Hours of Service Violations
— how it affects your claim.

The governing regulations are 49 CFR Parts 395 and 397. FMCSA Hours of Service (HOS) regulations limit how long a commercial driver may drive without rest. Property-carrying drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and may not drive after 14 hours on duty. Violations are among the most common causes of serious truck accidents.

These rules exist because federal regulators and crash-data researchers have repeatedly linked this category of violation to serious and fatal commercial-vehicle crashes. Compliance is not optional — it is a baseline duty owed to every other road user.

Trucking evidence has a short shelf life. ELD data can be overwritten within days, dashcam footage cycles, and physical evidence at the scene is cleared quickly. Send a written preservation-of-evidence letter to the carrier the moment you can.

• 01ELD data (request preservation immediately — can be overwritten within days)
• 02paper logbooks
• 03driver time sheets
• 04dispatch records
• 05fuel receipts

The moment your attorney is engaged, they will send spoliation letters to the trucking company, its insurer, and any relevant third parties demanding preservation of all evidence related to the accident. This is critical because trucking evidence has a short shelf life:

• 01ELD data can be overwritten within 7 to 30 days depending on the device
• 02Dashcam footage is typically retained for only 30 to 72 hours before being overwritten
• 03Driver cell phone records are held by carriers for varying periods
• 04Truck maintenance records may be deliberately disposed of if not immediately preserved

Courts take spoliation seriously — if a trucking company destroys evidence after receiving a preservation demand, this can result in an adverse inference instruction to the jury, telling them to assume the destroyed evidence was unfavourable to the defendant.