Thousands of truck drivers cause crashes every year. These accidents can be enormously painful and damaging to any person who is affected by them. In the case of a truck driver accident, the vast majority of drivers will claim that the accident was not their fault.
There needs to be proof that the driver was distracted or otherwise responsible for the crash for a person to win some sort of compensation for their injuries and financial losses. In this article, we’ll cover the types of evidence you can get to prove a trucker was distracted at the time of an accident.
Cell phone records
One of the easiest ways to learn if a truck driver was distracted or not is to check their cell phone records. The vast majority of people have used their cell phone at least once while driving. Using cell phones behind the wheel causes thousands of crashes every year, and it is a major cause of accidents.
An experienced attorney can use cell phone data to piece together the actions that a trucker took immediately prior to the crash. They can also show a pattern of recidivism that points to a high likelihood that a trucker was distracted.
Competent forensics work can show that a trucker drove distracted several times before and was likely distracted at the time of the crash. This is often the clearest way that juries are convinced of a truck driver’s distracted state prior to a crash.
Dash cameras
A large number of truckers use dash cams and other cameras in their vehicle. They are helpful for reporting insurance claims and potential crimes committed against truckers, but their contents can easily be subpoenaed if a truck driver has potentially caused a crash because they were distracted.
These cameras would show the various patterns that point to a driver being distracted. They can also show everything that the trucker did in the hours and days before the crash. Dash cameras are even more reliable than cell phone records when it comes to showing distraction from a truck driver.
Eyewitness and external evidence
Several forms of outside evidence can also be essential to proving that a truck driver was distracted. There are skid and brake marks that can indicate some level of distraction. In many instances, a distracted driver will cause some sort of dangerous act and then over-correct once they realize what has happened.
Damage to curbs and roads can indicate both the initial action and the attempt to correct that act. Eyewitnesses are another example of a way that a lawyer can piece together evidence for a distracted driving charge.
People who witnessed an accident can testify that a truck driver was driving erratically and was all over the road. They can testify to the person’s behavior and can sometimes even see in the cab in certain situations.
Eyewitness testimony can be flawed, but in a large number of situations, eyewitnesses and external evidence can be essential to a distracted driving case when no other outside pieces of technology, such as cell phones or cameras, are applicable.
Conclusion
Anyone who is in an accident with a truck driver needs to seek out the help of a lawyer. They need an experienced attorney who will help advocate on their behalf and construct a theory of the case consistent with all possible forms of evidence. A truck accident lawyer can make sure victims get the financial recovery they need.
Proving distraction may be difficult, but an experienced attorney has most likely seen dozens of similar cases and will know exactly how to prove any kind of distraction that may have led to a damaging vehicle wreck.
