After an I-84 truck accident during August travel, move away from immediate danger when you can do so safely, call 911, accept appropriate medical care, and preserve evidence without arguing about fault. August traffic may include vacation travelers, recreation vehicles, construction activity, delivery traffic, and changing school schedules. These conditions can contribute to congestion and sudden slowdowns along the I-84 corridor.
Hepworth Holzer, LLP helps people injured in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and communities throughout Idaho understand how trucking records, insurance coverage, medical evidence, and Idaho law may affect a claim. The actions you take after a collision can protect your health and make it easier to determine what happened.
Before driving, you can review current traffic events, cameras, restrictions, and road conditions through Idaho 511: https://511.idaho.gov/
Why August Travel Can Complicate an I-84 Truck Crash 
I-84 carries commuters, families, tourists, delivery vehicles, recreation vehicles, and commercial trucks through southern Idaho. During August, drivers may encounter changing traffic patterns near exits, work zones, schools, recreation areas, and growing communities in the Treasure Valley.
Some drivers may be towing campers or boats. Others may be following unfamiliar navigation routes, changing lanes near exits, or braking for congestion. Those conditions can increase the risk of abrupt stops and multi-vehicle crashes.
Commercial trucks also operate differently from passenger vehicles. Large trucks have substantial blind spots, need more space to turn, and generally require longer stopping distances. Federal safety information for drivers is available at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/ourroads/tips-driving-safely-around-large-trucks-or-buses.
1. Get Out of Immediate Danger
Your first concern should be preventing another collision and obtaining emergency help.
- Call 911 and state that the crash involves a commercial truck.
- Report injuries, blocked lanes, leaking fuel, smoke, fire, damaged barriers, or cargo on the roadway.
- Follow instructions from the dispatcher and emergency responders.
- Move your vehicle only when it can be moved safely and the dispatcher or responding officer does not instruct you to leave it in place.
- Avoid standing between vehicles, beside active traffic, or near leaking fuel and unstable cargo.
- Use hazard lights when appropriate.
If remaining in the vehicle exposes you to fire, smoke, moving traffic, leaking fuel, or another immediate threat, move to a protected location when you can do so safely. Do not cross active interstate lanes to reach another location.
Accept an emergency medical evaluation when it is offered. The stress response after a collision can make pain and other symptoms less noticeable at first.
2. Document the Scene Without Taking Risks
Evidence on I-84 can disappear quickly. Vehicles may be moved or towed, debris may be cleared, traffic may resume, and witnesses may continue traveling. Take photographs or video only from a safe location.
Useful documentation may include:
- The truck, trailer, passenger vehicles, and visible damage
- License plates, unit numbers, company markings, and trailer information
- Skid marks, debris, lane markings, barriers, signs, and the shoulder
- Vehicle positions before they are moved, when it is safe to document them
- Cargo spills, damaged tires, broken lights, and loose truck components
- Weather, lighting, visibility, road surface, and traffic conditions
- Visible injuries and damaged personal property
- The truck driver’s name, license information, employer, and insurer
- Names and contact information for witnesses
Do not rely only on the truck driver to identify every involved business. The tractor, trailer, cargo, driver, and motor carrier may be connected to different companies, contracts, and insurance policies.
For more steps that may help after a commercial vehicle collision, review https://hepworthholzer.com/after-a-truck-accident/.
3. Seek Medical Care and Follow the Treatment Plan
You can feel alert after a crash and still have an injury that needs medical attention. Truck collisions may cause head injuries, neck and back injuries, fractures, internal injuries, soft-tissue damage, burns, and psychological symptoms.
Tell medical providers about every symptom, including:
- Headache or dizziness
- Confusion or memory changes
- Numbness or weakness
- Neck, back, chest, or abdominal pain
- Sleep changes
- Vision or hearing changes
- Increasing pain or reduced movement
- Anxiety, fear, or recurring memories of the crash
Follow the treatment plan provided by your medical professionals. Keep appointments, complete recommended imaging or therapy, and report new or worsening symptoms. Obtain written work restrictions when a provider limits your job duties.
Save medical bills, pharmacy receipts, mileage records, wage documents, and communications with your employer. These records may help explain the financial effect of the crash.
The Idaho personal injury guide provides more information about treatment, insurance, documentation, and damages: https://hepworthholzer.com/2020/09/16/idaho-personal-injury-guide/.
Rules of a Personal Injury Claim Choosing a Personal Injury AttorneyRelated Videos
4. Preserve Trucking Records Promptly
A police report can provide valuable information, but it rarely contains every fact needed to explain a commercial truck crash. The driver, motor carrier, maintenance provider, cargo company, and other businesses may possess electronic and paper records.
Potential evidence may include:
- Electronic logging device records
- Engine control module or event data recorder information
- Dash-camera footage
- GPS and telematics data
- Dispatch messages
- Bills of lading
- Driver qualification and training files
- Inspection and maintenance records
- Drug and alcohol testing records
- Cargo-loading and securement documents
- Mobile phone records, when legally obtainable
- Post-crash photographs and vehicle-inspection records
Federal guidance states that motor carriers generally must retain drivers’ records of duty status and supporting documents for six months. More information is available at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/how-long-must-motor-carrier-retain-electronic-logging-device-eld-record-duty.
