Modern commercial trucks are rolling data centers. Rather than relying on a single “black box,” today’s trucks often generate electronic evidence through multiple onboard systems, including engine control modules (ECMs), electronic logging devices (ELDs), telematics pl
atforms, GPS systems, and AI-enabled dash cameras. Depending on the vehicle and equipment installed, these systems may record everything from vehicle speed, braking, throttle position, and engine performance to driver hours-of-service, location history, video footage, and collision events. For someone injured in a truck crash, the challenge is rarely that the evidence does not exist. The challenge is preserving and obtaining that data before it is overwritten, deleted under routine retention policies, lost during repairs, or otherwise becomes unavailable.
Four Primary Sources of Commercial Truck Data
Event data recorders on commercial trucks generally fall into one of four categories: crash data recorders, trip-log data recorders, GPS tracking devices, and telematic devices. Each captures a different piece of what the truck and driver were doing before, during, and after a crash. Many times, a trucking company may have more than one type of Black Box running on the same vehicle at the same time.
Engine Computer Modules
The most familiar of these recorders is the electronic control module, or ECM. Depending on the manufacturer and model, ECMs may record vehicle speed, brake application, throttle position, cruise control status, engine RPM, clutch use, seat belt status, fault codes, hard-braking events, and other operational data. Trucking company maintenance departments routinely download this same ECM data to monitor fuel efficiency and schedule maintenance. That means the data isn’t just relevant to the specific crash — it can also show that the trucking company had access to information suggesting its driver habitually violated traffic laws, and therefore should have known about it.
Trip Logs and GPS Tracking
A second type of recorder, the trip-log data recorder, interfaces with a truck’s operating systems and typically records distances traveled, speed, braking, and engine status at different points in time. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has studied trip-log data recorders as a possible means of recording hours of service. A third type of recorder functions similarly but also logs geographic coordinates through a GPS system. This data is generally downloaded after an event rather than monitored in real time.
Telematics: The Most Sophisticated Layer
The fourth and most sophisticated type of recorder is a telematics device, which transmits data wirelessly in something closer to real time — similar to a passenger-vehicle system like OnStar. Somewhere between a third and a half of long-haul trucking companies and public transit fleets use telematics to manage their vehicles. Today, the largest providers of truck and bus fleet telematics include Samsara, Motive (formerly KeepTruckin), Omnitracs, Geotab, Verizon Connect, Trimble, Platform Science, and PeopleNet, which offer integrated cloud-based platforms for GPS fleet tracking, electronic logging (ELD), driver safety, vehicle diagnostics, maintenance scheduling, fuel management, route optimization, and AI-powered video telematics. Modern systems continuously monitor vehicle location, speed, harsh acceleration and braking, cornering, engine fault codes, idling, fuel consumption, driver hours-of-service compliance, and equipment health, while many also integrate dash cameras, predictive maintenance, temperature monitoring for refrigerated trailers, and real-time driver coaching. Advanced driver-assistance technologies—including forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, following-distance monitoring, and driver-fatigue detection—have largely replaced earlier standalone systems such as Eaton VORAD by combining radar, cameras, GPS, and artificial intelligence into unified fleet safety platforms.
Video Telematics
Many fleets now use AI-enabled dash cameras that automatically preserve video surrounding harsh braking, collisions, lane departures, following too closely, distracted driving, and other safety events. Unlike traditional ECM downloads, these systems can provide visual evidence of both the roadway and the driver’s actions immediately before impact. Prompt preservation is essential because many platforms automatically overwrite recordings unless a safety event or preservation request occurs.
Overcoming the “We Didn’t Have One” Excuse
When a truck involved in a crash is found to lack modern telematics or event-recording capabilities, that absence may warrant scrutiny rather than being dismissed. Today, comprehensive fleet telematics systems are widely available and have become standard equipment for many commercial fleets. Even small operators can install affordable GPS and electronic logging devices (ELDs), while more advanced platforms combine vehicle tracking, engine diagnostics, driver-behavior monitoring, and AI-enabled dash cameras capable of recording collision events, harsh braking, rapid acceleration, speeding, and distracted driving. Systems from providers such as Samsara, Motive, Geotab, Verizon Connect, and Trimble are available across a range of price points, and many can be installed without extensive vehicle modifications. Although there is no universal legal requirement that every commercial truck be equipped with these technologies beyond mandated electronic logging devices where applicable, the widespread availability and relatively low cost of modern telematics may make a carrier’s decision not to deploy them a relevant subject of inquiry when evaluating fleet safety practices after a serious crash.
The Argument Against the Technology They Didn’t Use
Safety studies of telematics and onboard safety monitoring have consistently demonstrated meaningful reductions in crash risk. A study that equipped taxis in Berlin with telematics reported a 66 percent reduction in crashes. A European Union telematics pilot program found a 28 percent reduction in crashes while also reducing operating costs by approximately 40 percent through more efficient fleet management. More recent research has strengthened these findings. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), analyzing data from more than 14 commercial truck fleets covering over 13 billion miles of operation and more than 88,000 crashes, found that onboard safety technologies—including forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, and roll-stability control—substantially reduced crash rates and produced favorable cost-benefit results. A subsequent FMCSA analysis reported that trucks equipped with forward-collision warning systems experienced approximately 30 percent fewer crashes, trucks equipped with forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking experienced about 40 percent fewer crashes, and trucks equipped with lane-departure warning systems experienced approximately 21 percent fewer crashes than comparable trucks without those technologies. FMCSA’s large-scale Onboard Monitoring System Field Operational Test likewise found that providing drivers and fleet managers with telematics-based feedback measurably improved driver behavior and safety performance over time
Decades of research and millions of miles of commercial fleet operations demonstrate that telematics, driver monitoring, and modern onboard safety systems can reduce crashes, improve driver performance, and provide objective evidence when collisions occur. When a trucking company had access to these technologies and chose not to deploy them—or collected the resulting safety data but failed to act on it—that decision may become a relevant issue in evaluating the reasonableness of the carrier’s safety practices under the circumstances
Contact Attorneys Trained in Truck Crash Litigation
Because much of this electronic evidence is subject to automatic overwriting or routine deletion, preservation must begin immediately after a serious truck crash. A properly drafted preservation letter should do more than generally request that evidence be retained. It should specifically identify the electronic data to be preserved, including ECM downloads, ELD records, telematics data, GPS history, dash-camera footage, collision-event recordings, dispatch and messaging records, maintenance and inspection records, driver qualification files, onboard communications, and any cloud-based data maintained by third-party telematics providers. The letter should also request that no software updates, repairs, module replacements, downloads, or inspections be performed that could alter or destroy stored information electronically until all parties have had a reasonable opportunity to inspect and document the vehicle. By identifying these categories of evidence early, counsel significantly reduces the risk that critical electronic evidence will be lost before the case is fully investigated.
If a commercial truck was involved in your crash, it’s worth speaking with a personal injury law firm that understands how to identify, preserve, and obtain this electronic evidence before it disappears. Our trucking accident attorneys handle truck crash cases across the nation.
Disclaimer: This material is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor does it create a client-lawyer relationship between Ammons Law and any recipient. Recipients should consult with retained counsel before taking any actions based on the information contained within this material. This material may be considered attorney advertising in some jurisdictions.
