Truck Accident Statute of Limitations in Oregon (2026)

Your deadlines in Oregon, calculated

Enter the date of your crash and the tool below will work out both clocks — the legal filing deadline and the much shorter window before the proof can be destroyed. Oregon is already selected. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

What makes Oregon different

Oregon does something almost no other state does: its wrongful death period runs from the date of the INJURY, not the date of death. If someone is critically hurt in a truck crash and dies six months later, the family's three-year clock started on the day of the crash, not the day of the death. Oregon also caps tolling for minors at five years, and its Tort Claims Act notice is 180 days.

The four Oregon deadlines that matter

On the wrongful death period: Unusually, Oregon measures the wrongful death period from the date of the INJURY, not the date of death. If death follows months later, the clock has already been running.

Claims against a government entity in Oregon

The shortest government notice window found for Oregon — 180 days (ORS § 30.275). This is the deadline that quietly ends claims: it comes due long before the ordinary filing deadline, it is a precondition to suing rather than a suggestion, and missing it usually bars the claim entirely no matter how strong the case is.

Oregon Tort Claims Act notice within 180 days — one year for wrongful death. Same notice for cities, counties, TriMet and school districts.

Public fleets you could realistically be hit by in Oregon: ODOT plow and maintenance trucks, TriMet buses, Portland Bureau of Transportation vehicles, county road department equipment, and school district buses. If you are not certain whether the vehicle that hit you was one of these, work to the shorter deadline until somebody confirms otherwise. The downside is not symmetrical.

If the injured person was a minor

Tolled, capped at 5 years in Oregon under ORS § 12.160 — the clock generally does not start until the injured person turns 18. Oregon caps tolling for minors at five years from the act.

That pause applies to the court deadline. It does not apply to the evidence. A carrier is entitled to destroy a driver's logs six months after the crash whether the injured person is 8 or 38, and in many states a government notice deadline is not tolled for a child either. A tolled filing deadline and an untouched evidence deadline is the most dangerous combination on this page.

When the Oregon clock starts

Applies. Oregon runs the clock from when the plaintiff knew or should have known of the injury, its cause and the tortfeasor.

Why the evidence clock in Oregon is much shorter

Oregon's filing deadline is 2 years. The federal retention rules that govern the trucking company are measured in weeks and months:

• Dashcam and telematics video — often 30 days or less. No federal retention requirement — vendor and carrier policy only.
• ECM / black box data — overwritten as the tractor keeps running, and routinely lost when it is repaired or resold.
• Driver logs and records of duty status — six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)).
• Maintenance and repair records — one year while the vehicle is in the carrier's control (49 CFR § 396.3(c)).
• Annual inspection report — 14 months (49 CFR § 396.21(b)(1)).

The way to stop those clocks is a preservation letter to the carrier — a written demand that specific evidence be kept. Until it arrives, destroying records at the end of a retention period is routine and lawful. Our FMCSA regulations and evidence guide explains what each of these records contains.

Truck traffic in Oregon

The Columbia River Gorge on I-84 is a critical freight route with severe wind and ice conditions, and I-5 carries the entire West Coast's north-south traffic. The Port of Portland and the Willamette Valley's agricultural output add regional haulage.

The corridors where these crashes concentrate: I-5 (Medford–Eugene–Portland), I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge, US-97 east of the Cascades, I-205 around Portland and US-26 and US-101.

Neighbouring states have different clocks

A crash a few miles across a state line can be governed by a completely different deadline. If you are not certain which state your crash happened in — near a border, on a bridge, or on an interstate you were travelling at speed — check both.

Or use the filing deadline calculator to compare any state, and the full state index for all 50 states and D.C.

What to do next in Oregon

1. Get a preservation letter to the carrier. This is the most time-critical step and the one almost nobody hears about.
2. Confirm whether a government entity was involved. That answer can replace your 2 years deadline with a far shorter notice window — 180 days.
3. Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company's insurer.
4. Request the Oregon crash report, which identifies the carrier, the DOT number and the insurer.
5. Have a lawyer licensed in Oregon confirm the dates above against the current statute.