How Trucking Companies Use Falsified Records to Cover Up Negligence

As the old song from Smokey & the Bandit goes: “we’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there.” This could also be the motto of many truck drivers and trucking companies. Drivers get paid more for driving more, and companies are under economic pressures to make as many deliveries as possible in as short a time as possible.

Such pressures can lead to drivers staying behind the wheel more than federal regulations allow. It can also cause trucking companies to implicitly encourage drivers to violate those regulations. When that happens, and fatigued truck drivers are speeding down an interstate, tragic accidents are far more likely to occur.

That’s why the regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration include strict and detailed record-keeping requirements as to driver hours and other activities. Under the law, drivers and trucking companies must keep and maintain log books and other records reflecting, among other things:

• Driver qualifications
• Driver training
• Drug and alcohol testing
• Driver work hours
• Truck inspection, maintenance, and repairs

The same pressures that cause drivers and carriers to violate regulations as to duty hours or maintenance can also lead them to falsify the records that are supposed to accurately reflect these facts. Falsifying or altering these records is against the law, but the temptation to provide false information – especially if they think doing so will help protect them from liability in the event of an accident – can be very strong.

Identifying falsified records is one of the many complex aspects of trucking accident lawsuits. An experienced tractor-trailer accident attorney will understand the tactics used to alter records, be able to develop the evidence necessary to prove that the records are false, and use that evidence to demonstrate the negligence and liability of the driver, trucking company, or others.

At The Parian Law Firm in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have extensive experience helping individuals and families who are living in the aftermath of a big-rig accident. If you have been injured or lost a loved one in a trucking accident, please give us a call at (770) 727-5550 or chat live online with a member of our staff today.