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wise-raven-456

Truck hit my wife — should we demand they keep the black box data before it's wiped?

Hey everyone. My wife got sideswiped by a commercial delivery truck about three weeks ago on the highway. The other driver clearly drifted into her lane — there were witnesses and the responding officer noted it in the report. No fault assigned to her at all.

Here's where I'm feeling lost: I've been reading that these big trucks have onboard computers and event data recorders that can show speed, braking, how long the driver had been on the road, all of that. I've also read that trucking companies aren't always in a rush to preserve that stuff, and some of it gets overwritten automatically after a certain number of days.

Somebody in another forum mentioned something called a "spoliation letter" or a "evidence preservation demand" — basically a formal notice telling the trucking company and their insurer to hold onto everything: the truck's data, driver logs, maintenance records, dash cam footage, the works.

My questions:

  • Is this something we should send ourselves or does it need to come from a lawyer?
  • Does sending it actually make a difference legally if they "accidentally" delete stuff afterward?
  • Is there a deadline we're racing against here?

We haven't hired anyone yet. We're still dealing with my wife's medical stuff and honestly just trying to keep our heads above water. But I don't want to lose evidence because we waited too long while figuring everything out.

Any experience with this would be really helpful. Thanks.

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8 replies

  • 14
    warm-grouse-150

    Honest answer: don't send it yourself. Not because you can't, but because an attorney's letterhead on that demand carries a lot more weight and signals that you're serious. Most PI attorneys do free consultations and many will fire off that letter right away even if they haven't formally signed you yet. Call a few this week. Today if you can.

  • 11
    calm-newt-065

    I just want to say — it's really clear how much you're trying to protect your wife through all of this. You're dealing with so much at once. I hope she's recovering okay and that you're hanging in there too. Don't carry this alone if you don't have to.

  • 7
    calm-newt-696

    Not legal advice, but this is worth understanding: a spoliation letter puts the trucking company on formal written notice that litigation may follow and that they have a duty to preserve evidence. If they destroy or overwrite data after receiving that notice, it can result in serious consequences for them in court — judges have been known to instruct juries that they can draw a negative inference from destroyed evidence. The sooner it goes out, the better. Many attorneys will send one immediately, even before formally taking a case. Worth a free consult call just for this reason alone.

    • 11
      quick-elk-486

      I worked on the carrier side for years. When a serious accident involving one of our trucks came in, the first calls we made were to our legal team and to the fleet manager to pull everything we could. Sometimes that was to preserve it for our defense — sometimes, honestly, it wasn't. I'm not proud of that. A spoliation letter from an attorney changes the dynamic completely because now there's documented liability exposure if evidence goes missing. It's not a magic shield but it absolutely raises the stakes for them.

  • 7
    calm-heron-729

    Just so you know what you're asking for in that letter — it should typically cover: the truck's ECM/black box data, any dashcam or fleet tracking footage, the driver's hours-of-service logs (both paper and electronic), inspection and maintenance records, the driver's personnel file and training records, any communications between the driver and dispatch around the time of the crash, and the company's accident investigation report. A good preservation demand casts a wide net. Missing one category can hurt you later.

    • 10
      plain-tern-408

      Please make sure your wife keeps every single piece of medical documentation — ER records, imaging, follow-up appointments, physical therapy referrals, everything. I know it feels like a lot when you're already stressed, but the medical paper trail runs parallel to the legal one and you'll want both to be thorough. Also make sure she's not downplaying symptoms to doctors because she doesn't want to seem like she's complaining. What she tells her providers becomes part of the record.

  • 3
    careful-crane-516

    We went through almost this exact situation two years ago — semi clipped my husband on the interstate. The attorney we eventually hired told us the electronic logging device data was the most valuable piece of evidence in our whole case. The driver had been on the road way longer than the legal limit. But here's the thing — that data was almost gone by the time we got a lawyer involved. Please don't wait on this one. The clock is genuinely ticking.

    • 9
      calm-beaver-379

      The trucking company's insurer already has a team working on this. That's not paranoia, that's just how it works. While you're figuring out next steps, they're building their file. Don't assume them being polite on the phone means they're on your side.