How Fitness Tracker Data May Help Your Auto Accident Case
Your smartwatch helps you track workouts, measure your steps, and work toward your health goals. Did you know that they can also help you if you are involved in a car crash? Many of the features used in fitness trackers are equally useful when you are trying to prove your case after a car crash.
Learn more about how to use your fitness tracker to secure full and fair compensation after a collision. When you’re ready to move forward with your claim, call Olmstead & Olmstead at 703-361-1555 to set up a consultation.
Crash Detection on Fitness Watches
One new feature that is starting to hit fitness watches is crash detection. With the release of the Apple Watch 8, Apple introduced this feature to the market. Other fitness watches are sure to follow. Crash detection can help with seeking assistance after a crash, proving when a collision happened and even showing where the crash occurred. This may be helpful in cases where the insurance company is claiming that the crash was falsified or occurred somewhere else.
Location Data
Location data is very helpful after collisions. Consider a serious crash that pushed your car through an intersection and across a median. If your watch tracks movement precisely, it may have specific information about where the accident started, how you moved during it, and where you ended up.
Looking for further proof of where and when an accident occurred? Look at the heart rate measurement on your fitness watch. Collisions cause a flood of adrenaline to surge through the body, driving your heart rate up dramatically. If your fitness watch shows a sudden heart rate spike, followed by a gradual slowdown, that may confirm movement data and your report of how the accident happened.
Overall Health and Wellness Data
Your fitness watch can also be useful when it comes to proving how the accident has affected your life. Insurance companies love claims of pain and soreness, difficulty moving, and general discomfort. These claims are often hard to prove, which makes it easier for them to claim that you’re exaggerating or lying.
It’s much harder to claim that you are lying if you have fitness watch data that backs up your claims. For example, assume you’re a fairly active person before a crash. You get about 8,000 steps per day and exercise three to five times per week. However, the crash takes a toll on your physical health.
You suffer severe lower back pain that makes it hard to walk or stand comfortably, and your muscles are so stiff that even finding a comfortable sleeping position is a challenge. Your fitness watch may show that you are up and down all night long, leading to lower quality sleep and overall lower quality of life. It may also show a significant decrease in your overall daily steps and workouts.
Using Your Fitness Tracker Data in a Crash Claim
If you think your fitness watch data may be useful in a crash claim, make sure you tell your attorney about it. They may be able to take a look at the data themselves, think about the story it tells, and consider how the opposing side may try to spin it or explain it away. They’ll also know how to download the data in a way that it can be used in court or in negotiations.
Make sure you let your attorney know as soon as possible after a crash that your fitness data is available to them. Depending on the watch model and settings you have, data may automatically delete after a certain time frame. If so, you’ll want to take steps to preserve the data and back it up.
Your attorney may also have recommendations for apps to download to provide further information. For example, some watches do not have automatic sleep tracking. In that case, you may need to download an additional sleep tracking app.
Ready to Start Your Car Accident Claim? Call Olmstead & Olmstead Today
Wondering what your next step is after a car accident? The team at Olmstead & Olmstead is here to help you through the process. Get started now by calling us at 703-361-1555 or contacting our team online.
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