Accident Terms and Definitions

Accident
What auto insurance is designed to cover. Accidents may be considered either at fault or not at fault. If you have at fault accidents on your driving record, your rates will be higher.

Blind Spots
The back corner of the car never moves. It always stays in the same exact place. Mirrors are unable to show this spot. This back area is known as blind spot

Reference Point
In angular momentum, the point in space around which the motion of an object is described. The angular momentum of an object is defined in relation to some point, the reference point. The velocity and radius of an object are measured from the reference point.

Triangulation
Technique for scene documentation where items of evidence are located by measuring the distance between two (2) reference points.

Misdemeanor
Criminal offenses less than felonies; generally those punishable by fine or imprisonment of less than 90 days in a local facility.

Burden of proof
Measure of proof required to prove a fact. Obligation of a party to probe facts at issue in the trial of a case.

Tire Problems
Under-inflation, the most frequent cause of tire failure, is considered the main culprit in the recent Firestone tire-failure fatalities. Uneven or worn-out tires are the next most serious problem and can also lead to tire failure.

Common law
Law which derives its authority solely from usage and customs of immemorial antiquity or from the judgments and decrees of courts. also called "case law."

Cause of action
A legal claim. Certificate under penalty of perjury - A written statement, certified by the maker as being under penalty of perjury.

Collision
Pays for damage to your car caused by physical contact with another vehicle or with another object, such as a tree, boulder, guardrail, structure, or person.