Will a truck driver’s logbook support my injury claim?

A truck driver’s logbook may support your injury claim. However, some truck drivers and trucking companies use fraudulent logbook entries. This is done in order to ensure that the driver appears to be in compliance with the law, even though he is not.

Hours of Service Regulations

Under federal hours of service regulations, interstate commercial truck drivers are not permitted to drive more than 11 hours or remain on duty for more than 14 hours after a 10-hour break. Drivers cannot continue to drive after accruing 60 work hours during a 7-day period, or 70 hours during an 8-day period. The driver may restart this period after taking 34 or more hours off.

Hours of Service Violations

Unfortunately, hours of service regulations are sometimes violated. Drivers are permitted to record hours in a written logbook, referred to as “comic books” since they can be falsified so easily. An experienced attorney is familiar with the warning signs of falsified logbooks, including:

• Identical runs. If a driver makes the same trip a number of times per week, and his logbook shows that he always reaches the same locations at exactly the same time on every trip, his records may be falsified.
• Record of duty status. When the record of duty status isn’t current, this may indicate that the truck driver is keeping two sets of books.
• High mileage relative to the time traveled. Drivers will sometimes log more miles than are mathematically possible for the time traveled.
• Only on-duty travel time. Drivers are required to record the time spent on pre-trip and post-trip inspections. If these are missing from the log, either the log is falsified or the driver has failed to perform the required inspections.

The Discovery Process

If you’ve been injured by a truck driver who was violating hours of service regulations, you may be entitled to compensation. Your attorney has the right to examine the truck driver’s logbook during the discovery process. Only a skilled truck accident attorney has the experience necessary to discover and expose fraudulent logbook entries, and ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve. To learn more, contact the law offices of Steve M. Lee, P.C., by clicking the Live Chat button on this page.