How Drones Are Changing Accident Reconstruction – for the Better!
September 13, 2016- Categories: Vehicle Accidents
While it’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, “painting” that picture for a court or jury following a serious auto accident has always been difficult. In many cases, the accident investigator had to spend a significant amount of time with tape measures – later with surveying equipment and lasers, with cameras taking snapshots, and with graphic artists to make renderings of the accident scene. Even then, the two-dimensional result was often quite unsatisfactory.
There is new technology, however, that is revolutionizing the way highway accidents can be reconstructed. It is being done with drones. Drones offer the opportunity to improve significantly the science (and art) of accident reconstruction.
Drones Offer at Least Five Advantages to Traditional Reconstruction Methods
Drones – both rotor-propelled and fixed wing units – offer significant advantages over the traditional information-gathering/reconstruction methods. Here are five:
First, Use of Drones Makes Documenting Vehicle Accident Scenes Dramatically Faster
Traditional data-gathering methods take time and generally require special personnel who have been trained in surveying. It can take precious time to assemble that investigative team. With an effective drone, the “team” can often be reduced to just one person. The drone can quickly cover a great deal more territory, often providing important perspectives that cannot be obtained from a “boots on the ground” approach.
Second, Drones Can Save Money
By reducing the size of the investigative crew, as well as the amount of time necessary to gather required data, the use of a drone can actually save money. Drone use can mean the investigator need not haul around expensive and sensitive surveying equipment.
Third, Drones Supply an Important Visual Perspective of the Scene
Often, telltale clues that best explain a vehicle mishap are not easily visible from the ground. Drones quickly provide an overhead view. They can point out conditions down the road, where the first signs of the accident began to appear. Especially in cases like those dealt with by a railroad injury lawyer, drone imaging is not as sensitive to obstructions and moving objects as is laser scanning and other “ground-oriented” methods of data collection. That makes for a cleaner 3-D model, if one needs to be created.
Fourth, Drones Supply Better Data For In-Court Exhibits
Drones allow for the gathering of huge amounts of terrain and accident data that can be dovetailed with newly available software to create “virtual models” for the courtroom. These high-resolution images can provide the court and jury with a vivid reconstruction of the entire accident. Slow motion techniques can be used to draw appropriate levels of attention to specific details of the accident. Marrying the drone with the software can allow for dramatic “fly-throughs” of the entire accident scene.
Fifth, Drones Can Be Significantly Less Disruptive than Traditional Data-Gathering and Photography
Drone use can be unobtrusive; one need not necessarily shut down a busy highway to gather required information. Investigators need not dodge cars and trucks as they try to recreate the accident scene. An experienced experienced car accident attorney would understand the importance of such technological advancements in collecting evidence.
Recovering Damages Associated With Serious Vehicle Accident Requires Skill and Imagination
Whether a claim is settled prior to trial or goes before a jury, the victim in a serious vehicle accident has a story to tell. Part of telling that story is the establishment of legal responsibility against the person at fault. Telling that story can best be accomplished through the retention of skilled, aggressive, and imaginative legal counsel, like the accident claim lawyers at Neale & Fhima. Working out of Dana Point, San Diego, and Los Angeles, our firm is dedicated to providing excellent legal representation to those who have sustained serious injury. We have a 99% success rate settling auto accident cases.
Matt Neale is a distinguished personal injury attorney who has garnered a reputation as a tough negotiator and litigator. He is well-respected by judges and other attorneys in the Southern California legal community, and the insurance companies and auto manufacturers know that he isn’t afraid to take his clients’ cases to trial. During his long career, Matt has helped clients recover more than $40 million in damages. Aaron Fhima has a long record of success taking on large defense firms. Aaron doesn’t hesitate to take cases to trial when necessary in order to enforce his clients’ rights and to make sure that they receive just compensation.. Request a free consultation by calling us at 1-888-407-2955 or complete our online form, and let us help you get the money you deserve.
Attorney Aaron Fhima
Aaron Fhima is a trial attorney who has secured numerous settlements and verdicts against large corporations and some of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. Representing consumers and injury victims throughout the state of California, Aaron’s practice areas include personal injury, and lemon law litigation. Aaron has a long record of success taking on large defense firms; and he doesn’t hesitate to take cases to trial when necessary to enforce his clients’ rights. [ Attorney Bio ]
