Technology And Evidence In Accidents

The world is becoming increasingly more connected, making it easier to track down the truth and more difficult to obscure facts. Unfortunately, it's difficult to use that technology properly if you don't know how it fits into certain situations. In auto accidents and other incidents on roads and passages that don't have consistent camera access, it may be a mixture of personal technology and pure chance that saves the day. Take a look at a few ways that technology has changed the scene of auto accidents.

Texting During An Accident: Truth Or Lies?

During an accident, it is sometimes difficult to prove fault. There may be a situational event where one party was certainly in the right of way, but did not react properly due to being distracted. The situation on the road may show a car being rear-ended, but what if it was a scenario caused by the person who was hit?

A distracted driver is a dangerous driver, and any number of strange situations could lead to such confusion. A person could be texting or talking on the phone and merging without looking behind them, only to move in front of a car that left sufficient car space for safety. If the texting driver slams on the breaks after noticing a sudden stop and is rear-ended, the issue of fault depends on who witnessed the issue.

That scenario can take place, but what if you were the rear-ended person? Did it actually happen? Is the person who hit you trying to make up a story due to a lack of witnesses? The debate has a lot of different angles, but one important source of information is the phone or mobile device in use.

One main way to get the truth of distracted driving is to look at phone records. A person can delete or hide information on their device, but it's not so easy to erase records with their phone company. The phone company will have a record of calls and texts tied to time and the nearest cellular communications towers, which can create a big opportunity for blame.

No Phone Data? What About Device Activities?

It may be hard for responsible people to believe, but a person may be driving while playing games. A long, boring drive in comfortable, familiar traffic could bring out reckless activities, such as tapping away at a casual game while driving. It could have started at a stop sign and the driver may have been looking for a stopping point, but such fumbling can end in traffic disaster.

It's not easy to prove such activities. Although online games create a pulse of information from the phone that can be tied to time, many mobile devices constantly send information whether they're being used by someone or not. For context and accurate blame, your legal team would need to prove that the data was going to a service that is a game or some sort of distraction, and was not just a passive update.

Such information gathering is difficult, and relies on the game or app (application) company cooperating. There are many theoretical situations that can happen when using technology on the road. To educate yourself about responsible technology usage or to learn about how technology has contributed to the auto accident legal field, contact an auto accident law firm, such as the Bulluck Law Group.


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