When experiencing a car accident, it’s incredibly common for the different parties involved to have differing perspectives on what transpired. This is especially common because wrecks are traumatic, so one’s recollection of the events may be compromised.
Fortunately, modern tools enable us to approach traffic accidents more objectively. If you’re involved in an accident and hire a personal injury attorney, they may enlist the services of an accident reconstructionist. Car accident attorneys frequently use accident reconstructionists as expert witnesses in personal injury cases. They can help prove that another party is liable for your wreck and the resulting personal injuries.
What Is Accident Reconstruction?
Accident reconstruction is a field of science that uses data and forensic evidence to determine the factors contributing to a wreck. Private companies and individuals hire accident reconstructionists to recreate accidents, and government agencies also utilize these experts.
Although the use of accident reconstructionists is especially common for traffic accidents, these experts also recreate other types of vehicle wrecks, such as those involving planes and boats.
In traffic accidents that involve a death, local police or Kentucky state police may use accident reconstruction experts to determine what caused the victim’s passing. But in most cases, individuals or their attorneys need to enlist the services of an accident reconstructionist after an accident.
How Do Accident Reconstructionists Recreate Crashes?
Accident reconstructionists typically begin their investigations by reviewing the police accident report. The police report features a brief description of what the responding officer believes occurred and the contributing factors leading to the wreck. Although these police reports can be useful for proving a personal injury claim, police officers are not experts in the field of accident reconstruction, so they could make a mistake when speculating who was at fault.
After reviewing the police report, the accident reconstructionist will go to the location where the accident occurred. They’ll search for various indicators of the factors leading up to the wreck, such as skid marks and damaged areas of the pavement. They’ll also consider where the vehicles collided and where the vehicles stopped after the collision.
While at the location of the accident, the reconstructionist will use electronic surveying equipment to create a detailed diagram of the accident.
Once the reconstruction is done at the scene of the accident, they’ll then move on to the vehicles’ different damages. They’ll inspect the damage and consider the components of the vehicles, including the brakes, suspension, lights, steering, and tires.
An accident reconstructionist’s ability to survey the damaged vehicles will largely depend on the attorney who hired them. Skilled car accident attorneys will secure wrecked vehicles in order to use them as evidence. Otherwise, the damaged vehicles could be scrapped or repaired.
Finally, the reconstruction expert will use any available Event Data Recorders, which record a vehicle’s data after its airbag deploys. This data can be critical for an accident reconstructionist’s report because it records the vehicle’s speed, change in velocity, engine speed, steering wheel angle, roll angle, brake application, gear selection, tire pressure, seatbelt usage, anti-lock braking system activity, yaw rate, and more.
The combination of this data and the forensics of the scene enables accident reconstructionists to create accurate reports of what occurred. Ultimately, they create an equation to recreate the scene through the information they collect, including the vehicles’ speed, weight, point of impact, travel direction, skid marks, and movement distance after impact.
Finalizing the Accident Reconstruction Report
With the data and forensics collected, the accident reconstructionist will create a report that includes the speed of the vehicles involved and their positions leading up to the collision. It will also include where the vehicles were positioned on impact and where each vehicle stopped after the accident.
The accident reconstructionist will use the information they collected and their electronic surveying equipment to create different visual scenarios of how the accident could have happened.
With all of this detailed information, the reconstructionist will supply expert evidence for who caused the accident and how the accident caused the plaintiff — meaning the person who filed the claim — to suffer personal injuries from the accident.
Contact a Car Accident Personal Injury Attorney
If you were injured in a car accident in Kentucky, you need expert lawyers at your side who can supply you with an expert accident reconstructionist. A skilled personal injury legal team can also help you prove your claim by gathering additional evidence and presenting your case effectively.
For expert car accident attorneys in Central Kentucky, contact McCoy and Sparks Attorneys at Law. Call us today at 844-459-9467, or you can schedule a free case consultation here.