If you have been injured in a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may want to bring a personal injury claim against the at-fault party or, in most cases, against their insurance carrier. Through the claim, you can seek compensation for the harm you suffered as a result of the accident which can include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more. There will, however, be hurdles to recovering this compensation. Insurance companies will not easily hand over monetary compensation. They will require fairly extensive proof and supporting evidence of who caused the accident as well as the resulting injuries sustained due to the accident. There are a number of ways to provide support as to what happened in the accident and who caused it. One of the more compelling ways to do this is through camera footage of the accident.
Accessing Camera Footage After a Car Accident
To be clear, camera footage of a car accident may not always be deemed admissible evidence should your claim wind up in court. It can, however, still be extremely useful during the claims process. In hit and run cases, camera footage can also go so far as to help identify the perpetrator of the hit and run who left the scene of the accident.
How you gain access to camera footage after a car accident will largely depend on what type of camera footage you need. There are a number of different cameras that may capture accident footage. For starters, traffic cameras and red light cameras often record such events. These are cameras located at intersections with the purpose of capturing footage of cars that cross into an intersection on a red light. It can be difficult to gain access to traffic camera footage and is made even more complex by the fact that the cameras are owned by a number of different entities. Each entity is likely to have different requirements that must be met prior to releasing the footage.
Surveillance systems for private businesses are also common sources for accident video footage. If your accident was recorded by a business’s surveillance system, getting access to the footage may be as simple as contacting the owner of the business. Many business owners will release the footage just upon request and without further fanfare. Sometimes, however, larger businesses will have certain requirements that must be met before they will release any video footage.
In some cases, law enforcement cameras, such as dashcams or body cams, will capture accident video footage. While dashcams capture footage from the dashboard of the law enforcement vehicle, body cams capture footage from the perspective of the officer. It is actually becoming more and more common for civilians to also have personal dashboard cameras. For accessing civilian dashboard footage, it may be as simple as making a request to that person for the footage. If the footage has been recorded by a law enforcement recording device, things will be far more complicated.
Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorneys
Accident video footage can be compelling evidence in your personal injury claim. The experienced team at Cooper, Schall & Levy is skilled and experienced in navigating the red tape that can bar access to such critical support for your claim. We’re here to help. Contact us today.
