Why Accident Reconstruction Is Vital to Your Injury Case

When you’ve been injured in a car crash that’s not your fault, you are entitled to sue for damages if you’ve experienced “serious impairment of body function” or “permanent serious disfigurement” resulting from the accident. That’s Michigan law, and it’s designed to protect innocent victims from the high costs of unreimbursed medical bills, lost wages, or other major expenses caused by the irresponsible actions of another driver.

However, to determine who is truly responsible for the crash, it’s often necessary to call in eyewitnesses and expert witnesses to assess blame. That’s because Michigan uses the so-called “51-percent rule” to apportion responsibility for injuries and to determine the amount of financial damages a victim is eligible to receive. Essentially, that rule means if an offending driver is found to be 51 percent or more responsible for causing a crash, the injured party (called the plaintiff in a personal injury case) can collect damages or receive a settlement from the guilty driver and that driver’s insurance company.

Under the 51 percent rule, the exact percentage of blame assigned to each driver is crucial, since an injured driver’s legal settlement will be reduced by any level of blame assigned to them. In other words, if you’re found to be 15 percent liable for an accident in which you were hurt – for instance, let’s imagine that you were going slightly above the speed limit, which might have contributed to the cause of the accident – the actual settlement amount you receive would be 15 percent lower than the total sum awarded by the jury.

As you can see, that rule makes the field of Accident Reconstruction, which can help judges and juries accurately allocate blame for an accident, vitally important in determining the outcome of cases in personal injury law. Not to mention that there are also some very high profile cases – including the dramatic retrial of Karen Read (whose case you might have seen chronicled in a recent Netflix documentary) where Accident Reconstructionists are playing pivotal roles in deciding a driver’s innocence … or perhaps her guilt … which could end up either setting her free, or putting her in jail for a long, long time.

Assessing blame requires Accident Reconstructionists as essential witnesses

Knowing all this, you can probably guess that without the ability to determine whether or not a driver is 51 percent or more responsible for a crash, it would be impossible for judges and juries to make informed legal decisions in Michigan personal injury cases. That’s why the expertise of certified Accident Reconstructionists is so important these days. Let’s take a few minutes to describe these valuable expert witnesses, their credentials, and how they perform their vital job for our clients.

Who are Accident Reconstructionists?

Accident Reconstructionists come from diverse fields. Some are dedicated scientists. Others are professional automotive engineers. Many are seasoned law enforcement officers. Sometimes they’re even college professors specializing in such areas as physics or biomechanics! Through their training, their scientific expertise and their long experience assessing the causes and after-effects of motor vehicle crashes, they can determine what led to an accident, what happened at the moment of impact, how any injuries occurred, and who’s to blame for what took place.

How does someone become a certified Accident Reconstructionist?

It isn’t easy. For example, Michigan State Police officers certified as Accident Reconstructionists have to undergo thousands of hours of training, including both college-level coursework and on-the-job experience. Specifically, state rules stipulate that these officers must “have in excess of 1,000 hours in traffic crash investigation and reconstruction training.” Included in their credentials, “each officer has completed an 80-hour At-Scene Traffic Crash Investigation course, an 80-hour Advanced or Technical Traffic Crash Investigation course, and an 80- to 115-hour Traffic Crash Reconstruction course provided by MSP or the Institute of Police Technology and Management, University of North Florida (IPTM) in addition to the 30-hour Basic Traffic Crash Investigation course received by all State Police recruits. Upon completion of the reconstruction course, troopers are put on a two-year training track where they receive additional specialized training in motorcycle traffic crash investigation, commercial vehicle traffic crash investigation, forensic mapping and applied physics to name a few. At the completion of the two-year training period, the officer is required to obtain full accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR).”

ACTAR accreditation ensures that experts in Accident Reconstruction adhere to high standards of professional knowledge and are certified to present expert witness testimony in the legal systems of both the United States and Canada.

Another source of training for many Accident Reconstructionists is Michigan State University’s Highway Traffic Safety Program, which offers dozens of courses covering such areas as accident photography, tire dynamics, vehicle occupant kinematics, crush measurements, crash data retrieval (automobile “black boxes”) systems training, and forensic mapping among many others. To date, MSU’s program has trained more than 6,000 police officers through these programs both here in the Great Lakes State and elsewhere across the country.

What exactly does an Accident Reconstructionist do?

Beyond the steps noted above, an Accident Reconstructionist may undertake a variety of tasks to assess everything that took place leading up to and resulting in a crash, including:

• Assessing damage to the vehicles and any structures (such as traffic signals, power poles, and buildings) in the area of the collision
• Analyzing skid marks and debris resulting from the crash to determine the direction and speed in which the vehicles were traveling
• Retrieving data on ambient weather, traffic, and road conditions at the time of the incident
• Conducting a thorough analysis of the travel angles and velocities of the vehicles that were involved in the crash
• Examining the medical reports detailing the injuries sustained by individuals affected by the collision
• Reviewing video and other photographic evidence of the moments leading up to and immediately following the impact
• Viewing the results of medical and toxicological tests that could indicate whether driver(s) were drunk or under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident
• Closely examining police reports and other documents outlining the circumstances of the crash

Using all of this data, the Accident Reconstructionist can make an informed determination as to which driver(s) were responsible for the injuries sustained by our clients and can help judges and juries understand the level of blame that should be assigned to all drivers involved in the crash.

How can I get an Accident Reconstructionist to testify in my case?

It’s simple. And it won’t cost you anything. That’s because we have a dedicated Accident Reconstruction legal team ready to work on your behalf. They’re intimately familiar with identifying the right expert witnesses, including Accident Reconstructionists and traffic crash analysts, who will work to understand the specifics of your case and instruct the jury on exactly what caused you to be hurt through no fault of your own. As you might imagine, these experts don’t come cheap, but you don’t have to worry about the cost because it’s all included in our well-known contingency fee arrangement. That means we pay for all the expert witnesses we call to the stand on your behalf – you don’t! Any funds we do eventually receive to reimburse us for those expenses come only from court-approved settlements, never from your pocket. Which means making the call to 855-MIKE-WINS (855-645-3946) if you’ve been injured in an accident where you weren’t to blame is a no-brainer! Hopefully we’ll never meet by accident… but if you’re ever hurt due to someone else’s irresponsibility, never hesitate to get us working on your side.