Summary

After a crash involving a truck, asking the right depositions questions during an interview is key to understanding what factors led to the collision. These questions can help determine such things as:

  • driver responsibility,
  • the adequacy of their training,
  • and any errors in judgement.

Separately, the factors may not be significant, but combined these will have played a role in the incident.

Since driver errors are a major factor in truck crashes, depositions are crucial for identifying what may have affected the driver’s performance at the time of the accident.

Important areas to focus on include:

  • the driver’s training, certification, and safety records,
  • hours worked in the days leading up to the crash,
  • paperwork (eg. logbooks, trip sheets, pre-trip inspection reports, bills of lading),
  • specific duties tied to the assigned route (eg flatdeck drivers strapping & tarping loads).

By gathering information about the driver’s experience, training, and the workload they were managing, you can better assess whether they were properly prepared for the job and alert while driving.

Also, exploring the specifics of the truck, its maintenance, and the route challenges will help identify factors that might have impacted the driver’s ability to respond favorably.

Through careful, targeted questions, lawyers can gather information that can be analyzed by experts.

This process determines if issues like:

  • inadequate training,
  • excessive work hours,
  • or mistakes

played a role in the crash.

These insights can clarify liability and help prevent future accidents by informing better policies and practices.

Click to see duty of care for truck drivers.

Dr. Rick August is an expert witness providing testimony in crash analysis expert. He has been a driving instructor for a quarter century. In 2006, he graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in legal history.

Rick August, PhD

Working as as Expert Witness, Dr. August provides testimony in crash analysis, traffic safety, road user behavior, and driver education. His expertise is in defensive driving, commercial vehicles (semi-trucks & buses), duty of care, and air brakes.

Deposition Questions to Ask Semi-Truck Drivers

Training & Driver History

## Do you work for a company, or are you an owner-operator?

(CLICK for owner-operator questions)

Most drivers are going to work for a company.

Depending on what kind of company, the driver will be local, regional, or a long-haul driver.

## When did you start working for the company you’re currently with?

Is the driver new, or do they have a great deal of experience as a truck driver with that company?

Ask about other employers if they’ve been with the company less than 5 years.

## Are you assigned the same truck, or do you drive different trucks?

Some companies will assign drivers to the same truck, but many will move drivers to different vehicles.

## How many years have you worked as a truck driver?

Has the driver worked all her time with one company, or has she moved around from company to company? Most long-haul truck drivers are gone for days and weeks at a time. Owing to these working conditions, many drivers will move around between companies…some times a lot.

## What training did you undergo when you started working as a truck driver?

What courses has the driver undergone?

Are the courses pre-employment, new hire, professional development, or remedial training?

Was the training for specialized equipment (eg. hauling fuel, cars, or grain hoppers)?

## Have you undergone any professional development training such as defensive driving, air brakes, or customer service?

List the courses and the duration of those courses.

If the courses were administered by the trucking company, there will be certifications of completion in the driver’s personnel file.

## Have you undergone any remedial training?

In other words, have you had a crash or been discplined for poor performance on the job?

## What driving school did you attend?

If it is a reputable driving school, there will be rankings and customer reviews online.

This question is only relevant if it’s been less than three years since the driver attended driving school.

## How long was the course at the driving school?

The duration of the course.

How long did they attend the driving school and the frequency.

Some driving programs may be two weeks, but they attended every day.

Others may be six months, but the student attended only once a week.

## What topics were covered at the driving school?

Courses will include but are not limited to:

  • learner license preparation,
  • on-road driver training,
  • pre-trip inspection,
  • defensive driving,
  • air brakes,
  • logbooks, load security, and compliance,
  • reversing,
  • coupling and uncoupling (semi-trailer).

## What type of equipment did you learn on at the driving school?

Most driving schools use vintage trucks (20+ years old and 48’ft trailers) for their training.

(Trucking industry standard is 53′ ft semi trailers, and about 50% of the trucks are automatic.)

## Have you done any online driver training?

Include a list of the courses and request their certificates. Companies such as Smart Drive Test offer online driver education courses.

