Video surveillance tapes may be a boon to plaintiffs

The issue of proof surrounding who is at fault in Florida for a serious car accident is an important one because, without evidence of fault, an injured innocent party will have no recourse. In order to receive compensation for one’s damages, be they property damages or personal injuries, an accident victim has to demonstrate that another person caused the accident.

Modern technology and the growing prevalence and affordability of video surveillance has provided strong admissible evidence usable by plaintiffs in proving the negligence of another person causing the damages. Such technology may even help some unexpected plaintiffs win their cases.

Speeding and hydroplaning seen on tape

As recently reported by CBS4, a very serious motor vehicle accident occurred that involved a Lamborghini. While witnesses to the accident can be helpful in establishing cause and then fault, even better evidence may be video surveillance tapes.

With regard to this Miami accident, a witness noted hearing an explosion after the crash. However, it is not clear if the witness saw anything leading up to the crash. Whether the driver was liable for the crash may have remained unclear, except for the fact that there was a video surveillance tape of the incident. In fact, there are two such tapes.

They each show the accident from a different angle. One videotape came from a restaurant on the other side of the street from the crash. The other was from a nearby doctor’s office. Between the two tapes, an injured passenger may ultimately be able to prove that the Lamborghini was traveling at a very high rate of speed, possibly faster than the speed limit allows. It may also show that the driver lost control of the vehicle as he or she hit a puddle of water, causing the vehicle to hydroplane. The vehicle ultimately hit a tree and then collided with a parked vehicle.

Tapes may prove some unexpected negligence

By being able to prove sufficiently through use of these videotapes that the driver was indeed driving negligently, any accident victim involved may have an easier time prevailing in a personal injury case if the other party was actually negligent. With this kind of technology, it may even help prove unexpected and unprovable areas of negligence where an innocent-appearing driver who claims another driver rear-ended him or her, may prove to have been the one who negligently slammed on the vehicle brakes, thereby causing the collision from behind.