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Commercial truck crashes cause some of the most catastrophic injuries on Utah's highways. The average fully loaded semi-truck weighs 80,000 pounds. That is roughly 30 times the weight of a passenger car. When a truck traveling at highway speed strikes a smaller vehicle, the results are devastating. It can lead to traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, multiple fractures, and wrongful deaths.
What makes these cases different from ordinary car accident claims is not just the severity of injuries. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and Utah state regulations heavily regulate commercial trucking. When a carrier or driver violates those regulations, that breach of duty becomes central evidence in a personal injury claim.
At BAM Injury Law, managing partner Kigan Martineau (Utah Bar #14466) has represented victims of commercial truck crashes in Utah and Idaho. BAM Injury Law is licensed in both Utah and Idaho and handles these cases in both states. The firm handles truck accident claims from investigation through settlement or trial. We focus on preserving the electronic and regulatory evidence that separates a maximum-value claim from a minimum settlement.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration publishes the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), found in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Every commercial motor vehicle operating in interstate commerce—including the vast majority of trucks on Utah interstates—must comply with these regulations. When a carrier or driver violates an FMCSR rule, that violation constitutes negligence per se under Utah law.
The most litigation-relevant FMCSA regulations include:
Property-carrying drivers are limited to 11 hours of driving within a 14-hour on-duty window, after which they must take a mandatory 10-hour off-duty rest period. The weekly cap is 70 hours of on-duty time in an 8-day period. Violations of these rules create liability for fatigued driving. Because fatigued truck drivers have reaction times equivalent to those of legally drunk drivers, HOS violations are among the most serious a carrier can commit.
Since December 2017, nearly all commercial motor vehicles have been required to use certified ELDs. They automatically record driving time, engine hours, vehicle movement, and location. ELD data is transmitted to the carrier's back-office system and retained for at least 6 months. A truck accident attorney uses ELD data to prove whether the driver was fatigued or in violation of HOS rules at the time of the crash.
Carriers must verify that every driver holds a valid Commercial Driver's License (CDL), passes a medical examination by a certified medical examiner, and has an acceptable safety history. Background-check failures and unqualified drivers can give rise to negligent entrustment claims against the carrier.
Carriers are required to inspect every vehicle before dispatch, maintain systematic preventive maintenance programs, and retain all maintenance records for at least 12 months. Brake failures, tire blowouts caused by worn treads, and faulty coupling devices are common causes of maintenance-violation crashes.
Improperly secured or overweight loads can shift during mountain grades, destabilizing the truck. Load-shift events on Utah's Wasatch Front grades (I-15 through Spanish Fork Canyon, I-70 through Green River) cause rollover crashes that kill motorists in the adjacent lanes.
Utah's interstate highway system funnels the nation's freight through a few major corridors, concentrating truck traffic and crash risk:
I-15 (Salt Lake City to Nevada border): The principal north-south spine of Utah freight movement, carrying a disproportionate share of Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and LTL carrier traffic. The segment through Salt Lake County and Utah County (the Provo/Orem corridor) carries some of the highest combined truck and passenger-vehicle volumes in the Mountain West. Rear-end and lane-change crashes are common in the I-15/I-80 interchange zone in Salt Lake City.
I-80 (Salt Lake City to Nevada border): Primary east-west corridor. The Bonneville Salt Flats segment west of Salt Lake City is notorious for high-speed truck crashes in whiteout conditions. The city segment through Salt Lake County generates the highest concentration of intersection and merge-zone truck crashes.
I-84 (Ogden to Idaho border): The northern freight route into Idaho and the Pacific Northwest, used heavily by carriers serving BAM's Idaho market. This corridor is relevant to BAM's dual Utah-Idaho practice.
US-89 and US-91 (Cache Valley/Logan area): State highways carrying significant agricultural freight truck traffic. Shoulder-width and sight-distance deficiencies on these routes create different liability issues than the interstates, including potential UDOT infrastructure claims.
Commercial trucks carry multiple onboard data recording systems that, when properly preserved, provide irrefutable evidence of what happened in the seconds before a crash:
Every modern diesel engine's ECM logs vehicle speed, throttle position, engine RPM, brake application events, and hard-stop G-force events in a rolling buffer. ECM data is typically retained for the previous 30 days but can be overwritten after 30 days or when the vehicle is repaired and the fault codes are cleared. This data is the single most important piece of evidence in speed-related truck crash cases.
