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When a vehicle has third-party fleet software installed, accident claims are different. Delivery vans, service vehicles, company trucks are fleet vehicles that share the road with everyday drivers.
What most people don’t realize is, if you get hit by a vehicle with third-party fleet software installed, your claim can get complicated quickly. Especially when contributory negligence is involved.
Let’s dive into what you should know.
What’s covered:
- What Exactly Does Third-Party Fleet Software Track?
- How Does Fleet Software Affect Accident Claims?
- Understanding Contributory Negligence
- How Fleet Software Can Help or Hurt a Claim
- Steps to Preserve Evidence After an Accident With a Fleet Vehicle
What Exactly Does Third-Party Fleet Software Track?
Third-party fleet software is technology installed in company vehicles to track driver behavior and fleet operation. Everything from location tracking and GPS history to driver behavior scores and hours of service are monitored by fleet vehicle software.
Businesses use fleet management tools to improve efficiency and cut costs. Over 37,000 Americans died in traffic crashes in 2023, according to NHTSA estimates. That number was expected to reach 39,345 in 2024. There’s mounting pressure on fleet operators to use safety tech that prevents accidents before they happen.
Here are some of the main types of data collected by third-party fleet software.
- Vehicle speed at the time of the crash
- GPS location and history
- Instances of hard braking and rapid acceleration
- Hours of service (drive time and rest time)
- Driver behavior scores
While this information can be valuable, did you know that it also creates a paper trail that significantly impacts accident claims? Especially when contributory negligence comes into play…
How Does Fleet Software Affect Accident Claims?
Third-party fleet software usually stores data about vehicle location, speed, driver scoring, hours of service and more. When a crash occurs, both parties in an accident claim want access to that software data.
Why? Insurance companies and attorneys can use software data to pinpoint exactly where each vehicle was before the crash. They’ll examine:
- Vehicle speed
- Travelled distance before hard braking
- GPS location and route history
That data can either support your case or hurt your claim. If the software data shows that the fleet driver was clearly at-fault for causing the wreck, it could help you prove your injury claim.
But what happens if that data suggests you were partially at fault for the crash? In states that observe contributory negligence laws, your ability to collect damages could be completely barred if you are found to be even 1% at-fault.
Suddenly that GPS route history isn’t looking very helpful. So a consultation with an expert is recommended. Talking with a Virginia car accident lawyer with experience in contributory negligence laws is a good first step to understand how it might affect your claim.
Understanding Contributory Negligence
Contributory negligence is one of the oldest legal doctrines in the United States. Although only a few states (Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia) follow these laws, contributory negligence could completely destroy your claim if you live or have an accident in one of these states. That’s because contributory negligence states operate under the belief that if you were negligent at all when the accident occurred, you cannot recover any damages from the defendant.
Your compensation won’t be reduced, it will be eliminated. Compare that to a pure comparative negligence rule, which allows you to recover damages minus the percentage you were found at-fault. But if you’re deemed even 1% responsible for the crash in a state that practices contributory negligence, you get nothing.
Fleet software can be used as evidence that you were negligent and therefore at-fault for the accident. Providers can use GPS tracking, driver scoring, dashcam footage, and more to give their legal teams evidence that the other driver was partially to blame. Driving too fast, failing to signal or look at a blind spot. Maybe you drifted into the other driver’s lane. All of these things could technically bar you from recovering damages if the other driver can prove it with software data.
How Fleet Software Can Help (Or Hurt) a Claim
Since software data is used as evidence by both parties in an accident claim, it can work for you or against you.
Software data can help your claim:
- Proving that the fleet driver was speeding
- Showing that the fleet driver had been behind the wheel for too many hours
- Demonstrating that the fleet driver made a reckless maneuver immediately before the crash
Facts and data like this is difficult to argue against. It comes directly from the company’s software, so it can be great evidence for your claim. But, let’s be honest, companies lose over $60 billion annually due to motor vehicle accidents. They have every incentive to shift blame onto you using software data.
Software data that can hurt your claim:
As mentioned earlier, software data can cut both ways. If a fleet vehicle had software installed that captured dashcam footage of the accident, they could use that data against you as well.
Did you look at your phone? Were you driving too fast? Was your car partially in their lane when the crash occurred? These are all things fleet software can capture to help the other side build a case that you were negligent.
Negligent driving = contributory negligence = barred from recovering damages.
That is how it works. And in the other states that follow the alterantive process, Comparative Fault, that evidence can still play a critical role.
Steps to Preserve Evidence After an Accident With a Fleet Vehicle
Data doesn’t always stick around forever. When dealing with fleet vehicle accidents, it’s important to preserve that software data as soon as possible.
Here are some steps you should take if you’re involved in an accident with an equipped vehicle.
- Ensure that all telematics and dashcam data from the fleet vehicle is preserved.
- Take photos of the scene and get witness information.
- Obtain a copy of the police report as soon as it’s made available to you.
- Seek medical attention, even if you think you’re not injured.
If that software data is gone by the time you file a claim, you’re going to be forced to rely on your word against the fleet company’s word. But if you can provide hard evidence that they were 100% at-fault for causing the crash, you stand a chance at winning your claim.
If you live in a contributory negligence state? Evidence is your best friend. Soft evidence like your testimony versus their testimony won’t win you anything if the other driver can argue you were negligent.
Bringing it All Together
A crash with a vehicle that uses third-party fleet software will play out differently than your average car accident.
If you live in a contributory negligence state, that software data can be used to prove that you were negligent. As discussed, negligence = barred from collecting damages.
Fleet vehicle software keeps a digital record of every trip taken. When the vehicle carrying the software is involved in a crash, both parties will want to use that data to build their case. Preserve that evidence and seek legal guidance as soon as possible.
