Information Provided by a Black Box
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2018 (last year of compiled reports) accidents with large trucks and buses left 176,000 people injured and 8,184 people dead.
The catastrophic nature of injuries that often arise in truck accidents makes it vitally important for accident victims to be fully compensated for their injuries. To accomplish that, all liability issues should be put to rest. The information that is compiled via black box technology goes a long ways towards accomplishing that goal.
Depending on the specific model, a truck’s black box may record some or all of the following information:
- Fuel consumption
- What the truck’s speed was immediately before the crash
- Whether the truck accelerated or decelerated
- Whether the truck’s brakes were applied and when
- Whether the truck driver was wearing a seatbelt
- Whether the truck driver was using cruise control
- The monthly or daily truck activity
- Number of hard stops and the RPM between stops
- How often the truck was being driven at, above, or below a predetermined speed or the speed limit
- Whether the truck’s airbag deployed
- How many separate crashes (“events”) the truck was involved in, and the duration between those crashes
- Tire pressure
- GPS coordinates / location
- Truck usage data (when and for how long a truck was driven) which can be compared to the driver’s log to determine if the trucker was violating the hours-of-service regulations regarding the maximum amount of time drivers may drive without breaks.
Some truck black boxes even record communications, such as emails, between truck drivers and the trucking or logistics company. These records can provide valuable information on whether the truck driver was under pressure to exceed safety limits on driving and/or may contain a wealth of information regarding driver fatigue, mechanical problems with the truck, and other important admissions.
In addition, Electronic Control Modules record the average speed spanning roughly thirty days, including information about how fast the truck was traveling at specific points in time. Black boxes also record the hours the truckers are moving, which allows authorities to determine when logs have been falsified.
Data is also collected which shows how the truck itself performed and how the driver has treated the truck. Important data can determine whether the truck was maintained properly, whether a defect caused or contributed to an accident and if the driver negligently operated the vehicle.
When an accident occurs, the Electronic Control Module records the speed of the truck at the time of impact, the point when the brakes were applied, the deployment of the airbag and the force exerted at the point of impact. This data is everything an accident reconstruction expert needs to determine how an accident occurred and to assign fault.