Most vehicles on the road today are equipped with an Event Data Recorder (“EDR”), commonly referred to as a “black box”. EDR’s are often accessed by investigators, insurers and law enforcement to obtain vehicle crash information such as speed, distance traveled, brake use, etc. On a recent case I used EDR information to overcome the strong presumption that my client had caused the crash to obtain a settlement for the other driver’s $100,000.00 policy limit.
In the evening, my client was operating her vehicle in a residential neighborhood well known to her. She approached a 4-way intersection and came to a stop because she had the stop sign. When checking both directions for oncoming traffic, the view to the left was partially blocked by a larger van (and other vehicles parked along the sidewalk behind it) that was parked along the sidewalk to her left. Proceeding as any safe driver would, she did her best to check traffic in each direction before starting to inch out into the intersection to obtain a better view to her left past the van and other vehicles parked behind it. As she inched out and with a better view, she saw another vehicle quickly coming toward her from her left; and then there was an almost immediate crash between the two vehicles. The posted speed limit for the other vehicle was 30 mph. It was apparent from what my client was able to observe right before impact, as well as extensive property damage to both vehicles, that the other driver was traveling much faster than 30 mph. Despite the extensive damage to both vehicles and the significant distance the other vehicle travelled after impact before coming to a rest, the responding police officer issued my client a warning, and the insurance companies for each vehicle presumed my client was at fault since she “had the stop sign”.
We hired an accident reconstructionist to access and download the EDR information of the other vehicle that crashed into my client, which we were able to do with the cooperation of the other driver’s insurance company. It revealed startling information …the other driver was traveling 83 mph (in a 30 mph residential zone!) 2 seconds before the crash and 62 mph at impact. Shortly after we produced the EDR report to the other driver’s insurance company, I was able to settle my client’s claim for the other driver’s $100,000.00 policy limit as my client had sustained significant injuries and missed months from work.
One lesson to be learned from this case is that it is important to contact our law firm as soon as possible after a crash so that we can begin our investigation. In this case, if the other driver had sold the car or if their insurer had got rid of it, the EDR data might not have been available, and I might not have been able to achieve a successful result for my client.
If you or anyone you know has suffered an injury in a vehicle crash or on the job, please contact us for a free and confidential consultation. We handle cases on a contingent fee basis, which means no money is owed unless we are successful in collecting money compensation on the case. Contact us now for a free and confidential consultation.
In order to protect the privacy of the injured person, all names have been changed. Any resemblance to the names of real persons, past or present, is merely coincidental and not intended.
