How Can Surveillance / Security Camera Footage Strengthen an Auto Accident Case?
When you’ve been injured in a car accident, the immediate aftermath feels chaotic. You are dealing with pain, car repairs, insurance calls, and the lingering stress of the event. It’s hard to think clearly about evidence collection right away.
However, there is one piece of evidence that often changes everything: video footage. Visual proof like surveillance footage can turn a "he said, she said" argument into an undeniable win, and you need to secure it before it disappears.
At the Law Office of Frederick K. Wilson II, I understand exactly what you are going through. I have dedicated my career to fighting for people who have been wronged by negligent drivers. What sets my firm apart is a direct, personal commitment to every client. You aren't just a case number here; you are someone who needs help.
I serve clients throughout Houston, Texas, and the surrounding communities, including Sugar Land, Katy, Pearland, The Woodlands, Pasadena, and Spring. If you are in these areas and struggling to prove who was at fault in your accident, you need an attorney who can dig deep for evidence.
The Power of an Unbiased Eye
Eyewitness testimony is valuable, but it isn't perfect. People forget details. Adrenaline clouds memory. Angles can be deceptive. A camera, however, does not have these flaws. It records exactly what happened without bias or confusion.
In many auto accident cases, the other driver might change their story. They might tell the police one thing at the scene and tell their insurance company something completely different a week later. They might claim you ran the red light when, in reality, they were texting and didn't see the light change.
This is where surveillance footage becomes your strongest ally. It provides an objective timeline of events. We can see the speed of the vehicles, the traffic signals, the weather conditions, and the exact moment of impact. It removes the guesswork. When I present clear video evidence to an insurance adjuster or a jury, it becomes much harder for them to deny your claim or reduce your compensation.
Types of Surveillance Footage We Look For
You might be surprised by how many cameras capture daily life in Houston. When I take on a new case, my team and I immediately start scouting the location for potential video sources. We aren't just looking for traffic cameras. We look for a variety of angles that might have caught the crash.
Traffic and Red Light Cameras
While many people assume these are everywhere, access can be tricky. Some cameras only monitor flow and don't record. Others record but overwrite footage quickly. However, when available, this footage is often the gold standard because it is positioned specifically to view the intersection.
Business Security Cameras
Houston is full of businesses, from gas stations and convenience stores to banks and strip malls. Many of these establishments have high-quality security systems pointing toward their parking lots or the street. Even if the camera is focused on the front door, the wide-angle lens often captures the road in the background.
Residential Doorbell Cameras
In residential neighborhoods, video doorbells have become incredibly common. These devices are motion-activated and often have great resolution. If your accident happened on a side street or near a home, there is a good chance a Ring or Nest camera caught the whole thing.
Dash Cams
Dash cams are growing in popularity. Even if you don't have one, another driver who witnessed the accident might have one. I often reach out to witnesses to ask if they had a camera rolling. This footage can be incredibly detailed, offering a driver’s-eye view of the crash.
Why Speed is Absolutely Vital
I cannot stress this enough: time is against us when it comes to video evidence. Most businesses do not keep their security footage forever. Systems are designed to loop. They might hold data for 24 hours, 48 hours, or maybe a week. Once that time is up, the system writes over the old footage with new video, and that evidence is gone forever.
This is why waiting to hire an attorney is a mistake. If you come to me two months after your accident, the chances of retrieving gas station security footage are almost zero.
But if you call me the day after, I can send out a preservation letter immediately. This is a formal legal notice telling the business owner that an accident occurred and that they must not delete any relevant footage. Most business owners are cooperative once they receive this notice, but without it, they have no reason to save the video.
Accessing Surveillance Footage in Texas
Understanding the legal side of obtaining this footage is important. In Texas, you generally do not have an automatic right to demand private security footage from a business owner without a subpoena, unless they voluntarily give it to you.
Private property owners—like the owner of a local taco shop or a homeowner with a doorbell camera—own their recordings. They can choose to help, or they can choose to ignore you. As your attorney, I handle these interactions delicately. I know how to ask in a way that encourages cooperation. If they refuse, and a lawsuit is filed, I can use the discovery process to legally compel them to hand over the evidence.
Public footage, like that from government-owned traffic cameras, falls under different rules. Requests often need to go through specific bureaucratic channels, such as the Texas Department of Transportation or local city governments. There are strict forms to file and fees to pay.
Furthermore, Texas law has specific statutes regarding how long certain government entities must keep records, but these retention periods can be short. Knowing exactly which statute applies and which department to contact is part of the service I provide.
Disproving Shared Fault Arguments
Texas follows a "modified comparative negligence" rule. This means that if you are found to be more than 50% responsible for the accident, you cannot recover any damages. If you are 50% or less at fault, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault.
Insurance companies know this rule well. Their goal is often to pin at least 51% of the blame on you so they don't have to pay a dime. Without video evidence, it is easy for them to argue that you were speeding, or you didn't use your turn signal, or you should have braked sooner.
Video footage cuts through these arguments. I had a case where an insurance company claimed my client was speeding. The damage to the cars looked bad, and they used that to argue high velocity. However, we found security footage from a nearby bank.
By analyzing the video—measuring the distance the car traveled between two fixed points and the time it took—we were able to calculate the actual speed. It proved my client was driving under the speed limit. That one video clip dismantled their entire defense.
How We Analyze the Footage
Getting the video is step one. Analyzing it is step two. Raw footage can sometimes be grainy, dark, or shot from an unusual angle.
I work with forensic video specialists when necessary. These professionals can enhance video quality, stabilize shaky images, and clarify details such as license plate numbers or traffic signal colors. We can also use the footage to create accident reconstruction models. These digital recreations help juries visualize exactly how the crash's physics worked, based on hard data from the video.
We look for small details that others miss. Did the other driver’s brake lights come on? Did they swerve before impact? Was their turn signal active? These tiny details build the narrative of negligence that wins cases.
The Role of Body-Worn Cameras
Another source of video that people often forget is police body-worn cameras. When officers arrive at the scene, their cameras are usually rolling.
While this footage won’t show the accident itself, it shows the immediate aftermath. It captures the other driver’s demeanor. Are they slurring their speech? Do they seem confused? Are they admitting fault to the officer? It also captures the position of the vehicles before tow trucks move them and the presence of skid marks or debris.
Statements made in the heat of the moment are often admissible in court as "excited utterances," which are exceptions to the hearsay rule. If the other driver steps out of their car and says to the officer, "I'm so sorry, I was looking at my GPS," that is powerful evidence. Having that recorded on a body cam is far better than relying on an officer's written notes, which might be summarized or incomplete.
Car Accident Attorney Serving Houston, Texas
Car accident injuries occur when drivers ignore traffic rules designed to protect us. The logic is simple: we all deserve safety, particularly when operating heavy machinery capable of inflicting severe harm.
As your Houston, Texas, car accident attorney, I am here to serve as your dedicated champion and fight for fair compensation. If you've been injured in a collision, contact me at the Law Office of Frederick K. Wilson II for a free consultation. You do not have to face this challenge alone.