LBJ Freeway, also known as Interstate 635, carries a huge amount of traffic every day, including a lot of commercial trucks. If you’re hurt in a serious truck crash on LBJ, there’s something important to know right away: the trucking company may already have people working on the case before you’ve even left the scene. A Farmers Branch, TX truck accident lawyer can help preserve critical evidence, investigate the cause of a commercial truck crash, protect your rights when trucking companies and their insurers begin their investigations, and pursue the compensation you may be entitled to recover.
What a Rapid Response Team Does
Large trucking companies and their insurers often have what’s called a rapid response team. This is a group of investigators, lawyers, and risk management staff who get sent to serious crash scenes quickly, sometimes within just a few hours. Their job is straightforward: protect the company. They take photos of the scene, pull data from the truck’s onboard systems, talk to witnesses before anyone else does, and start building a record that supports the company’s side of the story.
None of this is illegal or unusual. It’s standard practice in the trucking industry. The problem is that most injured people have no idea this is happening, and by the time they call an attorney, the other side already has a head start. If you have been involved in a collision with a commercial truck, it is in your best interest to retain a person injury attorney willing to hire and dispatch accident reconstruction experts and investigators right away.
Why the Truck’s Electronic Data Matters So Much
Federal law requires most commercial trucks to use electronic logging devices that track how long a driver has been on the road, along with their speed and driving time. This data can show whether a driver was driving longer than the legal 11-hour limit, working past the legal 14-hour shift limit, or otherwise breaking rules that exist specifically to prevent tired drivers from causing crashes.
Beyond that hours-of-service data, our firm’s investigators are usually collecting:
- Black box data showing the truck’s speed and braking before the crash
- The driver’s qualification files and commercial license records
- Maintenance and inspection history for the truck
- Dispatch records and delivery schedules
- Drug and alcohol test results, which are required after serious crashes
Here’s why timing matters so much: trucking companies are only required to keep this data for a minimum of six months. Some records can legally be deleted even sooner. If nobody formally requests that this evidence be preserved right away, it can disappear before a case is ever built.
That’s why one of the first things we do when we take on a serious truck accident case is send a formal letter requiring the trucking company to preserve every piece of evidence connected to the crash. If they destroy records after receiving that notice, it can become a serious problem for them in court.
Why You Need Someone Working Just as Fast
The trucking company’s team moves quickly because their only goal is protecting the company, not helping you. The only real way to balance that out is to have someone on your side moving with the same urgency, requesting the same records and sending preservation notices before evidence disappears.
We’ve handled enough truck accident cases from Farmers Branch highways to know that speed really does matter here, more than it does in most other types of accident cases. Evidence has a shelf life, and waiting too long can cost you the chance to prove what actually happened.
Kelso Law works with truck accident victims throughout the Farmers Branch area, including those hurt on LBJ Freeway, to investigate crashes quickly and hold trucking companies accountable for what their own records show. If you or someone you love was seriously hurt in a truck accident on LBJ, reach out to a Farmers Branch truck accident lawyer as soon as you can.