The driver's Electronic Logging Device records every engine-on and engine-off event, driving time, violations, and driver identification with timestamps and GPS coordinates. ELD data establishes whether the driver was in violation of hours-of-service rules at the moment of the crash and provides a detailed trip history showing fatigue patterns over the preceding days.
Many carriers now equip trucks with forward-facing and cab-facing cameras. Forward cameras may capture the crash and the seconds leading up to it. Cab cameras show whether the driver was distracted, drowsy (head nods, eye closures), or reaching for a device. Like ECM data, camera footage is overwritten if not preserved promptly.
Carrier dispatch systems (Samsara, KeepTruckin, and Omnitracs) record real-time GPS positions at regular intervals and generate speed, route-deviation, and hard-braking event logs. This data overlaps with and supplements ECM and ELD data.
Because all of this data has short default retention windows, a Utah truck accident attorney must send a formal evidence preservation letter to the carrier, its insurance company, and all third-party logistics providers within days of the crash—not weeks. BAM Injury Law sends these letters as one of the first actions upon being retained. Failure to preserve data after receiving a legal hold demand is spoliation, which can result in an adverse inference jury instruction that effectively tells the jury to assume the lost data was unfavorable to the carrier.
Unlike a two-car accident, where liability typically falls on one driver, a commercial truck crash can involve a web of defendants whose liability overlaps:
Identifying all potential defendants and preserving evidence against each requires immediate and comprehensive investigation—the kind that an experienced Utah truck accident attorney can conduct before carriers and their insurers remove or destroy evidence.
FMCSA regulations require commercial motor vehicles to carry minimum liability insurance substantially higher than that required for personal auto policies. Under 49 CFR Part 387, carriers transporting general freight in interstate commerce must maintain minimum coverage of $750,000 per occurrence. Carriers transporting hazardous materials must maintain coverage of $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, depending on the hazmat classification.
These higher limits matter because truck crash injuries are often catastrophic. A victim with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, or multiple fractures requiring surgery, rehabilitation, and long-term care can face medical bills and lost-income losses that quickly exceed the limits of a standard auto policy. Having a Utah truck accident attorney who understands how to claim under commercial trucking policies—including excess and umbrella layers—is essential to maximizing recovery.
Utah applies a modified comparative fault rule under Utah Code Ann. § 78B-5-818. A plaintiff who is less than 50 percent at fault can recover damages reduced by their percentage of fault. A plaintiff found 50 percent or more at fault is barred from recovery.
Trucking company defense lawyers routinely try to inflate the plaintiff's comparative fault percentage to reduce the carrier's payout. Common arguments include:
A Utah truck accident attorney counters these arguments with crash reconstruction evidence, ECM/ELD data showing the truck's pre-impact conduct, and witness statements. The goal is to ensure the fault allocation accurately reflects the carrier's much greater share of responsibility.
BAM Injury Law is a Utah and Idaho personal injury firm located at 310 E 4500 S, Suite 550, Murray, Utah. Managing partner Kigan Martineau (Utah Bar #14466) leads the firm's commercial vehicle practice. BAM handles truck accident cases on a contingency-fee basis—meaning clients owe no attorney fees unless BAM recovers compensation.
BAM's truck accident case process includes:
For a complete overview of BAM's Utah truck accident practice, including information on FMCSA regulations, ELD data, and how Utah courts handle commercial vehicle liability, see our comprehensive Utah truck accident attorney guide.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records show that hours-of-service violations, inadequate brake maintenance, overweight loads on mountain grades, and failure to obtain a valid medical certificate are the most frequently cited violations in Utah commercial truck crashes. Electronic Logging Device (ELD) data is one of the first pieces of evidence a Utah truck accident attorney preserves.
Utah Code Ann. § 78B-2-307 sets a four-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims arising from vehicle accidents, including commercial truck crashes. However, practical deadlines are much earlier: ELD and ECM data must be preserved within days; FMCSA driver and carrier records are often retained for only 6 to 12 months. Contacting a Utah truck accident attorney within weeks of the crash dramatically improves evidence preservation and claim value.
BAM Injury Law offers free consultations for Utah and Idaho truck accident victims. Call (801) 839-5652 or visit baminjurylaw.com/contact. No fees unless we win.
See also: BAM Injury Law Case Results: Utah and Idaho Personal Injury Settlements
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