A semi-truck crash can generate electronic logging device records, engine or vehicle data, dispatch events, mobile communications, camera footage, roadway-system records, emergency calls, responder logs, photographs, receipts, and witness accounts. Those sources may use different clocks, time zones, offsets, formats, or synchronization methods. Placing displayed times in one column without checking their basis can create a false sequence.

A truck-crash time-source matrix should identify each device or record, displayed time, time zone, clock basis, offset, synchronization evidence, event captured, custodian, export method, original file, correction history, and unresolved conflict.

Inventory every time source before building the chronology

  • Electronic logging device, engine control or vehicle system, dash camera, trailer or cargo system, dispatch platform, mobile telephone, navigation, toll, fuel, gate, scale, maintenance, and inspection records
  • Traffic camera, signal controller, roadway sensor, business camera, home camera, 911 call, computer-aided dispatch, radio traffic, body-worn camera, ambulance, fire, hospital, and towing records
  • Photograph or video metadata, receipt, card transaction, access record, message, email, app event, witness device, and written note
  • Custodian, system name, device identifier, vehicle or account, format, retention question, request status, and original location

Read the ELD time fields and event type

49 C.F.R. § 395.26 describes data automatically recorded by a compliant electronic logging device, including date, time, location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and specified event information. The record must still be tied to the correct device, driver, vehicle, account, event type, and export.

  • Displayed local time separated from underlying date, time-zone offset, daylight-saving treatment, and system export representation
  • Login, logout, engine power-up or shutdown, duty-status change, intermediate recording, malfunction, diagnostic event, or other event type identified
  • Driver, co-driver, unidentified-driver profile, vehicle, shipping document, motor carrier, and device registration details reconciled
  • Original output, transfer file, printout, screenshot, report, parser result, annotation, and later production kept as different artifacts

49 C.F.R. § 395.30 addresses driver certification, review, edits, and annotations for records of duty status. The matrix should retain edit and annotation history instead of treating the latest displayed view as the only version.

Establish the clock basis for each system

  • Clock source, time zone, offset, daylight-saving setting, automatic or manual adjustment, last synchronization, drift evidence, and administrator access
  • Whether the system stores UTC, local time, server time, device time, network time, GPS time, frame count, elapsed time, or another measure
  • Export transformation, report filter, software version, player settings, time-zone conversion, and person performing the export
  • Known outage, power loss, reset, device swap, update, malfunction, diagnostic code, missing interval, or correction

Use shared events to test offsets

  • Impact, brake application, horn, airbag or restraint event, engine change, camera discontinuity, 911 call, dispatch entry, radio transmission, traffic-signal change, arrival, or tow movement
  • Same event identified independently in two or more sources, with the evidence supporting that match
  • Proposed offset or drift calculation, source pair, confidence, reviewer, alternative explanation, and effect on sequence
  • Conflict retained when the sources cannot be reliably aligned; no clock silently moved merely to fit a preferred narrative

Preserve authentication and transformation evidence

North Carolina Rule of Evidence 901 addresses authentication or identification as a condition precedent to admissibility. A time-source file should retain enough information to identify what it is, where it came from, how it was acquired, and what transformations occurred. Admissibility remains fact- and foundation-specific.

  • Original file name, size, hash where useful, metadata, creation and acquisition dates, custodian, collection method, and transfer receipt
  • Native file separated from screenshot, printout, converted video, chart, excerpt, transcript, annotated copy, or combined timeline
  • Software, version, settings, filters, time-zone selection, export range, conversion, calculation, and reviewer logged
  • Missing frames, corrupt file, incomplete export, duplicate, altered metadata, unknown device, or custody gap listed as an exception

Build a summary that points back to originals

Rule 1006 addresses summaries used to prove the content of voluminous writings, recordings, or photographs when its requirements are met. An internal chronology should likewise cite the original source, location, conversion, and calculation for every summarized time. The rule does not make an unsupported chart self-authenticating.

  • Normalized time, original displayed time, original zone or basis, applied offset, source ID, event description, and source location
  • Confirmed, approximate, inferred, disputed, or unknown status and the evidence supporting that label
  • Revision history showing when a source, offset, or event description changed and why
  • Separate technical, factual, and legal questions assigned to the appropriate qualified reviewer

The related guide to electronic logging device records after a truck crash explains the structure and limits of ELD material. This page owns alignment of ELD data with every other crash time source.

Rosensteel Fleishman Car Accident & Injury Lawyers provides general information about Charlotte truck-accident claims. A reliable chronology preserves source uncertainty and technical limits rather than treating one displayed clock as conclusive.

Sources