All I had was my CELLPHONE CAMERA at the TIME OF ACCIDENT

Swiss Army knives famously come in handy because of the many tools found in just one pocketknife. Smartphones work the same way after a car accident. Obviously, you can use your smartphone to call 911, your insurance company, a family member or friend, or your attorney. But these cell phones feature a variety of other useful tools that can significantly help you after a car accident.  Contrary to traditional mobile phones they are mostly equipped with sensors for acceleration and yaw rates, GPS modules as well as cameras in high definition resolution. Additionally they have high performance processors that enable the execution of CPU-intensive tools directly on the phone. If an incident occurs, it will be much more difficult to get informed. A complete new method of investigation of this data is necessary to realize an interview with the participant as fast as possible. A normal event data recorder can detect crashes and strong near misses, but a video-based analysis of the situation is not applicable. Modern smartphones are equipped with ? camera ? acceleration sensor ? gyro-sensor ? GPS sensor ? transceiver ? CPU and memory

While waiting for police, begin taking photos of the accident scene. Be sure to engage your camera's time stamp function. A digital camera is best, but if you don't have one, your cell phone camera will do the job. You can also record video, but it's often tough to capture small details with video.

Accident scenes are often cleared by police soon after they arrive. They want to clear the area for the safety of those involved, and so traffic can resume flowing freely. You'll have to move quickly to collect important evidence of negligence and causation. This is your only opportunity to capture the scene exactly as it was at the time of the collision. Record as much as you can of the following:

• What happened?
  • Who was driving where?
  • What led to the accident?
• The speed you were driving.
• The current road conditions (wet, dry, sun glare).
• Whether there were any distractions, such as texting or talking on a cell phone.
• Anything you overheard following the crash, e.g., what the other driver may have said, or what witnesses shared.
• Who witnessed the accident and where they were standing at the time.
• The other driver’s name and car insurance information.

Documenting Damage with Photos

Photos can really strengthen your case. Use a smartphone or camera to take pictures at the scene. These photos can help you get fair compensation for damage to your vehicle after a car accident.

If you can, photograph the following:

• Exterior damage to all vehicles involved in the crash.
  • Include shots of each of the four corners of each car so that the viewer can see two sides of the car at once.
• The positions of the vehicles at the crash scene.
  • Include landmarks, such as street lines or lights, so that viewers can orient themselves and understand where the cars are.
• Vehicle license plates.
• Interior damage to all involved cars.
• Any debris, skid marks, and vehicle parts that are related to the accident.

Why Are Pictures so Important? Most people fail to photograph the accident scene because they do not realize just what powerful evidence car accident photos may provide. 

You can use car accident photos to convince the insurance company of their insured's negligence (the at-fault driver). Consider your claim from the adjuster's viewpoint. Think of what you'd want to see if you knew nothing about an accident and had to decide who was at fault.

Accident scene photographs:

• Tell a story of how events progressed in the accident
• Are clear and graphic evidence of property damage and personal injuries
• Serve as reminders you can use to reconstruct the accident scene

Due to the traumatic nature of auto accidents, victims commonly overlook important details. Well-taken photos reveal both obvious and subtle evidence that may have been forgotten, and which may lend strong support to a personal injury claim.

How to Take Effective Car Accident Photos

The more pictures you take at the scene, the better chance a few of them will come out perfectly. Take as many photos as possible. Professional photographers take hundreds of photos during special events, hoping just a few will be perfect. You should do the same.

Keep in mind the following tips when taking photos at the scene:

• Begin by taking general photos of the entire scene.Take wide shots from several angles. Don't worry about details yet. You want to get an overall view of the accident scene. General photos of the scene will set the stage for the more detailed photos to follow.

 

• Take photos of traffic indicators.Include traffic lights, and yield or stop signs, which can be tied to the at-fault driver's actions that lead to the accident.

 

• Photograph cars or other vehicles involved in the accident.Photograph their proximity to the actual accident spot, and to each other. Include enough photos to demonstrate their position at the time of the accident.

 

• Include reference points.If the at-fault driver failed to yield, try to include the yield sign as the backdrop in a photo of his car. The same goes for a stop sign or other traffic signal ignored by the driver. Also include photos of the closest intersection, or street signs that identify the area where the accident occurred.

 

• Photograph weather conditions.Include any clouds, rain, or falling snow. Photograph the sun and its position on the horizon. Include night photos of the sky and an illuminated moon. Photos like these can disprove an at-fault driver's contention weather played a role in the accident.
  
  Weather condition photos are more often used as defensive, rather than offensive tools. For example, if the at-fault driver were to claim the accident occurred as a result of wet or icy roads, fog, blinding sun, or a pitch-black night, photos can disprove it.

