Proving exactly how a car accident occurred has never been easy, but cameras equipped to the inside of cars, often called dash cams, may be the evidence you need. In many cases, injured drivers can use dash cam videos to prove how the accident happened and how the other driver is responsible.
Dash cam footage may be used in insurance claims and personal injury lawsuits. If you want to use the videos as evidence in court, they must adhere to strict evidence rules. We must also be able to authenticate the footage and defend against claims of alteration or editing. If you have any dash cam videos from the accident, review them with your lawyer immediately. If the footage is likely to hurt you instead of help you, your lawyer can help you prepare. You may also have to provide copies of the videos to the defendant during the discovery phase, and your lawyer can help you.
Call our NJ car accident lawyers with Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 and get a free, confidential case evaluation.
Can I Use Dash Cam Footage to Prove My Car Accident Claims in NJ?
Various forms of security camera footage or other videos recorded during or shortly after a car accident may be helpful in an insurance claim or lawsuit. Dash cams are coming up more frequently in car accident claims as they continue to rise in popularity among drivers.
An insurance company may need proof of the other driver’s responsibility for the accident before you receive compensation. Insurance companies are not bound by the rules of evidence like courts are, so that we may submit a wider range of evidence, including dash cam videos.
Dash cam videos may be admissible in court, but our NJ car accident lawyers must first navigate a few additional legal hurdles. For example, the videos must adhere to the Rules of Evidence and are subject to discovery by the defense.
Dash cam footage is often helpful, but this may depend on what is recorded. Some drivers are able to record nearly the entire crash, while others might only have video fragments.
How to Use Dash Cam Videos in a Civil Court of Law
Dash cam videos may be used the same way as any other evidence would be used.
First, the footage should adhere to the New Jersey Rules of Evidence. These rules are vast and varied and designed to keep out untrustworthy and irrelevant evidence. For example, the rules push toward using the best evidence possible in court. This may mean that we must have the original, unaltered video files.
Next, the footage must be authenticated. We must prove that the videos depict the accident in question as it appeared at the time of the accident and not some other similar accident or a different accident recorded on another day. We must also verify where the footage came from. Did you have a dash cam, or did the video come from another driver?
The footage should be unaltered. If you edit down the footage for any reason before passing it to the defense during the discovery phase, it might not be admissible unless you can also provide the full, unedited video. However, we may be able to show the jury blown-up or zoomed-in footage or small clips of the longer video.
How Dash Cam Videos Might Help Your Car Accident Claims in NJ
Dash cam videos may be incredibly helpful in proving your claims. These videos can prove what other drivers were doing during the accident. Did another driver cut you off? Was the other driver speeding? If so, the evidence might be in the videos.
Dash cam videos may also help us impeach the defendant or other witnesses. The camera might have record statements made to you by other drivers that might contradict what they claim in court.
The footage might also reveal important details surrounding the accident. For example, the video may reveal bad road or weather conditions.
Can Dash Cam Videos Hurt Your Car Accident Claims?
We should tread carefully when it comes to using dash cam videos. While it can be helpful in some ways, it may also harm your chances of success in court in other ways.
One possibility is that the footage did not record enough information about the accident. If the footage is incomplete, or maybe the camera fell during the accident and did not record important details, the footage could potentially be misinterpreted.
Additionally, dash cam videos sometimes show how plaintiffs in car accident cases also contributed to the crash. The video might show that, while the defendant is primarily responsible, you were speeding. This information might be used against you.
What to Do with Dash Cam Videos Following a Car Accident in NJ
If you have a dash cam that recorded your car accident, you should take immediate steps to preserve the videos. Save the original video files in multiple locations. If one file is deleted, we should still have backups. Make sure the files are identical, and all the videos are accurate copies of the original.
Do not alter the videos in any way. Perhaps the video is very long and only shows the collision during the last minute of the video. You might think it would be easier to edit the file down to the important last minute, but this is a bad idea. If the video is altered in any way, the defense may argue that important information has been erased and we will need to find the rest of the video to send them.
Review the videos with an attorney as soon as possible. We may need to provide the footage to the defense during discovery, and we should prepare the videos as soon as possible. Second, how your attorney handles your case might change depending on what is depicted in the videos. Finally, your attorney must see the footage to know if there is anything that might make you look bad.
Is Dash Cam Footage Always Important in Car Accident Claims?
Dash cam footage can be powerful, but it is not always the key piece of evidence in every case.
The video might be irrelevant if it does not show how the accident happened. For example, most dashcams sit on the dashboard and record the road ahead. If you are hit from behind or the side, the video footage might not even show the other vehicle or driver.
If the dash cam videos are of poor quality and we cannot make out important details, they might not be useful enough to be admitted as evidence in court. In some cases, dash cams did not record enough of the accident. A driver might have turned on the camera only after being hit, so the videos lack important context.
Contact Our NJ Car Accident Attorneys for Help Today
Call our Bayonne, NJ car accident lawyers with Agrapidis & Maroules, P.C. at (201) 777-1111 and get a free, confidential case evaluation.