New York Black Box

If you have recently been involved in an accident with a commercial truck, it is important that you educate yourself as much as possible about how these trucks work and what happens after a severe accident. You may have already witnessed that the trucking company sent their team of accident investigators and potentially even a defense lawyer to the scene of the incident. This is not uncommon as in many cases, a trucking accident is caused by the negligence of the driver.

Whether it was a tanker truck or a traditional commercial truck, the stakes are high in an accident and you simply can’t afford to wait to get help.

The insurance representatives and investigators will descend on the scene and try to find evidence that minimizes or denies liability. However, you might not realize that a truck has a black box inside of it, also known as an event data recorder. EDRs first started being installed in commercial trucks between 1997 and 1999. This crucial piece of technology could help you when you hire a black box trucking accident attorney in New York. A New York black box trucking accident lawyer will know how to review the material collected by these machines and it could help to prove that the trucking company or the driver was negligent.

Although black box data recorders are currently not required by law inside trucks, many heavy truck engines include EDRs. These black boxes can give a great deal of data that can assist a trucking accident victim to demonstrate a truck driver and trucking company's fault in a crash. The data available will depend on the circumstances of a truck accident and the engine manufacturer. Some of the most common information found on these black boxes include;

• The truck's speed just before the collision.
• If and when any brakes were applied by the truck driver.
• Daily or monthly engine activity.
• How frequently the truck is driven above a speed limit that is predetermined on the vehicle.
• Sudden deceleration, and more.

A great deal of this information can be deduced by knowledgeable accident investigators but black box data can help to validate a driver's explanation about how an incident occurred. When you hire a New York black box trucking accident attorney, he or she will often want to know this information as soon as possible. It's important to ensure that this information is not lost or destroyed in the immediate aftermath of the accident. Someone working to remove the crashed vehicle from the roadway may accidentally destroy this information and a vital black box, it helps to validate the cause of your injuries. Other times, a trucking company may instruct or allow employees to take steps that destroy the evidence. If a trucking company negligently or intentionally causes relevant evidence to be destroyed, additional legal recourse may be provided to the victim. For example, if a tractor trailer is restarted and driven immediately away from the accident scene, the data linked to the events leading up to the crash itself could be lost.

Since many people working in the trucking industry already know this, they may count on a victim's lack of knowledge about this situation. If there is very little damage to the truck, the trucking company may argue that they need to repair the truck quickly and put it back on the road immediately to avoid more money. It is important to have a knowledgeable attorney to fight for your rights and collect the necessary information in a black box. When you have a black box accident lawyer in New York who is thoroughly experienced and comfortable gathering this information and fighting back against the accident investigation team, you will have a better chance of recovering maximum compensation for your injuries caused by a negligent truck driver whose activities may have been recorded by the black box.