Our transportation clients frequently inquire whether they should invest in dash cameras for their fleet of commercial motor vehicles. Their primary concerns (aside from the upfront investment costs) is the possibility that a dash cam will capture content that may be harmful in a future lawsuit.
Although a valid concern, our vast experience in representing trucking companies, their drivers, independent contractors and various owner/operators over the years indicates that most commercial motor vehicle drivers are good drivers, and that it is very rare that a motor vehicle collision involving a truck is solely the fault of the truck driver. Therefore, we always tell our clients the same thing: The financial investment in dash cameras will help with future litigation costs and payouts, and there’s a related savings in insurance premiums.
We recently defended a case where the client – a tractor-trailer driver – rear-ended a box truck that was slowing down due to traffic ahead. The box truck driver alleged that our client made no attempt to apply the brakes prior to impact, resulting in serious injuries to the box truck driver.
