Most likely every reader is familiar with the fact that data - or flight - recorders are required in airplanes. Now the National Transportation Safety Board is attempting to make them mandatory on semi trucks as well.
Just as information from the recorder is used to reconstruct airline accidents - so, too, does the NTSB want the ability to reconstruct semi truck accidents. They reason that this will allow them to develop further safety precautions and devices that may eventually reduce the number of semi truck accidents on our roadways.
So what type of data does a recorder collect anyway? To begin with they can keep an accurate account of such things as the number of hours the vehicle has been in service. In addition it will provide crash data such as the speed the truck was traveling at the time of the accident and/or braking information. All of this is useful to those charged with reconstruction of an accident.
Moreover, the current approach to maintaining any type of records is simply requiring the semi truck driver to keep a manual log in which he or she inputs the information by hand.
The temptation to falsify information or otherwise misrepresent the truth is almost too great for some defense interests after a semi truck accident. To my way of thinking it's well past time to require data recorders in all semi trucks.
Greg Baumgartner is a Houston 18 wheeler accident attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Texas personal injury attorney call the Baumgartner firm.
