Accident Reconstruction

Accident reconstruction is one of the many services that we provide for our clients. Reconstruction can involve many different types of investigations to develop an opinion regarding liability.

Speed of the vehicles involved is often a question that arises. High speeds increase the severity of an impact and reduce the amount of time available for the different parties to react. Other issues we are asked to address are signage on a roadway, lighting conditions, timing of an accident such as the opportunity to avoid, and seat belt usage.

It is advantageous to be at the scene of the accident shortly after it occurred in order to obtain as much evidence from the roadway as possible. Evidence on the road can include tire marks, gouges in the pavement, and debris from the damaged vehicles. These can disappear quickly with weather and continuous traffic that drives over the area. We are often asked to attend the scene quickly and obtain whatever evidence is available at the time to simply preserve the information for future use.

Collecting evidence from the vehicles themselves then provides a more complete picture of the nature of the impact. Exterior crush damage, interior body contact points, and data from the crash data recorder are all useful pieces of information that can help reconstruct the events leading up the accident. Photographs, witness statements and the police file are invaluable in an investigation.

The analysis of the evidence when doing a reconstruction can involve using complex computer programs that simulate the movement of the vehicles before and after an impact, or sometimes a simple review of photographs and witness statements is sufficient to provide an opinion. Performing an accident reconstruction takes all the available evidence and uses the available tools at hand to complete a picture of the events that caused the loss. There are countless scenarios of different accidents with different circumstances. A reconstruction of the accident can provide lawyers and insurance clients with valuable information that assists with determination of liability.