Technology is always advancing, and smart attorneys learn and use new technology to the advantage of their clients. 25 years ago, attorneys handling traffic collision cases had a large collection of printed local maps to help identify the county where a collision occurred, where another party resided, or the likely route someone would be taking to get to their destination.
How Google Maps Can Help a Personal Injury Case
Things changed radically with the advent of commercial services on the internet, and tools such as MapQuest and Yahoo Maps became early favorites of attorneys needing to conduct research on local roadways. Fast forward again, and Google Maps reigns supreme as an amazing free tool, both as a general map service and even more so with its excellent Street View, offering 360-degree movable photos of the actual roadway at issue in a case.
We routinely rely on Google Maps Street View to take a detailed look at roads and intersections. How many lanes are there on a stretch of roadway? Are there speed limit signs? Where are the traffic signals positioned? Can vehicles turn right on red at a certain location? Most of these questions can now be quickly answered by the attorney without ever leaving the office.
Drone Images Can Help a Personal Injury Attorney
But what about instances where Google Maps does NOT provide all the answers? Some cases concern traffic flow through an area, detailed pavement markings, recent changes to an intersection that have not been documented by Google, and the most pressing of all, specific evidence from the crash that could disappear if not documented promptly.
A drone can fill the void left by Google. First, the resolution available from a drone is far superior to that offered by standard online services. If the specific layout and/or measurements of an intersection are at issue in a case, then drone photography is the best way to go. Compare the three photos below – The first is the best image available from Google Maps, the second from Google Earth, and the third from a drone positioned over the same intersection. The difference in resolution is obvious and can reveal an important detail about the intersection or roadway at issue in a case.
Second, if traffic flow in an area is an issue, for example, how cars typically merge onto another roadway, then a drone can offer video footage to document typical vehicle movement, rather than the static images offered by Google Maps.
Documenting Case Evidence with Drones
Finally, after a serious accident, a drone can document specific evidence, such as skid marks, pavement gouges, fluid spills, etc, remnants that would not have been documented on Google Maps images taken years earlier. For this example, see the photo below, documenting crash evidence from a serious collision in Frederick, Maryland, including the length and arc of skid marks and fluid spills highlighting the point of impact. This evidence would have quickly evaporated from constant traffic use and weather if not documented promptly.
Federal regulations do not allow casual drone users to take images for use in court cases. A drone used in ANY commercial application must be operated by a remote pilot that has gone through the required training and tested for and obtained the requisite commercial operator license issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Partner Howard Simcox holds a commercial drone operator's license and is legally able to deploy a drone in any case that may benefit.
