Safety technology in a DC car accident is vital. Safety technology may save the lives of your friends, family, and yourself. This technology improves incrementally every year. Not only can it save your life if you are in an accident, but it can prevent the accident entirely. This is particularly important in urban environments like Washington, D.C. Downtown DC presents challenges to all drivers. Navigating complex routes in DC if unfamiliar with the roads can be difficult. Some streets allow you to drive down them during certain parts of the day but not others. While safety technology may not be able to prevent all types of DC car accidents, it certainly can for some.
In busy urban streets in DC, whether in Georgetown, K Street, Navy Yard, Northeast DC, or anywhere else in the District, there are many obstacles to anticipate and be aware of. Commuters, tourists, policy-makers, bikers, pedestrians, and scooter riders travel in DC. Some know where they are driving, while others do not. Some rush to get to the next important meeting, while others take in the views of the monuments and memorials. Sometimes, anticipating the actions of each of these many actors on the streets is impossible. This is when accidents occur, even if it is not your fault. Advanced safety technology can aid any driver. Particularly as we age, safety assistance is even more valuable. We should always welcome safety assistance, even if you do not believe it is necessary.
While you may not believe you must wear your seatbelt for a 5-minute drive to the store, it is better to have it. Here, we define safety technology in a DC car accident and discuss the legal implications involved.
We believe the more safety technologies your car has, the better off you will be. While some are more effective at preventing accidents than others, even an incremental positive difference is desirable. But here, we will discuss the most helpful safety technologies we have observed in our practice.
When it works, automatic emergency braking is one of the most effective and beneficial car safety technologies. Automatic emergency braking systems use sensors and cameras to monitor the vehicle’s proximity to others on the road. Unfortunately, these cameras and sensors do not always work. Some systems use lasers, while other systems use other technologies. Regardless of the method, no car manufacturers claim that their emergency braking system works 100% of the time. If incorrect, it can cause you to break at a perilous time. For example, what if you are merging into another lane, and your car automatically brakes, believing you are in an emergency? That is the worst possible scenario, as your safety technology took a reasonably safe situation and put you in a dangerous one.
On the other hand, automatic emergency braking safety technology in a DC car accident can be a lifesaver in preventing rear-end collisions. This is particularly useful on busy city streets such as Washington, D.C. We are known to have some of the worst rush hour traffic in the nation. In rush hour traffic, there is a lot of speeding up and sudden stoppage. These sudden stops can be dangerous, particularly for distracted drivers.
This is another critical safety technology in a DC car accident. When working correctly, this technology will vibrate the steering wheel to alert the driver that they are drifting into another lane. A driver may not even realize a driver is beside him in his blind spot. Or, the driver may be fatigued from a long, tiresome drive. Whatever the case, unknowingly departing a lane, even just a few inches or feet over the dotted white line, is a frequent occurrence. You cannot drive more than a few miles without seeing several drivers creeping over the yellow line or white lane markers. While a lane departure warning system will not completely eradicate this behavior, it will reduce the number of times it happens.
The issue is that not enough cars have this standard. Car manufacturers charge extra for these technologies; not all consumers deem it valuable enough to pay extra for this safety technology. Consequently, Washington, D.C. still sees its fair share of sideswipe car accidents.
For those unfamiliar with adaptive cruise control, it is similar to autonomous driving if you stay in one lane on the highway. It can also be viewed as an evolution of the traditional cruise control systems that have been standard in cars for decades. You can instruct your car not to go above a certain speed yet still slow down to stop from hitting the car in front of you. But these technologies are imperfect. Particularly on I-495, but also on many of the highways in DC, the lanes are not always clearly painted. When you are driving around a curve, you still need to steer. It is only the acceleration and braking that are automatic.
Another issue regarding adaptive cruise control is the permissible gap between your car and the vehicle in front of you. Adaptive cruise control may allow you to get within one car length of the vehicle in front of you. While they may sound safe, if you drive 60 miles per hour, more time is needed to intervene if the technology fails. And no technology is perfect. You can think of a time in the last few months when you had to restart your iPhone or computer. The difference there is your life is not at stake. While this safety feature sounds beneficial, it should not be relied upon. If you decide to use it, remain vigilantly focused on the road.
In every car accident case that comes through our doors, we have the same obligations. 99.9% of all car accident cases involve a negligence cause of action. The alternative would be a battery, which requires the tortfeasor to have acted intentionally. But that is difficult to prove in a car accident and rarely the case anyway. Instead, we must prove the four elements of negligence. We must prove that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff, that he breached that duty, and that the breach of duty caused damages.
