Accident Reconstruction for Injury Claims

Accident reconstruction is an invaluable tool for your claim when the sequence of events is unclear, eyewitnesses provide conflicting accounts, and evidence is scattered or damaged. Accident reconstruction can help clarify where liability lies, increasing your chances of securing the compensation you need to make a proper recovery.

At Kanner & Pintaluga, we know from years of experience that proving fault is essential to successful personal injury cases. By leveraging the expertise of accident reconstruction, we can uncover the truth and present a compelling case on your behalf. The work reconstruction experts do helps maximize your chances of a negotiated settlement or successful outcome at trial. 

Keep reading to learn a bit more about accident reconstruction experts, what they do, how they do it, and how we can help with your collision reconstruction injury claim.

What Is Accident Reconstruction?

Accident reconstruction is a type of forensic science used to determine how and why an accident occurred. Experts in accident reconstruction use evidence as clues to deconstruct the scene and work backward to identify the inciting incident and determine what both drivers were doing when the crash occurred. They’ll meticulously inspect the accident through a multifaceted lens, examining vehicle damage, skid marks, road conditions, property damage, witness statements, and traffic laws to deconstruct each party’s speed, the angle of impact, and braking distance.

What Do Car Accident Reconstruction Experts Do?  

Our attorneys often call upon car accident reconstruction experts to analyze the scene of the accident, including resultant vehicle and road damage, to recreate the sequence of events through an objectively analytical perspective. They create detailed models through advanced simulation software to reenact the sequence of events leading to the collision.

What Reconstruction Can Prove About a Crash

Accident reconstruction extends beyond what can be discerned from photographs and witness statements alone to provide scientific, objective evidence. For example, reconstruction can determine the point of impact where vehicles or objects collided. 

By estimating the speed and direction of the vehicles, the reconstruction expert helps uncover driver actions that may have contributed to the accident. Such factors include rapid acceleration, harsh braking, or erratic steering. The expert will also assess factors such as weather, lighting, or obstructions that may have affected visibility at the time of the incident.

Armed with this information, the reconstruction expert can scientifically establish how specific actions or inactions led to the collision and subsequent injuries or damages.

Evidence Sources: Photos, EDR, Video, and More

Accident reconstructionists use a broad range of evidence to piece together the puzzle of a crash, including:

• Scene photos and diagrams: Detailed photographs taken at the accident scene, often by law enforcement or independent investigators, along with professionally surveyed diagrams.
• Vehicle damage inspections: Thorough examination of the damage to all involved vehicles, which can indicate impact angles, forces, and points of contact.
• Event Data Recorders (EDRs): Modern vehicles are equipped with EDRs that record trip data, which becomes critical in accident reconstruction. Also called “black boxes,” EDRs hold objective data about vehicle speed, when the brakes were applied, whether the driver or passengers used their seatbelts, and if the airbag deployed.
• Traffic camera and dash cam footage: Video evidence from multiple sources provides valuable insights into vehicle movements and how the crash occurred.
• Eyewitness statements: Although their accounts might be disputed, eyewitnesses provide valuable context and inform the reconstructionist’s investigation.
• Roadway markings and debris: Skid marks, gouges in the road, and the scatter pattern of vehicle debris all tell a story about a collision.
• Medical records: The nature and severity of injuries provide further insight into the forces involved in a crash, which can help validate reconstruction findings.