How do you get a truck’s black box and ELD data before it is gone?
By demanding it in writing, early, and specifically. Trucks generate several separate records, they are held by the carrier rather than by you, and some of them can be lawfully destroyed on a schedule. A general request for “the file” does not reach them. A written preservation demand that names each record does.
What records actually exist on a commercial truck?
Four kinds, held in different places.
The engine control module, often called the black box, can capture speed, braking, throttle and fault codes around an event. What it records and for how long depends on the make and the configuration.
The electronic logging device records the driver’s hours: driving time, on-duty time, and rest.
Dashcam footage, where fitted, may be forward-facing, driver-facing or both, and is often held by a third-party vendor rather than the carrier.
Telematics and dispatch records, meaning GPS pings, messages between dispatch and the driver, and load assignments.
How long does the carrier have to keep it?
Six months for the hours-of-service records. Under 49 CFR 395.8(k)(1), motor carriers must retain records of duty status and their supporting documents for each driver for not less than six months, and 49 CFR 395.22(i)(1) applies the same six-month period to ELD records and the required back-up copy. Drivers must also keep the previous seven consecutive days available while on duty.
Read that plainly: the federal floor is six months, not forever. After that period a carrier can destroy hours-of-service records in the ordinary course without breaking the rule. Dashcam footage is often worse, because vendor systems frequently overwrite on a loop measured in weeks.
What is a spoliation letter and when does it need to go out?
It is a written demand that the carrier preserve specific evidence, sent as early as possible, putting them on notice that the material is relevant to a claim. It names the records rather than gesturing at them: the ECM download, the ELD data for a stated period, dashcam footage, dispatch and telematics records, the driver qualification file, and the maintenance records for that unit.
The reason to send it in days rather than months is arithmetic. If the retention floor is six months and the footage loop is weeks, a letter that goes out at month seven is asking for something that is already gone, and gone lawfully. A Lafayette truck accident lawyer can send that demand while the records still exist. Where the records point to a tired driver, see how driver fatigue gets proved.
With a tractor-trailer the letter may need to go to more than one company, because the tractor and the trailer can have different owners.
Does this apply outside Lafayette?
Yes. The retention rules are federal, so they apply to any carrier operating in Louisiana regardless of where the crash happened. We handle these claims across Acadiana, including New Iberia and Opelousas, both of which sit on routes carrying heavy commercial traffic.
Talk to us about preserving the evidence
The call is free. No fee unless we win.
Call (337) 347-7177 or send us a message. If the crash is recent, this is the call worth making today.