 

• Photograph damaged objects.Look for damaged street signs, guardrails, trees, or other stationary objects damaged by the accident.

 

• Get close-ups of your car's damage.If the bumper of your car is mangled, photograph it. If the rear quarter panel is dented, photograph that as well. Where possible, frame the shots to include the license plate, to confirm the damage is to your car. Remember to take photos from different angles.

 

• Closely photograph damage to the other driver's car.Car accident photos should be as detailed as possible. Include any paint from your car which was transferred at the point of impact. Photograph the license plate to identify the other driver's car.

 

• Look for skid marks.Often, a negligent driver will try to avoid the accident by jamming on his brakes right before impact. The length and breadth of skid marks is an excellent identifier. Take close and long range views. Try to show the direction the car was heading, and exactly where the car was when it started braking.

 

• Look for broken glass and damaged car parts.Check around the site for any debris that came off the cars at the moment of impact. Take photos from close and wide angles to help identify which cars the broken glass and parts came from.

 

• Include photos that identify the time and date of the accident.You can take a picture of someone else's cell phone, where the time and date are projected on its screen. Make sure the accident scene is in the frame. Be sure to engage the time and date stamp function on your camera.

 

• Take photos of participants.It's important to snap pictures of the at-fault driver and his passengers. Include witness photos as well. Having a visual record of the people at the scene helps you connect faces with statements. Later, this will help avoid confusion about the identity of participants and witnesses.

 

• Photograph the police officers.If paramedics are dispatched, photograph them and the ambulance. If anyone was put on a gurney and placed inside an ambulance, get a shot of that as well.

 

• Photograph injuries.Take a visual record of injuries sustained by you, the at-fault driver, passengers, and any injured bystanders. Try to capture graphic images of lacerations, contusions, abrasions, blood, and broken bones.
• 

  CAPTURE PICTURES OF TRAFFIC SIGNS.

• You are probably wondering why taking a picture of a stop sign or a traffic light matters. But knowing that a traffic sign was present when an accident occurred may be a clue in re-constructing how the accident happened. Overgrown shrubbery at an intersection may make a traffic sign or approaching traffic harder to see. If there is a picture of a yield sign at an overgrown intersection where the accident occurred, it may imply that the at-fault driver failed to yield. Overgrown shrubbery can be trimmed so it is important to take photographs at the time of the accident.
• PHOTOGRAPH WITNESSES, POLICE OFFICERS, AND THE OTHER DRIVER.
• The more that you know about what happened at the scene of an accident, the better. For this reason, you should take pictures of everyone who is at the scene, including any witnesses, police officers, and the other driver. Passengers should also be photographed. When your attorney is trying to find witnesses who may be needed for testimony, these photographs will help jar your memory.
• TAKE PICTURES OF DAMAGE.
• There will probably be plenty of damage to photograph at the scene of an accident. Damage may include internal and external damage to any vehicles involved, damage to another object or building, and damage to a roadway or sign. In addition to capturing multiple shots of the damage, make sure to photograph any skid marks, debris, or other signs than an accident occurred.
• PHOTOGRAPH IMPORTANT DETAILS.
• There will be a number of details about your crash that you may not be able to recall on the spot. Photograph the make, model, and license plate number of the other driver, the other driver’s license, the other driver’s insurance and registration information, the badge of responding police officers, and something with a time and date stamp on it (like the face of your cellphone).
• TAKE PICTURES OF YOUR INJURIES.
• Taking pictures of your injuries is one of the most important things that you can photograph after a crash. You should take pictures of your injuries as soon as possible after they were sustained.
• TAKE MORE PICTURES THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED.
• Take more pictures than you think you will need. You never know what you might notice in a picture that you originally missed. Take pictures of everything that you think is relevant, and take pictures of the same thing from multiple angles.

 

 

In situations where charges might be laid under the OHS Act., you must save original copies of your digital photographs BEFORE you do any editing on them. Be sure you can identify both the original and edited sets of photos.

Light your subject well
The better lit your subject is the clearer your image is likely to be. If possible shoot outside or turn on lights when shooting inside. If you’re turning on lights in a room to add extra light to your shot be aware that artificial light impacts the color cast in your shots and you might want to experiment with white balance to fix it (see below).

Some cameras come with a built in flash or light - this can really lift a shot and add clarity to it, even if you’re shooting outside. If your camera doesn’t have a flash or light you should avoid shooting into bright lights as you’ll end up with subjects that are silhouetted.

Get close to your subject
One of the most common mistakes with camera phone images is that their subject ends up being a tiny, unrecognizable object in the distance. Camera phone images tend to be small due to low resolution (although this is changing) - so fill up your view finder with your subject to save having to zoom in on the subject when editing it later (which decreases quality even more).

