Truck Crash Evidence in Georgia: What to Keep Before It Disappears

What Evidence Should Be Preserved After a Georgia Truck Crash, Such as Electronic Logging Device Data, Dashcam Footage, and Driver Logs?

The most time-sensitive evidence after a Georgia truck crash includes electronic logging device (ELD) data, onboard camera footage, driver logs, inspection and maintenance records, and the truck itself. Photos and witness names help too. Most of this material sits with the trucking company and its vendors, not with the injured person, so it can disappear before a claim is filed.

Truck crash evidence preservation Georgia matters most in the first days and weeks. Each category below has its own rules and timing. For the broader picture, read our truck accident claims guide.

Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Data and Hours-of-Service Records

An ELD is a device that records a commercial driver’s duty status and driving time. Under federal rules, motor carriers must install ELDs and require drivers to use them, with limited exceptions. 49 C.F.R. § 395.8

An ELD automatically records the date, time, truck location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and driver identity. 49 C.F.R. § 395.26 When the truck is moving and no status change has occurred for an hour, the device adds an intermediate entry. That creates a running timeline of the hours before a crash.

49 C.F.R. § 395.8 Paragraph (e)(1) provides that no driver or motor carrier may make a false report in connection with a duty status, and paragraph (e)(2) provides that no driver or motor carrier may disable, deactivate, disengage, jam, or otherwise block or degrade a signal transmission or reception, or reengineer, reprogram, or otherwise tamper with an ELD so that the device does not accurately record and retain required data.

Supporting documents back up the logs. Examples include payroll records and settlement sheets that show pay to a driver. 49 C.F.R. § 395.11 A motor carrier need not retain more than eight supporting documents for an individual driver’s 24-hour period, but if it has more than eight, it must retain the supporting documents containing the earliest and the latest time indications among the eight retained, and a motor carrier that requires a driver to complete a paper record of duty status must maintain toll receipts for any period when the driver kept paper records of duty status. That limit is one reason a specific written request works better than a general one.

Dashcam and Onboard Camera Footage

Onboard cameras can record the road ahead and, in some systems, the driver. Footage from the minutes before a crash can show how the truck was moving and where it sat in its lane.

Many camera systems record over older clips unless someone saves them. A clip can be lost without anyone deciding to destroy it. The timing depends on the system, so early action matters.

Other video may exist too. Nearby businesses, traffic cameras, and other drivers’ dashcams may hold footage. Each keeps its own schedule, and none of it should be assumed to last.

Protect what you already have. Save phone videos in their original form with file dates intact. Keep the phone or memory card that holds them, and don’t edit or crop the original files.

Driver Qualification, Inspection, and Maintenance Files

Carriers keep several files that often matter after a crash. Each has a minimum retention period. 49 C.F.R. § 391.51

A driver vehicle inspection report, the written check of a vehicle at the end of a workday, must be kept for three months from the date it was prepared. 49 C.F.R. § 396.11 A periodic inspection report must be kept for fourteen months from its date. 49 C.F.R. § 396.21

These are minimums, not promises that a file will last. Damaged parts and the trailer may be repaired, sold, or scrapped in the normal course of business. A written request to keep them is one way to protect them.

Why Timing Matters: Duty to Preserve and Spoliation in Georgia

Losing or destroying evidence is called spoliation.

A preservation letter is a written notice asking the other side to keep specific records. Sending one early helps name what must be kept, such as ELD data, camera footage, and maintenance files. It can go out before a lawsuit is filed.

Georgia generally requires a personal injury lawsuit to be filed within two years after the right of action accrues, but actions for injuries to the person involving loss of consortium must be brought within four years after the right of action accrues. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 Georgia generally requires actions for injuries to the person to be brought within two years after the right of action accrues, except as otherwise provided in the article. A plaintiff who is 50 percent or more at fault recovers nothing. O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33

Federal crash investigations serve a different purpose. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, its accident reports determine probable causes and safety recommendations, not fault or liability. NTSB accident report summary

Preserving evidence doesn’t commit you to a claim. You can protect records while you decide what to do next.

Steps to Protect Crash Evidence and Talking With Our Team

Start with these steps:

• Save all photos and videos in their original form, with file dates intact.
• Write down the police report number and any citation information.
• Record names and phone numbers of witnesses while memories are fresh.
• Keep medical and billing records together in one folder.
• Keep copies of any letters or calls from the trucking company or its insurer.
• Avoid posting detailed accounts of the crash online.

If a passenger vehicle was also involved, our car accident guide covers that side of a claim.

Frequently asked questions