Telematics and Wearables Record Your Data Constantly
You’d be hard pressed to find someone these days that doesn’t have a smart phone, a smart watch, or a smart car (not to be confused with a Smart car which is a brand of itty bitty vehicles). We’re constantly connected, and whether we like it or not our data is being scanned, compiled, and often sold. All that data, however, can produce a very rich digital record of what happened before, during, and after your car wreck. Your speed, your heart rate, how hard you braked, and more might be available to investigators. It can help you prove your case, but it could also hurt your case if it’s incomplete, misinterpreted, or doesn’t corroborate your story. The Car Crash Captain looks at what you need to be aware of.
What Your Devices Actually Record
Event Data Recorders (EDRs) have been installed in passenger vehicles since the early 2000s. It’s estimated that today around 96% of new vehicles have these black boxes that record data continuously (overwriting past data until a crash stops the overwriting process). Similar to the black box in an airplane, they can provide vital clues as to how the vehicle was being driven before, during, and after an accident.
Your phone also keeps track of certain data. If you have an iPhone, you can set a feature up that automatically turns on DND once you hit 10 miles per hour. Newer phones even have a feature that if it detects a sudden stop or jarring movement, it will alert EMS unless you instruct the phone not to.
Smart watches record heart rates, steps, and can have a fall or crash detection feature.
All of this data is stored somewhere. And in some cases it can be court ordered to retrieve that information if a person is not providing it willingly. But will it make a difference?
How That Data Can Help Your Claim
Assuming you’re not lying about what happened, the EDR or phone data can be analyzed to match the moment of impact, and then cross compared with medical data to show that medical issues were not present before the wreck, but now they are showing up.
The heart rate on your smartwatch can show it elevated at the time of the wreck, and the lack of steps show you were indeed driving at the wreck. Abnormal sleep patterns that pop up after the wreck can show that pain and reduced activity could be a result of injuries you sustained in the crash.
How that Data Can Hurt Your Claim
It’s not as easy as merely showing your phone and the logs recorded on there. The court might require authentication of the data, and if it can’t be authenticated, it may not be admissible.
Heart rates can spike for non-issues (like being startled by a spider, or remembering a past incident that irritated you and you get worked up all over again. The accelerometers on a phone can misclassify non-crash events. When Apple released their crash detection feature on iPhones, there were hundreds of “fake” 911 calls, especially from people skiing. It turns out that a fall while skiing down the mountain was significant enough that it would call for help.
This data can sometimes be hard to obtain too. Improperly obtained digital evidence may be suppressed or considered inadmissible by the court.
What to Do After a Wreck
For the most part, if you were indeed in a wreck, and you were injured because of someone else’s negligence, there are a few things to do so your Texas car wreck claim goes as smoothly as possible.
- Ask first responders and medical doctors to make notes in their records that indicate you have a wearable – especially if it alerted the crash or fall.
- Take photos and screenshots that show timestamps of any alerts.
- Ask for the EDR to be downloaded by a qualified technician.
- Stay off social media for a while so you don’t accidentally say something that could hurt your case (learn more about that on our blog about how social media can hurt your case).
- Let Herbert Law Group help you obtain the maximum compensation for your injuries.
Herbert Law Group Helps Dallas Area Car Crash Victims
Our offices are located in Richardson, Texas, but we serve clients from all over the area.
If you were injured in a car wreck that wasn’t your fault, then we should talk about how you can find justice and compensation for your injuries. It all starts with a simple phone call.
Let’s hear what happened, and then we can determine how we can help. Call our offices at 214-414-3808, or fill out the contact form on our site and we’ll get in touch with you for a free initial consultation.