## Have you taken an air brake course?

If they are operating vehicles fitted with air brakes, they MUST have taken and passed an air brake course for their state or province.

The air brake endorsement will be listed on their driver’s license.

## Where did you take your air brake course? (truck driving school, college, or online driver training)

How did they earn earn their air brake endorsement?

Who taught the air brake course?

Almost one-third (28 percent) of commercial truck drivers have mild to severe sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that often goes unrecognized and undiagnosed.

Transport Truck Passing on the Freeway

Number of Hours Worked Per Week

These deposition questions move to discover driver fatigue.

## Do you have copies of your timesheets (drivers operating less than 100 (160km) from their home terminal)?

City drivers will have time sheets. In addition to the time sheets, city drivers will have trip sheets and bills of lading. The bills of lading will confirm the pickups and drops the driver did for the days leading up to the crash.

This paperwork can be requested from the company.

## Do you have copies of your logbook (drivers operating more than 100 (160km) from their home terminal?

Regional and long-haul drivers are required to keep a logbook.

Most of these will be electronic.

The company is required to keep copies of logbooks for 6 months.

## Did you work any overtime leading up to the crash/incident?

The driver may have taken extra shifts which led to fatigue and misjudgement during the incident.

## When and where did you take your break during that shift?

Where did they take their break and for what duration on the day of the crash?

All American truck drivers must be drug tested; Canadian drivers operating across the border into the United States must also meet requirements for drug and alcohol testing in that country.

Mandatory Post-Crash Drug Testing

These deposition questions move to discover if the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

All American truck drivers must be drug tested; Canadian drivers operating across the border into the United States must also meet requirements for drug and alcohol testing in that country.

## Did you undergo post-crash drug and alcohol testing?

Who administered the test?

How long after the crash were you drug tested?

In which facility were you drug tested?

Request a copy of the results for the drug and alcohol testing?

## When was the last time you were tested for drugs and alcohol in the past year…two years?

There are organizations that do the specific testing for random drugs and alcohol. From their pool of drivers, 25% must be tested randomly for alcohol, and 50% must be tested annually for drugs. Drivers can be tested any time they are reporting for duty, on the job, or finishing the job.

## Have you every failed a drug and alcohol test?

If yes, did you undergo rehabilitation training?

Which company did you do this remedial training with?

## How often do you drink in a week?

Did drugs or alcohol affect their driving performance?

Driver’s Overall Health

These deposition questions move to discover driver fitness.

## When was the last time you had a medical done to validate your CDL license?

A copy of the driver’s medical will be in their personnel file.

For most, a DOT (Department of Transport) medical examination is required at 5 year intervals.

## Do you sleep well?

If driver isn’t sleeping well, he may be suffering from sleep apnea.

## Have you every been tested for sleep apnea?

Many driver are unaware that they may suffer from sleep apnea. 

## Are you on any medication?

Does this medication affect the driver’s ability to function?

Does the medication warn that you shouldn’t operate heavy machinery or driver?

Does the medication affect you negatively in any way?

## Have you had any medical conditions that have affected your driving?

Has the driver had major surgery, a heart attack, or stroke?

## Is the driver diabetic?

Does the driver take regular injections or medication to control diabetis or other medical condition?

Owner-Operators

These deposition questions move to discover if stress was a factor.

## How long have you been an owner-operator?

New owner-operators are often challenged by the overwhelming costs of operating a semi-truck.

In addition, many owner-operators struggle to both drive the truck and run the business.

## Is your truck or did you buy it second hand?

Brand new trucks can be in excess of $100K for a day cab, and road tractors in exceess of $200K.

## Are you contracted to a company?

Many owner-operators own the truck, but are contracted to a company.

## How do you get paid?

Many long-haul owner-operators get paid piecemeal. They get paid per mile they drive. Others will get paid a percentage of the freight or service they haul

## Do you own the trailer too?

Most owner-operators only own the truck. Some however, will own both the truck and trailer.

## Do you carry out your own mainteance on the truck, or do you take it to a shop?

Many owner-operators will do their own maintenance – oil changes, greasing, and scheduled changes of filters. For major work, they will take it to a shop.

