There’s a lot of evidence that you’ll need to gather after your car accident if you hope to recover compensation for the harm that’s been caused to you.
While you’ll need to acquire witness statements and contact information, retain your medical records, and track your recovery-related expenses, some of the most powerful evidence in your case are photographs.
Pictures of your injuries can be compelling, highlighting for jurors the seriousness of your harm, but photos of the accident scene can go a long way toward proving liability and fault.
That said, you have to exercise care when you photograph an accident scene so that you’re getting as much value out of those pictures as possible. Let’s take a closer look at how you can ensure that the pictures you take will help position your personal injury claim for success.
Tips for taking accident scene photos
Some pictures are better than no pictures, but there is a right and a wrong way to photograph your accident scene. To get the most out of your pictures, be sure to do the following:
- Take pictures of the accident scene as soon as possible: The scene of an accident can quickly change. It might start raining shortly after your accident, or the vehicles involved in the wreck could be moved. Try to capture the scene and its surroundings as soon as possible after your wreck so that you can give jurors a realistic picture of what it looked like. If you’re unable to take those photos, consider having a friend or family member take them for you.
- Capture details: It’s better to take too many pictures than not enough. So, capture every detail you can from broken windows and deployed airbags to impact points, tire marks, and vehicle resting positions.
- Photograph the surrounding area: The area surrounding your accident can be just as important as the accident scene itself. This includes nearby traffic signals, stop signs, speed limit signs, intersections, and obstacles to visibility. Be sure to take pictures of the surrounding area from various angles, too, that way you’re sure to capture everything.
- Capture the scene with and without flash: Depending on how you take your pictures, either with or without a flash, you may end up with blurry images. So, be sure to take pictures several different ways so that you capture the clearest images possible that’ll be helpful to your case.
- Take pictures of witness contact information: It seems easy enough to write down contact information of witnesses, but whether you or a loved one is jotting it down, the adrenaline can cause transcriptions errors. If a mistake is made in writing down this contact information, then you might be unable to contact a witness who could be key to your case. So, it’s better to have the witness write out their contact information and then take a picture of it.
What do you do with the pictures once you have them?
Once you have accident scene photographs, store them in a safe place so that you can easily refer back to them when you need to in your personal injury case. Also be sure to share these photos with your attorney since they can be crucial pieces of evidence.
Then, think through how your photographs can be used in conjunction with the rest of your evidence to present a persuasive personal injury case. Hopefully then you can rest assured that you have the strongest case possible under the circumstances, aimed at recovering the compensation you need and deserve.