You may not be aware of it, but most passenger vehicles sold today have some level of "black box" technology recording data that can be retrieved after a serious Virginia car accident.
Road safety experts believe that such recorded data provides critical information to find out how and why a crash occurred.
Most devices record speed, engine power and other physical and mechanical information for a duration of about 5 seconds; the records are then overwritten by new data in a constant loop. This data gives investigators the information they need about the speed, steering, and impact just before and at the time of an accident.
This may give many Virginia drivers food for thought. As with so many circumstances nowadays, you are being watched - even when nobody is around to watch you.
In order to keep an eye on your own movements, you can now buy after-market devices which are far more sophisticated than the ones that are originally mounted on most vehicles. An advanced drive recorder combines high resolution cameras, 3-axis shock sensors, 20 seconds of pre-alarm recording, GPS road tracking and full time recording. The data can be retrieved and fed into your PC. Data recording software can then show you road images, speed graphs, shocks and directional forces, and the vehicle's position on a Google Earth road map. You can replay the video; select, zoom and print still images; and draw conclusions from the impact force, angles, and speed - just like a professional investigator.
This technology can be abused, but it can help prevent accidents if it is smartly used.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a Virginia car accident, please contact our Warrenton or Culpeper accident attorneys today for a free discussion of your accident case. You will have a clear view if and how our lawyers can help protect your rights.