It seems like everyone has a smartphone these days. As of October 2014, 64% of American adults own a smartphone. One of the most popular and useful features on a smartphone is the camera. We take pictures of everything. We take pictures of our children or if we don’t have children, we take pictures of our pets. We take pictures of our food or maybe a beautiful sunrise. We also take pictures of moments that aren’t so enjoyable, for example, car accidents.
Photographs can be very effective evidence in your personal injury claim. As we have seen in the news lately cell phone pictures and videos can take the ambiguity out of what happened in certain situations. Photos of the accident scene can eliminate doubt as to which driver is truly at fault. Pictures depict accident scenes as they actually were, not as they are remembered.
As personal injury lawyers we cannot impress upon our clients enough how important it is to document everything when involved in a car accident. With smartphones it’s so convenient to take pictures nowadays there’s no excuse not to.
If you are involved in a car accident you are most likely going to have property damage to your vehicle. Be sure to not only document the damage to your vehicle but document the damage to the other vehicle as well. If you have visible injuries make sure you document those. Keep in mind some injuries don’t appear right away. It may be a day or two after the accident before discoloration and swelling appear.
After an accident the most important thing to do is to call 911, or contact law enforcement. If possible, while waiting for law enforcement or emergency personnel to arrive, begin taking photos of the accident scene.
Car accidents can be stressful situations. It’s not always easy to have total recall of how an accident happened. Taking pictures can be very helpful in refreshing memories or filling in the blanks when our memory fails us. So take this from an experienced personal injury lawyer; if you are in a car accident document everything.
