigue, drowsiness, and sleepiness contributed to the crash.
Preserving black box data after a truck accident
In many cases, victims of truck accidents in California find out about the possibility of retrieving black box data as a way of establishing liability and boosting their legal strategy when it is already too late. Often, when they do find out, it is too late, because this vital piece of evidence was not preserved in the first place.
Only a Los Angeles truck accident attorney with many years of experience behind his or her back can gain access to and preserve evidence such as black box data. Do not let the trucking company destroy or tamper with the evidence or claim that the black box disappeared from the scene of the accident.
Once the black box has been safely preserved, it is time to let accident reconstruction experts and trucking experts do their magic and interpret the data from the black box. Black box data could be the one critical piece of evidence in your truck accident case to help you establish the other party’s liability and recover compensation.
Contact the Law Offices of Howard Kornberg to get a free consultation about your case. Call our offices at 310-997-0904 or fill out this contact form today.
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