The proliferation of personal and public recording devices (e.g. traffic cameras, smartphones) means there's a good chance your auto accident was caught on camera. Video and audio evidence can help or hurt your personal injury case, which is why you may want to consider hiring an audio/video forensics expert to review any recorded evidence that may be available. Here are two reasons you should consider this option.

To Validate or Invalidate Evidence

The popularity of recording devices has given rise to another industry, video and audio editing software. Using this software, a person can manipulate recordings to include or remove data that change the essence of the information on the video or audio file. For example, the defendant could have someone change the stoplight on a video recording to make it seem like it still green when they entered the intersection and T-boned you when in reality the light had turned red.

Therefore, it's in your best interest to have a video and audio forensic expert review any recordings for signs of tampering. If the evidence does appear to be altered, you (or your attorney) can get it thrown out of court. Alternatively, an expert in this field provide the court with assurances your recordings are genuine if the defendant challenges the authenticity of your evidence, which can help you avoid losing one of the strongest pieces of evidence proving the defendant's wrongdoing.

To Enhance Video and Audio Quality

Despite what you may see on TV, recorded evidence isn't always crystal clear. It's not unusual for video recordings to be blurry or for audio recordings to sound muffled and garbled. This can make it difficult for the court to clearly see or hear what's going on in the recording, which can negatively impact the evidence's effectiveness.

A video and audio expert can enhance the recordings in a variety of different ways to make the picture and sound clearer or—in the case of security cameras that record from multiple angels—splice together video to obtain a clear timeline of events. For instance, the expert can remove background sounds to make it easier to hear the main events. Additionally, having the work done by a recognized expert in the field makes the edits seem more legitimate than if you were to do them yourself.

For more information about this or other experts you should hire to help you win your auto accident case, contact a personal injury attorney.