How to Find the Collision History for a Trucking Company
After a truck accident, you can take legal action to recover compensation for your injuries and damages. When you’re compiling evidence for your case, it may help to have a background on the trucking company that was involved in the accident. If this trucking company has a history of causing accidents, this may provide more information on how and why your accident occurred and could help your truck accident claim. Let’s go over how to find the collision history for a trucking company.
What Resources Can Help You Find a Trucking Company’s Collision History?
There are many options available to you when you’re seeking more information about a trucking company’s history. A strong place to start is the Company Safety Records page from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA).
You can find a number of databases that can help you find out trucking companies and past accidents. Typically, you could use the following pieces of information to search these databases: the company’s name, USDOT number, or Motor Carrier Number.
Two links you may want to check out are the Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System and the Safety Measurement System (SMS). SAFER provides a company snapshot that has a record of the company’s crash data, size, cargo, inspection and out of service summary, and more. You may also find safety ratings here.
SMS provides data about the crash reports and roadside inspections from the past two years, investigations in finding safety risks with motor carriers, and how the FMCSA can use this information to increase the safety of large trucks.
With these tools at your fingertips, you should be able to get a better idea of how often or how little this trucking company is involved in accidents.
After you have this information, you may wonder how it can help your truck accident claim. Let’s take a look at how collision history can be a factor in your case.
How Can the Collision History Help Your Claim?
Truck accidents often occur because of negligence. We know that it only takes a few seconds of inattention or misjudgment for a driver to lose control of their vehicle and cause a wreck. However, when you’re looking at the trucking company’s history, you may start to see trends in the data that can provide more information on how your accident occurred.
For example, if the truck driver claims they lost control of their vehicle because a part or system on the truck failed, you may think that this was a rare accident that wasn’t foreseeable. However, if their collision history shows consistent trucks that didn’t pass inspection but were sent out on the road anyway, this may have been the case here.
There could also be an instance where you thought driver error was the cause of your accident. If a truck driver falls asleep at the wheel, they should have been prepared to recognize the signs of drowsy driving and stop operating the truck. They should also be following the safety regulations that state how long they’re allowed to drive before needing to take a break. If the driver didn’t follow these rules, you could argue they were at fault. But if the collision history shows consistency with frequent drowsy drivers and the trucking company isn’t enforcing their drivers to follow regulations and stop when they’re tired, then the trucking company could have some part of the accident.
Finding out this information and seeing how it applies to your case can be a time-consuming and confusing process. When you’re fighting for your rights after a truck collision, it’s best to have representation on your side.
Our lawyers are ready to stand up for you and fight to recover compensation for the injuries and damages you’ve suffered. While going up against a trucking company can be difficult as they often have representation of their own, we can use all the tools available to us to thoroughly investigate your case and gather all the evidence necessary to show their negligence and liability.
Get in Touch with Prince Law Firm Today
You deserve to have representation you can trust. At Prince Law Firm, we always fight for our clients’ best interests. We’ll go over how your accident occurred, how you were injured, and what the recovery process will cost you. Our lawyers will dive into the trucking company’s history to see if they have a pattern of accidents.
Let’s go over your options in an obligation-free consultation. Our personal injury lawyers will help you find the best way to proceed.
