Accidents that involve huge commercial vehicles usually result in severe injuries and damages for the parties involved, more so for the passengers and drivers in the other smaller vehicles. In most cases, the liability for the incident might fall on either the trucking company involved or the truck driver themself.
With a population of 749,000, Seattle is the most populated city in Washington State. Recently, the rate of truck accidents has increased in Seattle. Seattle truck accident victims can recover their losses by proving that their losses were because of the accident.
There are several kinds of evidence that victims can use when it comes to determining liability. This includes using the information in the truck driver’s logbook. A Seattle truck accident attorney will understand how to use this logbook to help determine liability.
This article will highlight what you can expect to find inside the logbook and how it can help in a truck accident claim.
Hours of Service
The FMCSA, or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is the legal authority that has the right to regulate how long truck drivers can stay on the road every day. They are meant to set the rules and regulations for the drivers of commercial trucks that drive across state lines.
Hours of service protocols are there so that drivers of commercial trucks don’t operate their vehicles while fatigued. Some of the trucks these drivers are operating can weigh up to 85,000 pounds when they’re at full capacity, and they are often significantly larger than your everyday passenger vehicle. If the driver of a commercial truck is tired while operating the vehicle and ends up falling asleep behind the wheel, the result could be catastrophic.
The Logbook’s Significance in Truck Accident Claims
After a truck accident, collecting evidence as soon as possible is crucial if you want to determine fault and eventually get compensation for any damages. The truck driver’s logbook is one of the pieces of evidence you can gather because it has the ability to provide you with some valuable insight. If you want to get this type of evidence, your attorney can try to get it from the owner-operator or trucking company.
The logbook can help highlight critical information about the driving habits of the truck driver during the day the incident occurred. It can also reveal their habits in the days leading up to the accident. You might find patterns where the driver is violating the FMCSA’s rules and regulations.
Some of the crucial information you can obtain from the logbook that helps reveal a violation includes:
Violating Hours of Service Rules – If the logbook doesn’t show that the truck driver took the requisite breaks during the week, it might show that they were too tired to operate the vehicle safely, which, in turn, led them to cause an accident.
Distance Covered – If the total miles the operator of the vehicle has driven in a day is more than the federal legal limit, then this might reveal that the operator didn’t take the breaks the law requires them to, despite saying they did.
Inaccurate Off-Duty Time – The total time the driver recorded as off-duty time in their logbook can help reveal whether there was a violation of hours-of-service rules.
Incomplete Inspection Reports – If the truck driver’s logbook reveals inaccurate or incomplete inspection reports, then this might indicate that the operator was driving the truck when the vehicle shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.
The FMCSA has strict rules and regulations in place when it comes to the number of hours one can operate a commercial vehicle. They have these so that tired truck drivers don’t operate trucks and endanger the lives of other motorists.
