Data and its impact on accident liability

On behalf of Aiken and Aiken P.C. Personal Injury Attorneys posted in Car Accidents, on Thursday, September 1, 2016

As technology included in vehicles evolves, it may not be possible to obscure what actually caused a Massachusetts traffic accident. While some believe that increased data will keep roads safer, others believe that data collection could infringe on privacy rights. One person who crashed his Tesla into a California building in early June believes that his vehicle’s driving log unfairly categorized what happened to him.He claimed that the car accelerated on its own before it hit the building. However, Tesla says that the data transmitted to it by the vehicle showed that the driver increased pressure on the pedal and that the car did what it should have under the circumstances. While a quarter of cars have the ability to connect to the Internet today, 90 percent of cars are expected to have such capability by 2020. Such data may give insurance companies the ability to alter rates or provide automakers and dealers the ability to alter prices based on customer data. Some believe that increased data collection could pave the way for driverless cars. In fact, Tesla’s data collection may have accelerated the improvements made in such technology in recent years. Installation of black box devices that collect driving data are also cited as a way to reduce crash rates.Car collisions can be the result of a variety of factors, including inclement weather and uneven road surfaces, but most are caused by human factors. When a person is injured in one, an attorney can use a variety of evidence, including the official investigation report, eyewitness testimony and in some cases data transmitted by the vehicles involved, to demonstrate that the crash was caused by the negligence of another motorist who should be held financially responsible for the victim’s losses.