Your Driver Just Rolled a Trailer in Houston. Here Is the Checklist.

Updated September 16, 20265 min readBy the Heavy Duty Towing Houston recovery team

The rollover call comes in at the worst possible time and everything that happens in the next hour sets the cost of the next month. This is the sequence we walk fleet dispatchers through, written down so you can follow it while the phone is ringing.

The first five minutes

Call heavy recovery before the rotation list does

When a truck is blocking a Houston roadway, the police officer on scene has the authority to call a heavy wrecker from the agency rotation list. That is an incident-management (non-consent) tow: you do not choose the company, the method or the storage facility, and the unit goes to that company's lot where storage starts accruing the day it arrives. If your own recovery company is already dispatched with a realistic ETA, officers routinely allow it, because their interest is clearing the lane. The Houston Police Department heavy-duty rotation requires a 45-minute response, so the company you call has to be able to match that or the rotation truck rolls anyway.

So the second call, right after 911, is to a heavy recovery company you have vetted in advance. Tell them what you know, get the billing structure, and get an ETA you can give the officer on scene. Have the driver tell the officer that your company is en route and when it will arrive.

What to send the recovery company

• Tractor and trailer: year, make, unit numbers, sleeper or day cab, trailer type and length.
• Load: commodity, weight, how it is packaged and secured, hazmat class and UN number if placarded, reefer set point.
• Position: on its side, on its roof, jackknifed, in the ditch, in the median, against a barrier. Photos answer this best.
• Fluids: fuel tanks intact or leaking, roughly how many gallons on board.
• People: driver's name and cell, who from your company has authority to approve cargo decisions, cargo owner or broker contact.
• Paper: insurance carrier and policy number, claim number if you already have one, a PO or authorization for the recovery.
• Where the unit goes after: your shop, a dealer, a salvage yard, or the recovery company's storage facility.

Notify insurance and the cargo owner

Open the physical-damage claim on the tractor and trailer immediately; the adjuster will want the recovery company's name and a rough scope. Notify the cargo insurer and the shipper or broker separately, because the freight is a different claim and the shipper may have its own coverage and its own salvage rules. If the load is refrigerated, the temperature clock started at the crash; a reefer on its side is not running and the cargo decision has to be made in hours, not days.

FMCSA post-accident testing clocks

Under 49 CFR 382.303, post-accident alcohol and drug testing is required after any fatality, and after any crash in which the driver receives a citation and either someone is treated for injuries away from the scene or a vehicle is towed from the scene because of disabling damage. A rollover that needs a rotator is a towed vehicle, so if your driver is cited, testing is required. The alcohol test should happen within two hours; after that you document why it did not, and after eight hours you stop trying. The drug test has a 32-hour window. Arrange it while the recovery is happening, not after the driver gets home.

Preserve the record

• Lock the ELD data and any dashcam video for that day before it rolls off.
• Get the driver's written statement while it is fresh, and the names of witnesses and the responding officers.
• Ask the recovery company for its scene photos and a written recovery report; keep them with the claim file.
• Do not authorize repairs, salvage or disposal of anything until the adjusters have inspected or waived inspection.
• Request the Texas crash report (form CR-3) once it is filed; it is available through TxDOT's crash records system.

Storage and release

If the unit goes to a TDLR-licensed vehicle storage facility, daily storage is charged at regulated rates, higher for units over 25 feet, and the facility is required to notify the registered owner and lienholder in writing. Releases require identification and authorization from the owner or an authorized agent, and the balance is usually due before the unit leaves. The single most effective thing a dispatcher can do for the claim is decide quickly where the tractor, the trailer and the cargo are going and get transporters moving, because every idle day is another storage line.

The checklist, in one place

• Driver safe, 911 called, injuries and hazards reported.
• Exact location with direction, mile marker or exit, main lanes versus frontage road.
• Wide photos from all sides before anything moves.
• Heavy recovery company called with unit, load, position and fluids; ETA given to the officer on scene.
• Physical-damage claim opened; cargo insurer and shipper or broker notified; reefer clock noted.
• Post-accident testing arranged if the driver is cited (two-hour alcohol window, 32-hour drug window).
• ELD, dashcam, statements and officer names preserved; CR-3 requested.
• Destination decided for tractor, trailer and cargo; transporters and salvage scheduled to stop storage.

Questions we get about this

More guides

• Rotator service cost
• Rotator vs crane
• Load shift vs load transfer
• Insurance claim documentation
• All guides