Other electronic data may be overwritten sooner, depending on the equipment and how the truck is used after the collision.
Preserve the evidence early. Important trucking data can be overwritten or lost before the legal filing deadline arrives.
The firm’s article about insurance investigations explains why carriers and insurers often begin collecting information soon after a crash: https://hepworthholzer.com/2021/02/01/insurance-investigation-for-truck-accidents/.
Verdicts & Settlements
5. Be Careful With Insurance Communications
Report the crash to your own insurer as required by your policy. Give accurate basic information, but do not guess about speed, distance, fault, or the full extent of your injuries.
A trucking insurer may ask you to provide:
- A recorded statement
- A broad medical authorization
- Access to employment or tax records
- Permission to inspect your vehicle
- A signed release
- Acceptance of an early settlement
Review each request before agreeing. A broad authorization may allow an insurer to obtain records that have little connection to the crash. An early settlement offer may arrive before your doctors understand your prognosis, future treatment needs, or work limitations.
Signing a release can end claims against the people and businesses named in that document. A claim review may need to address medical expenses, lost income, reduced earning ability, property damage, future care, pain, disability, and loss of normal activities when the evidence supports those losses.
More than one insurance policy may apply. Coverage may involve the truck driver, motor carrier, tractor owner, trailer owner, shipper, contractor, employer, another driver, or your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
6. Identify Every Potentially Responsible Party
Responsibility depends on the facts and the cause of the collision. A truck driver may be responsible for unsafe speed, distraction, fatigue, following too closely, an improper lane change, or another driving error.
A motor carrier may face responsibility for conduct involving:
- Hiring
- Training
- Supervision
- Scheduling
- Vehicle maintenance
- Safety policies
- Compliance with federal and state trucking requirements
Other potentially responsible parties may include:
- The owner of the tractor or trailer
- A maintenance or repair contractor
- A cargo-loading company
- A manufacturer of a defective tire, brake, or vehicle component
- Another driver who contributed to the collision
- A road contractor or government entity in a fact-specific claim involving a dangerous condition
Identifying the parties matters because each may possess different evidence and insurance coverage.
7. Understand Idaho Comparative Responsibility
Idaho law allows responsibility to be divided among the people and businesses whose conduct contributed to an injury. Your compensation may be reduced by the percentage of responsibility assigned to you.
Recovery against a particular defendant may be barred when your responsibility is equal to or greater than that defendant’s responsibility. The wording and application of Idaho Code Section 6-801 can be reviewed at https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title6/t6ch8/sect6-801/.
Insurers may argue that a passenger vehicle changed lanes too closely, stopped without warning, remained in a blind spot, or failed to avoid the truck. Those arguments should be compared with:
- Physical evidence
- Witness accounts
- Truck data
- Vehicle damage
- Roadway conditions
- Camera footage
- The conduct of every involved driver
The firm’s explanation of Idaho comparative responsibility provides additional context: https://hepworthholzer.com/2020/10/08/comparative-responsibility/.
8. Do Not Wait for a Filing Deadline
Idaho Code Section 5-219 generally provides a two-year filing period for many personal injury actions. The statute is available at https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title5/t5ch2/sect5-219/.
Different deadlines or notice rules may apply in some cases. For example, Idaho Code Section 6-906 generally requires a claim against a political subdivision or its employee to be presented within 180 days from the date the claim arose or reasonably should have been discovered. The statute is available at https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title6/t6ch9/sect6-906/.
The deadline that applies can depend on the parties, the type of claim, the injured person’s age, and other facts. Insurance policies may also require prompt notice and cooperation.
Evidence can disappear long before a lawsuit deadline expires. Cameras can overwrite footage, vehicles can be repaired, electronic data can be lost, and witnesses can become difficult to locate.
9. Know How an Idaho Truck Accident Attorney Can Help
An Idaho truck accident attorney can investigate the collision and help protect evidence. Depending on the case, the attorney may:
- Identify involved businesses and insurers
- Send preservation demands
- Inspect the vehicles
- Obtain electronic records
- Interview witnesses
- Review driver, training, inspection, and maintenance files
- Analyze insurance coverage
- Work with qualified investigators or experts
- Document medical and financial losses
- Respond to attempts to shift blame
- Address filing and notice deadlines
- Prepare the claim for settlement discussions or litigation
Learn more about the firm’s work in commercial truck cases at https://hepworthholzer.com/boise-truck-accident-lawyers/.
Speak With an Idaho Truck Accident Attorney
An I-84 truck accident during August travel can affect your health, work, transportation, and family responsibilities at the same time. Hepworth Holzer, LLP represents injured people in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, the Treasure Valley, and communities throughout Idaho.
The firm offers consultations for people who need to understand the collision, available evidence, insurance coverage, and possible next steps.
Call 208-328-6998 or visit https://hepworthholzer.com/contact/.
This article is for general informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different. Consult an attorney about your specific circumstances.
