Getting hit by an 80,000-pound commercial truck isn’t like a typical fender bender. The aftermath is more complicated, the injuries are usually worse, and proving what happened requires a completely different approach. Understanding why truck accident claims need more investigation than regular car crashes can help victims and their families navigate this challenging process.
Commercial Regulations Create a Paper Trail That Matters
Here’s something most people don’t realize until they’re dealing with a truck accident: commercial drivers and trucking companies have to follow strict federal rules that regular drivers don’t. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sets these standards, covering everything from how many hours a driver can work to when trucks need maintenance.
When someone runs a red light in their sedan, it’s a straightforward traffic violation. But when a truck driver causes an accident, the investigation needs to examine whether their employer followed hiring rules, if the driver had proper training, and whether they were pushing past legal driving limits to meet delivery deadlines. Cases have revealed drivers on the road for 14 hours straight because dispatch pressured them to make impossible delivery schedules.
Trucking companies keep logbooks showing when drivers started their shifts, when they took breaks, and how many miles they covered. Sometimes investigations uncover “two sets of books”, one showing compliance with regulations and another showing what really happened. Getting access to these documents quickly matters because companies aren’t always eager to preserve evidence that might hurt their case.
Technology Tells the Real Story
Most commercial trucks now have electronic logging devices and event data recorders installed, i.e., the truck’s black box. They record speed, brake application, engine performance, and sudden movements. This data doesn’t lie, and it often contradicts what the truck driver claims happened.
Cases have shown drivers swearing they were traveling at safe speeds when black box data revealed they were actually exceeding limits and never touched their brakes until impact. The challenge is that this data doesn’t stick around forever. Trucking companies might overwrite it after 30 or 60 days. That’s why families who seek legal help weeks or months after an accident sometimes find out crucial evidence is already gone.
Fighting Multiple Companies and Their Insurance Policies
Car accidents usually involve two drivers pointing fingers at each other. Truck accidents can involve five or six different companies, each with their own insurance policy and legal team trying to shift blame elsewhere.
The driver might work for one company while the truck belongs to another. A third company might have loaded the cargo. A fourth company handles maintenance. If a tire blew out or brakes failed, the manufacturer could be liable. Each of these companies keeps different records that lawyers need to gather, employment contracts, maintenance logs, and loading documents that reveal if cargo exceeded weight limits or wasn’t properly secured.
What’s Inside the Truck Matters More Than Expected
Cargo issues don’t exist in regular car accidents. But with trucks, what they’re carrying and how it’s loaded can absolutely cause crashes. Accidents have been caused by shifting cargo that threw the truck’s balance off, overloaded trailers that couldn’t stop in time, and improperly secured materials that fell onto the highway.
Cases have involved tragic incidents where trucks carrying heavy materials like steel coils lost their loads on Massachusetts highways. When materials weren’t secured properly, routine turns caused thousands of pounds to become deadly projectiles. Weight station records, bills of lading, and cargo photographs become critical evidence. If the truck was overweight, that affects stopping distance and puts stress on brakes.
Cases Need Experts Who Actually Understand Trucking
Truck accidents require specialists who understand commercial vehicle dynamics, air brake systems, federal motor carrier regulations, and industry practices. Accident reconstruction experts need to calculate how a loaded trailer behaves differently than an empty one, or how jackknifing happens when brakes lock up improperly.
Medical experts become even more important because injuries from truck accidents tend to be catastrophic. These cases often involve traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or wrongful death rather than whiplash and soft tissue injuries. Proving the full extent of these injuries and their lifetime cost requires testimony from doctors, life care planners, and economists.
Acting Fast Prevents Lost Evidence
Massachusetts gives accident victims three years to file a personal injury lawsuit, but waiting even three weeks can hurt a case. Evidence disappears. Witnesses forget details or move away. Surveillance footage gets recorded over. Trucking companies have retention schedules for documents, and once that clock runs out, records get destroyed. Without a preservation letter or filed lawsuit, companies follow normal document retention policies, which conveniently makes damaging evidence vanish.
Get Help from Lawyers Who Know the Difference
Truck accident cases present fundamentally different legal challenges requiring specific expertise and resources. At the Mass Injury Group, we have spent over 40 years handling these complex claims and have recovered millions of dollars for Massachusetts families dealing with truck accident injuries.
Don’t let critical evidence slip away while recovering from injuries.
Contact us today at 15 Broad St #800, Boston, MA 02109.
Call now for a free consultation at (617) 263-0060.