A semi-truck passing a passenger vehicle. Truck drivers have a higher duty of care to the driving public.

Running On-Time or Behind Schedule

Was Driver Familiar With Route

## How long had you been on this particular route?

Did their inexperience with the route cause them to make a mistake?

## Were you trained on this route?

Did they go with a mentor to learn about the route?

How long were they with the mentor?

## At the time of the crash, were you ahead or behind schedule?

Behind schedule

## What happened to put you behind schedule?

There are a number of factors that can cause a driver to run behind schedule:

• mechanical issues with the vehicle

• driver overslept and left late

• there was a crash along the route

• there was construction along the route

Ahead of schedule

## Were you running ahead of schedule?

A driver running ahead of schedule often happens when the driver is at the end of shift.

In other words, it’s the last run of their shift.

Some trucking companies will have GPS and other tracking software that will indicate if the truck was being operated behind, on, or ahead of schedule.

Request that information from the company, or the organization that they outsource to whom they outsource this work.

A driver’s abstract will show any traffic violations that the driver has accumulated, both in a commercial and private vehicle. The company should have a copy of this in the driver’s personnel file. Or you can request it directly from the driver.

Compliance

Required duties and requisite paperwork

## Copy of Driver’s License?

Ensure the driver has the correct class of license to operate the vehicle they were driving.

Also, if the vehicle is fitted with air brakes, does the driver have an edorsement to operate a vehicle fitted with air brakes.

Is the license valid?

## A copy of the driver’s abstract?

A driver’s abstract will show any traffic violations that the driver has accumulated, both in a commercial and private vehicle. The company should have a copy of this in the driver’s personnel file. Or you can request it directly from the driver.

## Pre-trip inspection sheets for that vehicle for previous 60 days?

Pre-trip inspections sheets are required to be filled out by drivers a minimum of once every 24 hours for the vehicle they are operating.

## Request maintenance records for vehicle for previous 6 months.

These records will show if there are any problems with the vehicle.

Also, these will indicate if the vehicle is being regularly checked and maintained.

Some vehicles have recurring problems that drivers will note on the daily pre-trip inspection sheet.

If the same driver is filling out numerous reports for repairs, it can indicate that the driver is problematic.

If different drivers are filling out requests for repairs, it may indicate that the company lacks the initiative or the resources to fix the vehicle.

## Request copy of annual safety inspection paperwork and the work order done by the repair shop.

Commercial vehicles are mandated to have an annual safety inspection carried out by a certified shop. For truck it’s annual, and for buses, it’s biannual.

## Request a copy of the trucking company’s driver’s manual.

What is the company’s policy and training on defensive driving, fatigue, and customer service to name but a few of the topics that a professional truck driver is to know.

Owing to the potential size of the driver’s manual, some authorities may only send you the sections relevant to the crash, or sections you request.

Semi Trucks Hauling Shipping Containers at the Docks

Equipment & Route Notifications

These factors may be caused by driver inexperience, poor training, or these circustances simply overwhelmed the driver causing distraction

## Was the truck you were driving fitted with air brakes?

Are you familiar with the operation of air brake vehicles?

## Was there construction along the route you were driving?

How did the construction affect the route or delivery?

Did the crash occur in the construction?

Were lanes closed owing to the construction?

Was there a detour?

How did the construction affect the road surface? Was it gravel? Was it corrigated pavement? Was there a bump?

How did the construction affect the flow of traffic?

## Were there other issues that had been identified by the company for this route?

Discover how this information was conveyed to the driver:

  • text message,
  • company internet portal,
  • or bulletin in the drivers’ room.

## Was the truck you were operating fitted with blind spot detectors, backup cameras, proximity sensors, or other observation technology?

Automotive technology at times can negatively affect drivers’ skills.

Was the truck fitted with proximity sensors, for example, that caused the driver to NOT shoulder check.

## To your knowledge, was as there anything wrong with the truck?

Drivers will know if something is not working on the truck or functioning as it should.