A dashcam can be a useful installation for a vehicle. The success of every car accident case depends on the available evidence. One piece of evidence that can significantly affect your chances of winning your claim is dashcam evidence. That’s why many Atlanta vehicle drivers are installing cameras on their vehicles. Furthermore, using dashcam footage is generally legal.
So, if you’ve been in a car accident, it’ll be best to speak to an Atlanta car accident lawyer. If you do, they’d ask whether you have a recording of the accident. Where such dashcam footage exists, they can exploit it to win your case.
What Is a Dashcam?
A dashcam (dashboard camera) is a small digital video recorder usually placed on a vehicle’s dash or windshield. Therefore, as you drive, the camera continuously records footage of what happens on the road. In addition, you can set a dashboard camera to record when you park your car. More specifically, it can start recording when it senses movement around your vehicle.
Police vehicles often have dash cameras, while some officers wear body cams. One downside of dashboard cameras is that they have very little storage. Consequently, they can overwrite older footage. Fortunately, though, you can prevent this by manually storing and saving relevant footage.
Can Dashcam Evidence Benefit My Car Accident Suit?
Yes, if you have dashcam footage of your accident, it can help you win. Firstly, the camera would record the accident, making it easy to establish the at-fault party. Furthermore, dash cameras can record the insides of your vehicle. This way, you can show the state of the driver and other car occupants at the accident point. The driver’s state can further show they are not at fault.
Some dashcams add speed data to their recordings. Therefore, by showing vehicle acceleration and deceleration, responsibility can be more apparent. Similarly, some dashboard cameras have GPS and Google map functions. This means that the camera can accurately determine the accident location.
Capturing Witness Data
Yet again, dash cams can capture the faces of accident witnesses. You can even see their license plates and vehicle descriptions. In addition, a dash cam can also capture other identifying information. Therefore, this makes tracking down witnesses easy.
Other Benefits of Dashcams
Moreover, there are many other benefits of dashboard camera evidence. For example, dash cams can protect your vehicle from theft and vandalism. It can also prevent you from being the victim of improper driving tickets. Insurance companies benefit, too, since video evidence can reduce insurance fraud.
With the above benefits, it’s thus best to install a dash camera on your vehicle. However, you can still win your accident case without dashcam footage. An experienced attorney can prove liability through many other sources of evidence.
Don’t Tamper With Dash Camera Footage
If you have a dashcam recording of your accident, it’ll be best to hand it over to your attorney. However, you mustn’t tamper with any footage from the camera. Selectively deleting evidence from the camera could be a crime. Furthermore, it could raise suspicion on your claims. For example, the other party could believe that you’re hiding something. So, it’ll be best to hand over the evidence as it is.
What If the At-Fault Driver Has the Dashcam Footage?
Sometimes, it’s the at-fault party that has a dashcam recording of the accident. In such cases, they may not want to hand over the evidence voluntarily. At this point, you’ll have to ask your attorney to request the footage from them formally or subpoena the recording.
Notably, finding out that the at-fault driver has dashcam footage may be challenging too. This is because the driver is unlikely to volunteer such information. Therefore, it’d be best to ask the driver if they have a dash camera immediately after a crash. Alternatively, you could check their car’s dash or windshield.
Atlanta’s Best Car Accident Lawyers Can Win Your Case With Dashcam Evidence
Have you survived an Atlanta car accident? Does your car have a dashcam? Do you think the fault driver’s car has a dashcam? If you answer these three questions in the affirmative, you can recover compensation for your injuries and other losses. First, however, you’ll need excellent Atlanta car accident attorneys.
At Calvin Smith Law, our lawyers have decades of experience representing car crash victims. So, we know how to use evidence in favor of our clients. But, we can also get the proof from an un-cooperating fault driver. If you supply us with information on any dashcam footage, we’ll pursue and recover it for your case. So, it’ll be best to call us today.
