3 Times Dash Cam Evidence Won a Car Accident Claim

“He said/she said” is off the table when video footage is presented as evidence in a personal injury case. In today’s blog, we are highlighting 3 instances where video evidence helped solve a motor vehicle accident claim.

In 2016, our client “Martha” had a dash cam on as she was driving home in Denver, Colorado. The footage shows the light turn green, followed by her proceeding through the intersection. Suddenly, you hear a crash as her vehicle is pushed into a median. A distracted driver ran a red light and crashed into her driver-side door. The video evidence was a key factor in our negotiations with the liable insurance company.

Highway driving can be treacherous, especially in Eastern Colorado where dust storms can be upon you within minutes. It is crucial to pay attention to conditions and slow down when there is low visibility. “Christine” was slowing her vehicle due to the conditions of almost zero visibility when she was rear-ended at a high speed by the van behind her (who continued at highway speeds into a dust storm with limited visibility.) Unfortunately, he was not the only one who chose not to significantly reduce his speed for the conditions. Footage from a semi-truck showed the van collide with the cars in front of it, followed by the semi-truck crashing into a U-HAUL trailer and several vehicles in front of it. A multi-car pile-up with more than one at-fault party causes massive complications with determining liability.  In this case, the other drivers attempted to blame Christine for going “too slow” even though they all admitted it was near zero visibility in their depositions. The footage from the semi-truck was able to help prove who the liable parties were, and our attorneys were able to get a substantial settlement for Christine.

Our third mention is not a Fuicelli and Lee case but nonetheless it is a perfect example of how video evidence can help in a case. In Lakewood, Colorado, a Tesla helped solve a hit and run mystery in an Olive Garden parking lot. When Rose Johnson was leaving the restaurant with her family, she noticed that the front end of her car had been demolished. Luckily two gentlemen leaving the restaurant saw the accident occur.  The same two eyewitnesses had their Tesla in the parking lot when the accident occurred. Tesla’s have multiple cameras and sensors that monitor the front and rear areas of the car. The eyewitnesses’ Tesla had captured the footage from the wreck in the parking lot  they were able to download the footage and send it to Ms. Johnson to use as evidence in her case.

Paired with the license plate information, the Tesla video helped the Lakewood Police Department track down the hit-and-run driver. Officers say the driver was charged with careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Thanks to the Tesla footage from the witnesses, justice was served, and Ms. Johnson was able to prove clear liability in the collision.

More drivers are using dash cams, more vehicles have built-in cameras. Across America cities are utilizing motion sensing recording technology on the streets. With all these trends taking over, it has become very easy to locate footage that proves who was at-fault in motor vehicle accidents. Video evidence can be extremely helpful in proving your case to the insurance company, but it is critical to know that most of these cameras have limited storage and are typically purged on a regular basis (30 days or less). If you have been in a car accident where you believe there may be video evidence, call our car accident attorneys at 303-355-7202 right away so we can take immediate steps to collect the evidence before it is too late.