After a truck crash, a driver’s history and a trucking company’s hiring records may provide key evidence. Indiana adopts federal motor carrier safety rules into state law, including rules on driver qualifications and records. These records can show whether a trucking company followed safety rules before putting a driver on the road.
What should a trucking company’s driver file contain?
Federal rules require motor carriers to keep a driver qualification file for each driver. The file must contain records such as:
- Job application
- Driving records
- Road test records
- Annual driving record review
- Medical records
- Variance records, when required
These records can show whether the company checked a driver’s qualifications and driving history. For example, driving records may reveal past violations or other issues that needed review before the driver could operate a commercial vehicle.
Why do these records matter after a truck crash?
A trucking company’s records may show what it knew about a driver before a crash. Missing or incomplete records may raise questions about whether required reviews or procedures were completed. That does not prove negligence, but it may be evidence worth examining.
Indiana law also allows state officials to inspect a carrier’s books and records when enforcing federal motor carrier safety rules.
What other trucking records may matter?
Driver files are only part of the evidence that may matter after a crash. Investigators may also look at hours-of-service logs, vehicle inspection and maintenance records and drug and alcohol testing records. Drug and alcohol records have separate federal privacy and recordkeeping rules.
Keeping these records can help determine whether a trucking company or driver violated safety rules. An Indiana truck accident attorney can review the evidence and help determine what records may support a claim.
