Dashcams for Trucks: Helping Companies Address Growing Litigation Challenges

In general, most lawsuits and litigation challenges are regarded as complicated, expensive, and difficult – but they’re especially problematic for trucking companies. Why? Because they often involve huge amounts of money and potentially crippling damages.

According to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the number of lawsuits and outrageously high verdict awards against trucking companies increased more than 51% between 2010 and 2018. These nuclear verdicts (cases that are typically $10M and above) generally stem from trucking accidents involving serious injuries or death. Nuclear verdicts continue to negatively impact motor carrier operations — from higher insurance premiums to bankruptcy filings.

Today, dashcams are helping trucking companies and insurance carriers better mitigate losses that can result in costly lawsuits.

5 Safety Features & Benefits Provided by Dashcams

1. Improving Accident Prevention

Dashcam video footage is helping companies and insurance carriers to better identify potentially dangerous road events that lie ahead for drivers — as they happen in real time.

2. Disputing Fraudulent Insurance Claims

Dashcam video can be used as supporting evidence in court to help prove that an accident may have been fraudulent. This allows the trucking company and insurance carrier to quickly and easily contest fraudulent claims, reducing the chances of financial loss.

3. Capturing & Correcting Driver Behavior

Video clips can provide businesses and fleet managers with insights into a driver’s behavior. This allows trucking operators to determine what could have been done better in a certain situation and then effectively address key issues and provide safety training/coaching opportunities to drivers.

4. Creating Greater All-Around Visibility

Many dashcams can also be installed on the back of a truck and in the cabin, allowing fleets greater visibility into backside accidents involving their truck and what their driver was doing at the time of the accident.

5. Documenting Key Evidence

Dashcams provide a snapshot of what a driver saw at the time of an accident. Acting as an “eyewitness,” a dashcam can provide key evidence in a case by backing up the driver’s testimony of the crash and possibly proving that the driver was not at fault.