Can Accident Reconstruction Help to Determine Liability in a Car Accident?

A car accident can happen without little warning. Often the details of a car accident can be vague. Recounting the details can have the involved parties giving law enforcement officials conflicting statements. Many drivers give an account that makes it seem as if they are not at fault, and even the police have a difficult job determining the guilty party. Fortunately, an accident reconstructionist can help clear the details that can mix up in contradictory stories.

What Is Car Accident Reconstruction?

Car accident reconstruction involves an expert developing a simulation of the accident. They do this through the process of gathering all the evidence and reconstructing the event. Physical clues from the car accident will often be used to reconstruct and study the events proceeding, during, and following the accident. Among the factors that a car accident reconstructionist will consider are the following:

• The circumstances of the road where the accident happened, including dynamics that could have caused the accident such as construction, road material, and weather

• The state of the drivers and if they were impaired or otherwise engaged in distracted driving

• The mechanical conditions of the vehicles, such as were the tires inflated properly, were the brake pads in good condition, or other factors that can impede driving

• The speed and angle of impact leading to the collision

• How vehicles responded to the impact, including the direction they moved

• Braking patterns, steering angles, and other driving behaviors at the time of the accident

These factors are just some of the considerations that experts consider when reconstructing an accident. They also take into account vehicle damage and immediate vicinity, along with employing complex equations to determine factors such as velocity and angle of impact. It is imperative that car accident reconstruction be utilized in collisions in which death or personal injury is involved if evidence is missing or incomplete.

Will Car Accident Reconstruction Help My Case?

The benefits that car accident reconstruction has on a case are enormous. Car accident reconstructionists are considered to be objective third parties, since they have nothing at stake in the case. Therefore, the court system regards their view highly and hopes that car accident reconstructionists can help clear up inconsistent statements to reveal the truth of what happened during the accident. Most important of all, through their simulation, car accident reconstructionists can often find who was responsible for the accident and also show the severity of the accident and help prove the value of damages.

The Car Accident Reconstruction Investigation

There are several steps that are done during the investigation phase of accident reconstruction to correctly interpret an accident scene, including the following:

• Going to the scene of the accident and examining all vehicles involved in the collision.

• Reviewing and photographing any other objects involved in the collision. For example, bicycles, animals, trees, buildings, or poles are noted.

• Gathering visual evidence such as scene photographs and traffic videos of the collision caught on traffic cameras or business CCTVs.

• Examining all victims, eyewitnesses, and police reports.

• Reviewing physical evidence such as gauge and tire marks.

• The length of a skid mark can often estimate the original speed of the vehicles within a few miles per hour of the actual speed.

• Tire marks can also provide valuable information in regard to whether the drivers involved in the collision reacted to danger or were unaware of the impending accident.

• Providing an analysis of environmental conditions at the time of the accident.

• Scrutinizing the road surface, especially when traction has been lost because of snow, black ice, diesel fuel, or obstacles such as road debris.

• Checking positioning of road signs and/or signals and identify possible visibility issues.

• Exploring any unaddressed safety recalls that may have contributed to the accident and examine the vehicles’ headlights, brake lights, and other safety equipment to determine whether they were working properly at the time of the collision.

Finding the Right Car Accident Reconstruction Expert

When you are considering a car accident reconstruction expert, you must take into account their experience, training, education, and certifications as a potential vehicle accident reconstruction expert. These experts should have a formidable background in science, engineering, accident investigation, law enforcement experience, and physics. It is important that you have a team who is skilled at their craft because courts have become stricter with expert testimony.

Experts should employ an in-depth scientific approach to resolving the many questions that arise from traffic accidents. Car accident reconstruction experts work backward from known data to gain a viewpoint of several factors such as speed, driving maneuvers, and other situational factors.

Experts in this field can evaluate car accidents of varying degrees, including low-speed, multi-car pile-ups; and accidents that involve cars, light trucks, scooters, ATVs, snowmobiles, light trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians.

Experts should use a foundation of math and science along with applying the scientific method to every car accident to dig deeper and examine every detail in order to find out how the accident unfolded.

Highland Park Car Accident Lawyers at the Law Offices of Harold J. Gerr Will Fight on Your Behalf

If you have been involved in a contentious car accident in which you need to prove that you were not responsible for the accident, reach out to the experienced Highland Park car accident lawyers at the Law Offices of Harold J. Gerr. Our legal team can help find you the right car accident reconstruction expert. We have been helping car accident victims since 1975 and will thoroughly examine your case in order to secure the compensation for which you are entitled. Call us today at 877-249-4600 or 732-537-8570 or contact us online for a free consultation. Located in Highland Park, New Jersey, we serve clients in New Brunswick, Somerset, Piscataway, Edison, South River, Sayreville, Metuchen, East Brunswick, South Plainfield, Fords, Middlesex, Old Bridge, Iselin, Bound Brook, Perth Amboy, Colonia, Elizabeth, and Newark.