July 6, 2022

Who is that Strange Man Talking to the Truck Driver?

Imagine this…you are driving down the interstate when suddenly a trucker switches lanes on top of you knocking you out of control and into the curb.  You are dazed, confused and you don’t know what is happening until the police arrive and explain you were in an accident.  Strangely though, there is a man talking with the truck driver and telling the police what happened.  The man is wearing a suit and tie, but he is not with the police, the EMTs or anyone else.  He is an attorney for the trucking company.

It may sound like a conspiracy theory, but trucking companies actually have attorneys on-call throughout the country whose sole purpose is to go to accidents scenes and advise the tractor trailer drivers of what to say and what not to say.  These attorneys are trained professionals who tell the truckers (1) don’t admit fault; (2) don’t speak with anyone until they speak with me; and (3) always blame the other driver until we confirm otherwise.

The technology on tractor trailers has become similar to airplanes with technology on both the inside and outside.  The semis have cameras on both the outside showing traffic and inside showing what the driver was doing at the time of the accident.  They have computers tracking the mileage, coordinates, and communications between the trucker and dispatch.  Many of these trucks use a system called Qualcomm which stores these communications and sends them to the headquarters via the internet, and strangely this information disappears after it is uploaded.

When the truckers hit someone, they are trained to immediately contact dispatch and let them know about the accident.  Dispatch will then contact their on-call attorney who will go to the scene and determine the fault.  If you are approached by one of these men, do not talk to him.  He is not on your side.