Drive-a-Check (DAC) reports are comprehensive employment, performance, and safety history reports for commercial truckers that employers use during the hiring process. It can also be helpful to truck accident victims who need to learn more about a driver’s accident history.
We can use a lawsuit to get the truck driver’s DAC report. While you could request a DAC report without the court’s involvement, your request will most likely be denied if you’re not the subject of the report. After receiving the DAC report, we can review it to learn about prior accidents, driving violations, or failed alcohol or drug tests, and may use it as evidence in your lawsuit.
For a confidential and free case evaluation from our Maryland truck accident lawyers, call Rice Law now at (410) 694-7291.
How Can You Get a Driver’s DAC Report After a Truck Accident in Maryland?
DAC reports contain information about a driver’s employment history, driving performance, drug test results, and more over the past 10 years or so. DAC reports can help establish a history of negligent driving, but how can you get your hands on this report as the victim of the accident and not the truck driver?
By filing a lawsuit, we can obtain access to relevant information, such as the driver’s current DAC report. You typically need to file a case in court to get access to this information, as it is the truck driver’s personal information that isn’t otherwise publicly available unless they authorize it.
If you request a copy of a DAC report outside of a lawsuit and you are not the subject of the report, your request will most likely be denied.
Don’t wait to file a lawsuit so that you can get the truck driver’s DAC and learn how it may help your case as soon as possible.
Why Should You Try to Get a Truck Driver’s DAC Report After an Accident?
Getting a truck driver’s DAC report can help your case in several ways. Not only can the report establish the driver’s history of negligent driving or other mistakes, but it can also mention the recent accident in which you were injured.
Trucking companies should use DAC reports during the hiring process to guide their decisions. Ignoring a DAC report showing a clear history of negligence or recklessness behind the wheel could put others on the road at even greater risk of injury. It may even warrant punitive damages from the trucking company to the victim.
What Does a Truck Driver’s DAC Report Show?
A truck driver’s DAC report shows all the information an employer would want to see when running a background check during the hiring process for a commercial truck driver. This information also happens to be useful to any victims injured in accidents.
Employment History
A DAC report should show the truck driver’s employment history over the last 10 years, including places of employment, dates of employment, summaries of job performance, and reasons for leaving previous positions, such as being fired for negligent driving.
Safety Record
DAC reports also contain detailed information about truck drivers’ safety record. The report will list all recent accidents the driver has been involved in, including information about the location, date, and severity of each collision. The DAC report may also state whether the truck driver contributed to or was mostly liable for those accidents.
Driving Violations
We can check the truck driver’s DAC report for previous driving violations while operating a commercial truck in Maryland, such as speeding, recklessly merging, driving with broken taillights, or driving a truck without underride bars.
Drug & Alcohol Testing
Commercial truck drivers frequently undergo drug and alcohol testing. Tests may be mandatory before hire, at random intervals after hire, or following a collision where fault is in question. In general, the results of drug and alcohol tests from the past 10 years are visible on a driver’s DAC report.
License Verification
The DAC report also contains the driver’s commercial driver’s license number and the current status of their license.
FAQs About Getting a Truck Driver’s DAC Report After a Truck Accident
Can You Get a DAC Report without Filing a Lawsuit?
Truck drivers can request copies of their own DAC reports and receive them, but victims generally need to file a lawsuit to obtain this information through discovery.
Can You Get a DAC Report without a Lawyer’s Help?
Many truck accident victims do not know what a DAC report is or that it exists and could help their case by illuminating the trucker’s history of performance issues or accidents. Getting an experienced lawyer is important, so you use everything you can to your advantage, including the DAC report.
What Can You Learn from the Truck Driver’s DAC Report?
You can learn about the truck driver’s employment history over the last 10 years, including any accidents they were involved in and any penalties for driving violations.
How Can You Read the Truck Driver’s DAC Report?
Our Maryland truck accident lawyers can help victims review DAC reports and identify information we can use to leverage a better settlement without going to trial.
Can You Use the Truck Driver’s DAC Report as Evidence?
We may use the DAC report to establish a history of past negligence, driving violations, and truck accidents to strengthen your compensation claim against the truck driver or the trucking company.
What if You Don’t Get a Truck Driver’s DAC Report After an Accident?
If you don’t get and review the truck driver’s DAC report after an accident, you might stay unaware of the driver’s history of negligence or recklessness behind the wheel and lack this context for your case.
Our Lawyers Can Help with Your Truck Accident Case in Maryland
To have our Ellicott City, MD truck accident lawyers review your case for free today, call Rice Law at (410) 694-7291.