For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today

ment, and emergency medical services
(EMS) personnel;
• Documenting the scene before the debris
field has been cleared;
• Identifying damage to stationary objects
or landmarks;
• Documenting tire marks and evidence
of paint transfer, liquids, and stains;
• Preserving electronic data;
• Obtaining accurate weather data;
• Documenting construction zones or
highway signage in real time;
• Obtaining the road surface’s coefficient
of friction close to the time of the accident;
and
• Testing a company’s driver for drug and
alcohol use on a timely basis.
The team will have only one chance to preserve,
collect, and document much of the
evidence.
Team Members
Every trucking accident rapid response
team should include the truck driver, an
accident reconstructionist, preferably
one with an engineering degree, a field
adjuster or investigator, a company representative,
and an attorney. Other potential
team members include electronic control
module (ECM) specialists, biomechanical
engineers, “hazmat spill” response
companies, videographers, aerial photographers,
cargo- loss adjusters, criminal
defense attorneys, and engineers with
expertise in highway safety, traffic flow, or
construction- zone safety.
Driver
A driver who is physically able should initiate
the investigation by documenting the
accident scene and by preserving evidence.
In some cases, such as, an early- morning
accident in blizzard conditions on US 191
in northern Montana, getting help from
any other team member may take several
hours. A trucking company should,
therefore, prepare a driver beforehand to
take a number of steps on his own. These
actions include, among others (1) ensuring
his own safety, (2) contacting 911, (3) taking
steps to prevent secondary collisions,
(4) checking on the occupants of the other
vehicles, (5) contacting the company dispatcher,
(6) removing the key from the
tractor’s ignition, (7) obtaining names and
addresses of the individuals involved and
of any witnesses, (8) obtaining license plate
numbers of all vehicles involved, (9) taking
photographs of the vehicles and roadway in
as much detail as possible, and (10) documenting
all admissions of responsibility.
If, on the other hand, the accident occurs
on I-78 in New Jersey, the police and an
adjuster should arrive within minutes, and
those professionals will be able to perform
several of those initial duties. Nonetheless,
a company should prepare a driver to collect
as much information as possible.
Field Adjuster or Investigator
A field adjuster or investigator will, in most
cases, be the second team member on the
scene. This field adjuster should have extensive
experience with catastrophic truck
accidents and should be accessible anytime.
The adjuster must know the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations
regarding post- accident drug and
alcohol testing and the trucking company’s
post- accident testing protocol, which may
be stricter than the DOT mandatory testing
requirements. The adjuster must have
the skills and knowledge to obtain witness
statements, for example, knowing which
interviews to record, to take photographs
at accident scenes, and to identify debris
and other physical evidence important to
reconstructing an accident. The adjuster
should also have a good rapport with state
and local law enforcement.
The field adjuster’s tasks will depend on
which other team members can quickly
arrive on the scene. Typically, the team’s
attorney will ask the adjuster to learn the
location of vehicles already towed from
the scene, to identify which company did
the towing, and to secure records from the
tractor’s cab, including paper logs, inspection
reports, and registration and service
records.
A trucking company should identify a
field adjuster well before a catastrophic accident.
The best way to find a competent adjuster
is to consult those experienced in the
field, including trucking attorneys or other
risk managers. It’s not wise to only look in
the directory of a national adjusting company
or rely on a contract that a trucking
company may have with a national adjusting
company. Most areas should have “goto”
adjusters with the training and skills to
investigate a catastrophic accident properly.
Using an inexperienced adjuster has serious
risks. In one instance an adjuster was
called to the scene of a late-night tractor-
trailer accident in which a car clipped the
back of a trailer and rolled several times.
The adjuster somehow concluded that the
driver of the car was in fair condition at
the hospital and told the trucking company
that it could release the driver and truck to
The best way to find a
competent adjuster is to
consult those experienced
in the field, including
trucking attorneys or
other risk managers.
continue on their trip. Although the other
driver died shortly after reaching the hospital,
the trucking company did not find
out about his death until after the eighthour
alcohol- testing window required by
49 C.F.R. §382.303 had closed.
Accident Reconstructionist
The team’s accident reconstructionist
should have an engineering degree and
should have extensive experience with commercial
vehicle accidents. Ideally, he or she
should live within driving distance of the
accident scene. His or her role is to be the
technician—the on-the-scene expert—who
determines how the accident happened and
who documents, photographs, and measures
the scene and the vehicles involved.
The reconstructionist’s investigation
generally follows this path: (1) talking with
the police if they are still present, (2) walking
the scene starting at the vehicles and
tracing backward to the origin of each vehicle’s
tire marks, (3) placing chalk marks on
the roadway using a roll-a-tape so that the
measured distances can be photographed,
(4) documenting evidence in the order in
which it will disappear, and (5) gathering
evidence using the things listed in the
“Tools of the Trade” section below.
Because taking photographs is the most
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