In my line of work as a auto accident attorney, we know that eye witness accounts of a collision often vary greatly about what happened in the car accident. Scientific studies.     Barbara Tversky, in her article “The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony”, Stanford Journal of Legal Studies, April 1999, observed, “The mere fault of being human results in distorted memory and inaccurate testimony.”  We humans are subject to memory bias and the introduction of false memories which interfere with our ability to accurately remember and repeat exactly what we have seen. So, what can be done about this problem?  Retrieve the information from the data recording device for the cars, or trucks involved in the collision.

Modern automobile data recording devices record up to 20 seconds of information before any crash.  The data recorded can include whether the passengers of the car were wearing seatbelts, the car speed at any point in that 20 seconds, the acceleration of the car in that 20 seconds, the percent of the engine throttle and gas pedal, when the brakes were activated, when the antilock braking device was activated and more. This information is very important, but any accident expert worth their salt will collect all the objective evidence at the scene of the car crash and compare it to the data on the recording device.  The objective evidence includes the damage to each car, the final resting place of the cars after the impact, the direction the cars went upon impact, and other information.  When the “black box” data matches up with the objective evidence at the scene of the collision the jury can be very confident that the data recording device is telling the accurate story about what happened in the crash.  This is very important when eyewitnesses give contradicting versions of what happened.

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Your best defense is buying three different kinds of insurance in addition to your liability coverage.  The first two are very similar and are called Uninsured Motorist coverage (UM) and then Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM). If the drunk driver, or any driver, has no insurance your claim will be against your own UM coverage.  If the other driver has state minimum coverage then your claim will be against your own UIM coverage because the State minimum coverage was not enough to cover all your losses.  I recommend you purchase as high a limit of UM/UIM coverage as you can afford.  After all, it may be the only insurance available if you have a serious personal injury or even a wrongful death.

The other type of insurance is medical payments insurance.  This insurance will pay your medical bills, up to the limit of coverage you purchase, for injuries sustained while a passenger in your car. It is a kind of health insurance. It comes in very handy when you have a high deductible on your regular health policy.  Med Pay Insurance is very affordable.  I recommend that you buy as much as you can, but at a minimum you should buy an amount equal to your deductable on your health insurance.  That way you will have little or nothing out of pocket if you are hurt in a crash or accident.

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If you doubt how dangerous texting and driving is Mr. Harrison could come to your home and give you a firsthand demonstration.  Imagine if someone had been sitting in that building in Harrison’s path.  Imagine it was a mother and two children.  Imagine it was you and your children or grandchildren.  Mr. Harrison’s thoughtless actions could have resulted in the wrongful death of fellow Hoosier.  It could have resulted in serious personal injury such as  spinal cord injury, brain injury, broken bones, paralysis.  It could have wiped out a family or taken the bread winner from their family.  No good comes from texting and driving.  It is a selfish and thoughtless act.  It demonstrates a complete lack of concern for the welfare of our fellow Hoosiers.  Mr. Harrison, you were lucky. Take this opportunity to make a difference.  Never text and drive again.  Do what you can to get this message out.

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Remember a couple things about cars and water.  Do not panic.  The car will float for a few minutes giving you time to plan.  Because the water on the outside of the car is heavy and is pushing against your door, it will not be possible to open the door until the car fills with water.  If this is the only way out, stay calm as the water fills the car, then open the door and swim out.  Most retention ponds are less than 10 feet deep, giving you opportunity to reach the surface and swim to shore.  Remember, if the car ignition is still on, the electrical system is still on.  This mean the electric windows will still operate.  If you choose this route of escape, when the window is lowered, water will rush in and will block your exit until the water  fills most of the car. As hard as it will be to wait, do so.  Fighting the rush of water will only cause you to tire  and will not be effective.  You will need your energy to swim, save it. Some companies sell a hammer like device to allow you to break a window to get out.  If you use this method, you will also have a rush of water into the car when the window is broken.  Don’t panic, wait and when the car fills swim out.  All this is easy to say when the panic is not upon you, but if you mentally prepare, you will have a better chance of survival.

About Pools:  Designate someone to be the eyes on the pool, more than one is better.  Do not talk to that person while they are working. Children die in the blink of an eye.  An 8 year old girl died in a Brownsburg pool when 50 or more people were standing by, apparently no one designated to watch the pool. Our sympathies go out to the family of Aalayah L. Willis. Please do not let another precious child out of sight.  Watch those pools.

