If you do not know this, the best evidence can disappear fast and the insurer gets to lean on the driver's version of the crash.

Before you know how trucking cases work, it feels like Gulfport families are stuck arguing with an adjuster over a police report and a few photos from I-10 or U.S. 49. The company says the driver "did nothing wrong," the deer crossed, traffic stopped short, or your spouse drifted. Then they claim the black box, dash video, and log data are gone.

That can be a real problem, but it is also a warning sign.

After you know the rules, the situation changes. A trucking company and its insurer may have to preserve much more than a passenger-car case: ELD hours-of-service records, dispatch messages, Qualcomm data, driver qualification files, maintenance records, dash cam footage, and the tractor's engine control module data. Under FMCSA rules, many hours-of-service records are kept only 6 months unless someone moves quickly to demand preservation. Some video systems overwrite in days.

In Mississippi, that means the target may not just be the driver. It can be the motor carrier, and sometimes a separate trailer owner, maintenance company, or cargo outfit. A broker is different from a carrier; the broker may have arranged the load, but the carrier usually controls the truck and carries the main liability coverage. For interstate trucks, the carrier often has at least $750,000 in liability coverage, and more for certain hazmat loads.

What changes once you know this: you stop treating it like a normal wreck and start focusing on who had the data, when they had it, and what they erased. In a Gulfport crash investigated by the Mississippi Highway Patrol, that can matter as much as skid marks - especially in fall and early winter, when companies love to blame wildlife crossings and road conditions along the Coast's still-fragile post-Katrina infrastructure. Mississippi's general injury deadline is usually 3 years, but the evidence deadline is often much sooner.