For a rear-end collision, liability is generally clear because there is almost no instance where you are not at fault for rear-ending another car. An exception may be if the car in front of you brake-checks you. But even then, you will probably have to prove that this occurred. This is when a dash camera can be beneficial in a DC car accident.
Dashcams are highly relevant beyond protecting yourself against liability in your defense. They can also help prove the elements of negligence discussed above. Video footage is a form of evidence. It is some of the most persuasive evidence in a car accident case. Other evidence in DC car accident cases may be witness testimony or even how the scratches and dents on your car align with those on the other vehicles in the accident. This is the most ubiquitous form of evidence in car accident cases. Good samaritans do not always pull over to provide their information as witnesses. Much of the time, they are relieved not to be in the accident themselves and speed off. What if the scratches and dents do not tell the whole story? This is when dash cam footage comes in.
Our DC personal injury firm has handled over 10,000 car accident cases since our founding in 1954. As you might suspect, dash cameras did not exist for much of our practice. Now that they are becoming more common, the legal implications of dashcam evidence in DC are robust. First, we must address the admissibility of dash camera footage. Dash camera evidence is almost always admissible. It is admissible even if it is not attached to your car so long as it accurately depicts facts relevant to the accident. If this is the case, our attorneys can subpoena the evidence. Time may be of the essence in these instances as we must send a spoliation of evidence letter to preserve the footage legally. If the footage is deleted despite this letter, a jury can make a presumption that the footage supports your claim.
Slightly unrelated to what is happening on the road, but common in Uber accident cases in DC is the issue of recording audio in the car. This may be pertinent if there is a battery inside the car or if a passenger’s distraction leads to a car accident. Uber’s policy allows riders and drivers to record audio through their app.
Without dash camera footage as evidence, we are left with explaining to a jury a sequence of proof based on how dents and scratches align on the cars. This may be plausible, but convincing a jury may be difficult if it conflicts with witness testimony. Remember, as the plaintiffs, we have the uphill battle of convincing a jury. The defense team does not need to convince a jury that their client is not at fault. Instead, their job is not to let us convince the jury that the defendant is at fault. It is a slight distinction, but it is crucial. Dashcam in a DC car accident is tangible evidence. Juries tend to believe their eyes, especially if the evidence has been authenticated, which is necessary to be admitted as evidence.
While dashcam footage for a DC car accident may not show every angle of the accident, it shows far more and paints a fuller story than examining an expert witness on the stand. It provides a factual account of at least a large majority of the fact pattern. For example, it can be made clear if you had a green arrow when you were t-boned by the defendant. While the dent on the passenger side of your car may indicate that you mistimed your left turn through traffic, a dashcam allows you to show the jury that you had a green arrow and did not behave negligently during the accident. This is persuasive, conclusive, and decisive evidence that can sway a jury at trial.
Moreover, it can influence an insurance adjuster during settlement negotiations. We have had many cases where the defendant’s insurance carrier denies liability for the accident based on the available evidence. They either believe their insured that they were not negligent, or they are willing to take their chances at trial based on the evidence we have to prove the requisite elements. Video footage changes this. In hundreds of past cases, insurance adjusters have changed their minds after seeing video evidence. They go from being confident in their insured to making tremendous settlement offers that fairly represent your injuries.
While a dashcam in DC car accidents will not affect the value of your damages, it can influence the settlement amount. Insurance carriers and adjusters account for how difficult it may be to prove liability when making a settlement offer. Even if your damages are high, say $100,000, if we have a difficult case for proving liability, they may not offer more than $80,000. They do this because we know there is a chance that if we cannot convince a jury of liability, then our client gets zero. Meanwhile, if we have dashcam footage, proving liability should not be an issue, and the insurance carrier is far more likely to make a fair and full settlement offer.
As you have learned, equipping a dash camera in your car has a plethora of benefits.
Immediately after a dashcam-recorded accident in DC, consider doing the following.
Safety technology in a DC car accident protects those fortunate enough to use the most advanced technologies and impacts everyone else on the road. Thus, the more people who have these technologies available, the better. Studies have consistently shown that safety technologies like those discussed above have reduced accidents. However, there are many anecdotes of people who come to rely on these technologies and consequently get into accidents of their fault. The car manufacturers almost always present disclaimers, placing liability on the driver and instructing the driver to remain alert while behind the wheel, despite the presence of a safety technology.
The impact of safety technologies extends beyond other drivers. Pedestrians are well-served by these technologies.
The trusted DC accident attorneys at Gelb & Gelb, P.C. have 70 years of experience handling car accident cases in the District. If you have questions about liability for safety technology in a DC car accident, contact our office today for a free consultation.
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