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The first thing to do is to stop and stay at the scene of the accident.  Sometimes it is a tricky call as to whether you should move the cars if you are able.  If the damage is slight and there are no injuries, it may be helpful to move the cars out of traffic to help keep traffic moving and to protect the drivers and their passengers from another collision.  You should assess whether you are hurt and if anyone else in the car is hurt.  If there is any question have the injured person stay put.  Sometimes adrenaline surges through the body after a collision, masking pain.  Keep this in mind.  If you have a cell phone call 911 and ask for a police officer and emergency aid.  If you can walk and talk without endangering yourself, effort should be made to talk with the other driver. You will want to exchange insurance information and addresses and telephone numbers.  You should always keep you insurance information in your glove compartment just in case of an accident.   You may also want to call family to let them know what has happened.  You may want to consider and ICE button on your phone.  ICE stands for in case of an emergency and should be the number of the person(s) most likely to be able to assist you.

Being involved in a collision involves time and forethought.  If you are prepared and keep your cool, you will reduce stress and make the process less scary.

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The impact of this story is that the passenger, and even the innocent driver had no way of knowing that the other driver would violate the rules of the road and place them in danger.  There was nothing our two seriously injured people could have done to prevent their injuries. We wish them a full and speedy recovery.  As to the individual who violated the rules of the road and caused the collision, we say it is now time for you to step up, take responsibility for the harm you caused and fully and fairly compensate your fellow Hoosiers for all the harm you caused.  If your insurance company plays games with your fellow Hoosiers claims, we encourage you to take the insurance company to task.  Tell them to do the right thing.  If they refuse to listen to you, tell them you are switching to a company that will, heaven forbid, in a future incident, do the right thing.

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This may seem contrary to your own best interest , however if you have been injured in a auto crash, construction accident or other event that leaves you with lost wages ,disabled , impaired or with other injuries it is best to make your insurance aware as soon as possible so they can start a file(this will often preclude a later denial for failure to timely report a claim). The insurance company you should contact is not only your auto policy ,but your health insurance , disability , homeowners , workmen’s compensation and even life insurance where appropriate. The reason you should let them know is to find out if they provide any benefits(which you have already paid a premium for) that might help you as you work your way through the process of trying to get your life back to normal.I have had clients who did not want to report a case to their insurance company because they thought it would raise their rates. My response is always the same. You have already paid for this coverage. They can’t raise your rate for using coverage you have already paid for. It would be like going to the grocery and getting some steaks on sale for $3.99 per pound and at the check out counter they tell you if you take home the steaks and eat them then the next time they will charge you more. No one would go back to that store and no insurance company should ever try to pull that line on one of there insured. So if the occasion arises where you are injured in a crash or accident then be sure to list the insurance’s companies that you have (and pay premiums to ) that might apply and at least report the claim. There are times when they might not have any coverage’s that apply and others where they do at that time or at a latter time(e.g. if you later find out that the drunk driver who crashed into did not pay his premiums and is uninsured).

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 This argument ignores, however, rules of physics regarding the transfer of energy.   Simply put, the steel car, weighing several tons, may not show the effects of the collision enough to show up in pictures, because the energy from the crash travels through the rigid structure of the car without much change in the car until it gets to the soft tissues of the human being driving the car.  There the force of the energy still remaining, is often times, more than enough to injure the driver or passenger.  An example of this flow of energy, is the novelty item we have all seen where six or seven steel balls are suspended from a rod, lined up so they are in contact with each other.  When the end ball is pulled back and released, it strikes the next ball in line.  The energy does not move all of the balls though.  Rather, it travels through four or five of the balls and the last one in line is catapulted outward.  That ball then snaps back and the energy is passed back through to the first one again and so on.  This is the same transfer of energy from a striking car, traveling  through the car it has hit, and then into the soft tissues of the bodies of the occupants.

We also have seen or heard of crashes where the cars are totally smashed and obliterated but the driver walks away unharmed.  So the next time someone says there is no way a person could have been hurt in a car just because the pictures of the car don’t show any damage, remind them that because of energy management principles, the pictures may not tell the whole story.  Drive safe!

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