Following an auto accident in Oklahoma, the people involved in the accident may disagree on how the accident occurred. Likewise, any witnesses to the accident could have differing versions of the events, or they might provide contradictory details of the accident. If the accident is merely a fender bender with no real injuries, and only minor property damage, the parties' insurance providers will likely sort out the mess without a need for a rigorous investigation.
On the other hand, when an accident involves serious injuries or death, along with extensive property damage, figuring out exactly what happened becomes more critical. Absent video footage from multiple different angles, it may be virtually impossible for a third party to know all of the exact details of how a car accident occurred. However, trained investigators can piece together all of the evidence and reconstruct the crash to get a fairly good idea of how an accident likely occurred.
Thirty years ago, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) recognized the need to develop and implement a system of guidelines and criteria to train people in crash reconstruction. Accordingly, a group of industry participants including police officers, engineers and attorneys formed the beginnings of a certification board to accredit auto accident reconstructionists.
Today, the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR) promotes and encourages integrity, consistency and professionalism in the field of crash investigation and reconstruction. ACTAR applies minimum training standards that the NHTSA laid out 30 years ago when it began its standardization of this field.
People who gain accreditation from an independent body like ACTAR can sift through all of the crash evidence, and put together a picture of how the accident occurred. In addition, they may be more reliable and credible expert witnesses for car crash victims who are pursuing legal claims against other parties involved in the accident. A personal injury attorney may be able to find and work with these kinds of expert witnesses to put together a compelling case.
Source: ACTAR.org, "The History of ACTAR," Accessed Aug. 4, 2015
