Imagine this: it’s late at night, and there is only one other car on the road. It hits you, and you are seriously injured. Now the at fault driver’s insurance company is trying to argue that you were at fault. You’re still recovering from your injuries, and you are watching the medical bills add up while you still cannot work. Is it truly the other driver’s word against yours? What do you do?
First, start by talking for free about your case with the personal injury team at Bill Coats Law located in downtown Bellingham. We work for fast, full and fair car accident claims so accident victims can focus on recovering their health and wellness, especially when fault is disputed.
When vehicles collide, it’s not always clear-cut what happened and who is at fault. Some accidents happen without witnesses. However, accident claims rely on details and facts about how the accident happened to determine who was responsible for causing it.
Here’s where a certified accident reconstructionist can help your car accident claim. Here’s the definition of an accident reconstructionist:
What is an ‘Accident Reconstruction’?
An accident reconstruction is a scientific approach to solving the questions of how and why an accident occurred. This approach is usually performed by experts trained in the field of traffic accident reconstruction engineering and physics as well as law enforcement personnel that have this specific training. Reconstructing accidents requires a methodology that begins with known data such as vehicle final rest positions, accident scene evidence and vehicle damage. By working with this data in reverse, beginning with the known evidence of final rest positions along with information relevant to the collision, the Reconstructionist can resolve issues such as speeds, collision severity, visibility, driver behavior and other causal factors. An accident reconstruction is the culmination of the scientific analysis of the data gathering process formulated into a concise and coherent report which is backed by expert testimony.
This person can help uncover exactly how the accident occurred. It’s also possible for police officers to take on the role as accident reconstructionist if they came to the accident’s scene and made observations.
Police officers and certified accident reconstructionists have specialized knowledge, training, skills, and experience from which they can draw upon. They can testify about the following aspects of a car accident:
- Speeds the vehicles were going at the time of the accident. Skid marks (or lack thereof) and assessments of vehicular damage, among other things, lend clues to these conclusions.
- The directions in which the vehicles were traveling
- Vehicular momentum
- Stopping distances, and vehicle locations at the time of the accident and shortly thereafter
Additional helpful links:
How to file a police report with Bellingham Police Department