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Electric Car Accidents: Black Box & Personal Injury Claims
With the promise of being environmentally friendly and having lower running costs, electric cars are becoming more popular on our roads. However, just like conventional cars, electric cars can end up in an automobile collision.
When this happens, all available evidence, including black box data, may be needed to determine how the accident occurred and who can be held liable. As a personal injury attorney at The Paul Benson Law Firm, I know how important every piece of evidence can be when pursuing an injury claim after a car accident. I have extensive experience in helping injured victims who were involved in electric car accidents use black box data to prove their side of the story and strengthen their claims. From my office in Janesville, Wisconsin, I also serve clients throughout Rock County, including Beloit, Wisconsin.
What Is a Black Box?
Black boxes, also known as event data recorders (EDRs), can be found in almost every electric car manufactured today. As the name implies, these devices record critical vehicle and driving data immediately before, during, and after a crash. While black boxes used to be rare in motor vehicles, nearly every modern car, especially electric cars, now has these event data recorders installed as a standard feature.
What Information Does the Black Box Capture?
The purpose of an event data recorder in electric cars is to avoid future crashes. The black box can capture various information, including but not limited to:
- the car’s speed
- brake application
- steering angles
- throttle position
- acceleration/deacceleration
- airbag activation
- seatbelt use
Black box data in electric cars can be a valuable piece of evidence to help understand how an accident occurred and who (or what) is to blame for the accident. In some cases, a crash may be the result of a mechanical malfunction in the electric car’s system, which can be determined by analyzing black box data.
How Does an Electric Car’s Black Box Work?
When the electric car is in motion, the black box is continually monitoring the vehicle’s driving characteristics. Unlike the black boxes in aircraft, event data recorders in cars do now have a big memory capacity, which is why they can only store limited information and continually re-record new data over older data.
Black Box Information and Personal Injury Claims
How can black box data help you with your personal injury claim? Turns out, it can be a critical piece of evidence, especially when other types of evidence are not available or have questionable value. For example, if there were no witnesses to prove your side of the story, you can use black box information from your electric car.
When an electric car accident occurs, it is possible to extract the necessary information from the vehicle’s black box to prove a number of things, including:
- Your driving speed was reasonable and safe.
- You applied the brakes and used the steering wheel in an attempt to avoid a collision.
- You were buckled up at the time of the crash.
The data can be used to support your arguments in your personal injury claim and may also be admissible evidence in court if your case goes to trial. The advantage of EDR data is that it cannot be tampered with, which is why the information retrieved from the black box is credible.
Insurance companies care about protecting their bottom line, which is why they often offer the lowest amount of compensation possible to personal injury claimants. Showing undisputable evidence, one of which may be black box data, could help make the insurance company pay fair and full compensation.
If you have been involved in an electric car accident but do not know how to present a compelling case to get the compensation you deserve, you might need the assistance of a skilled attorney who can help you retrieve black box data and use other pieces of evidence to strengthen your claim.
Get an Attorney You Can Trust
If you have been injured in an electric car accident and wonder how black box data can help you win your personal injury claim, contact The Paul Benson Law Firm. I can help you protect your legal rights when pursuing financial compensation and ensure that all available pieces of evidence are collected and preserved in a timely manner. Call my office today to schedule a consultation and get started on your case.
