I had a client come in who was involved in a car accident. I can tell that the facts of the accident are going to be in dispute. It would be helpful to me to have pictures of the cars and it would be helpful to see the position of the cars after the accident. My client’s cell phone had a camera, and my client did take pictures at the scene. However, he only took pictures of his own car. The pictures he took of his car at the scene were not helpful in placing his car at the intersection where the loss occurred. Instead, they were completely focused on the damage to his car. This is a lost opportunity. It is easy for me to get pictures of my own client’s car. I could go to my client’s house or the tow yard. If the car is drivable, I can take pictures in my own parking lot. It is hard for me to get pictures of the other car, and may be impossible for me to get pictures of the cars at the accident scene. If you are in a position to take pictures at the scene of an accident, then the focus should be on taking pictures of the other car and taking pictures to show where the cars were after the accident. Obviously, if both cars pull over to the side of the road. The positioning of the cars would not be useful. However, if the cars are still where they were after the accident, those are great pictures. Try to get some distance away from the cars so as to give some perspective as to where they are relative to each and relative to geographic points at the scene. In this way, if I have to reconstruct the accident later, the pictures will be helpful.
