EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Dash cams are increasingly shaping how traffic crashes and other roadway incidents are investigated and argued in court, according to El Paso attorney Daniela Labinoti.
Labinoti said dash cam video and related vehicle data can change how cases are evaluated and tried, particularly in crashes involving commercial vehicles. She said it is important for people to hire an attorney immediately after a crash so evidence can be preserved and downloaded, including dash cam footage and other information from semi-trucks.
“You hire an attorney immediately after a crash, and you capture a lot of, you know, those, the data that is in, especially in semi trucks,” Labinoti said. “So you want to be able to download that and those log data and the black box data.”
Labinoti said many truck drivers now have dash cams, which can document driving behavior and help establish what happened. “And so that changes everything because they cannot be untruthful about what happened,” she said.
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She said dash cam footage can support either side in a case, depending on what it shows, including situations where a driver’s memory is affected by trauma. “I’ve had cases where my clients did not remember, because of the trauma, how the crash happened,” Labinoti said.
Dash cams can also capture evidence that contradicts what someone believes happened, she said, adding that the technology can reduce disputes over credibility. “It captures the truth,” Labinoti said. “And it eliminates a lot of lawyers arguing or witness credibility or witnesses lying or people lying about what truly happened, which happens all the time in the legal field.”
During the segment, the host also described a personal experience involving a dash cam, saying a friend’s dash cam recorded a head-on crash and helped show the other driver crossed into their lane. “We were able to prove that like, hey, this guy literally veered into our lane,” the host said, adding that without the video “it was gonna be a he said, and she said.”
Labinoti encouraged drivers to consider installing dash cams, saying the footage and data can play a significant role in determining what happened after a crash.
Legal Jargon: Attorney says dash cams are changing how crash cases are evaluated in court
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