Having said this, getting too close on some model camera phones creates distortion and focusing issues (particularly if the camera phone doesn’t have a macro or close focusing mode).

Keep still
As with all digital photography, the steadier your camera phone is when taking your shot the clearer your image will be.

This is especially important in low light situations where the camera will select longer shutter speeds to compensate for the lack of light. One trick is to lean your camera phone (or the hand holding it) against a solid object (like a tree, wall, ledge) when taking shots.

Keep in mind that many camera phones also suffer from ’shutter lag’ (i.e. the time between when you press the shutter and when the camera takes the shot can be a second or so). This means you need to hold the camera still a little longer to ensure it doesn’t take a shot as you’re lowering it away from the subject.

Edit images later
While it can be fun to use your camera phone’s built in editing and effects; editing pictures later on your computer produces much better quality images. Take your shots in color at high resolution to keep your options open on how to treat it later.

You can always make it black and white on your computer, but you can’t make it color if you take it in Black and White mode.

Don’t throw away ‘mistakes’
Remember that on many phones the quality of the screen will not be as good as that of your computer. So if possible hang onto your shots until you can get them on your PC. You might just find that they come alive on a quality monitor. You’ll also find that even ‘mistakes’ and blurred shots may have to be used if that’s all you have.

Avoid using the digital zoom
As tempting as it might be to zoom in on your subject when taking your picture (if you have a zoom feature on your camera phone), if the zoom is a ‘digital zoom’ it will decrease the quality of your shot to use it (you’ll end up with a more pixilated shot).

Plus you can always edit your shot later using photo editing software on your computer. Of course some camera phones are beginning to hit the market with ‘optical zooms’ - these are fine to use as they don’t enlarge your subject by enlarging pixels.

Experiment with white balance
An increasing number of camera phones come with adjustable white balance which allows you to modify color balance in your images based on shooting conditions. Experiment with this feature to get a good feel for the impact that it has on your shots. Read your manual to find out how it works on your phone.

Take lots of shots and experiment
The beauty of all forms of digital photography (including that of camera phones) is the ability to shoot off many shots quickly and without cost. This means you can experiment with different modes and composition and discard those that you don’t want to keep.

Keep your lens clean 
One of the challenges with many camera phones is keeping them maintained and clean. Phones spend a lot of time in pockets, in bags and being used in all manner of weather and conditions. As a result they get dirty and can easily become damaged - fingerprints are a common problem on camera lenses - especially if your phone doesn’t have a lens cover. From time to time clean the lens of your camera using a soft cloth (sunglasses cleaning cloths are great).

Use the highest resolution possible on your camera phone
Some phones allow you to choose what resolution you want to take photos at. It almost goes without saying that the higher your resolution the clearer your shot will be. This is especially true for camera phones which often have sensors of less than 1 megapixel in them. Keep in mind however that the higher the resolution the larger the file size of the images you take - this means if you want to send images they can end up taking a long time to send.

It is MORE THAN A PHONE IN TRUTH
Texting and Email to Capture and Send Important Details to Yourself

A lot of details are exchanged between drivers after a car accident such as contact info, vehicle makes and models, and insurance information. You’ll also need to collect information about witnesses. An easy way to capture and find the information later is to text or email yourself the information. You can also have other drivers and witnesses call your number so that you can immediately add their contact information to your phone’s address book.

Voice Recorder to Capture Important Details

Not many people think to use their phone’s voice recorder. After an accident, there are a lot of details you will see and then forget. While details are fresh in your mind and you’re on the scene to observe everything, use your voice recorder to capture any information that may help you later in a personal injury case. Note where you are, what happened, what kind of damage your vehicles sustained, who is there, what the cars look like, and any other information that you think may be useful later.

Search Engine to Quickly Look Up Important Information

When a car accident occurs, people are often woefully unprepared. Use Google or another search engine to look up tow truck companies, the number of your insurance company, an attorney’s contact information, or anything else you need to know on the spot.

Translating App in Case Your Driver Speaks Another Language

It may be uncommon, but occasionally a car accident will involve another person who cannot speak English. Luckily, you likely have translating apps on your phone (such as Google Translate) that can help you communicate with another person if they don’t understand what you’re saying. As long as you both can identify the right language, you’ll be able to roughly communicate using your phone’s app. Remember, don’t admit fault while you’re communicating.

Flashlight App During Accidents at Night

You may not have enough light at night if you’re in an accident far from city or neighborhood lights. Many phones come with a flashlight app or are even bright enough to serve as a flashlight through the screen. Using your phone as a flashlight can help you look at vehicle damage, write down contact information, or look at someone’s insurance card.