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In recent years, no-win no-fees personal injury lawyers have enjoyed a boom in popularity. As one might expect, this boom has also heralded a steep rise in personal injury claims: over the past decade, there has been a 60% increase in such claims, despite the fact that there have been 20% fewer road accidents. Of course, many of these claims are legitimate, and the increase is simply due to the fact that, with the rise of no-win no-fees litigation, more people can afford to claim damages when they’re entitled to them, but a large portion of these claims are thought to be due to “cash for crash” scams. With this in mind, many couriers are installing new technology in order to quickly and easily resolve disputes resulting from collisions. What Is a “Cash for Crash” Scam? A “cash for crash” scam takes place as follows. First, the driver of the offending vehicle chooses a target. They will then endeavour to cause a collision, frequently by getting in front of their target and reversing to give the impression of being rear-ended. They will then make a personal injury claim, frequently citing whiplash as this is an injury that can be hard to rule out medically. Not all scammers are this deliberate, however: many false claims are made when a car is rear-ended, but the speed and effects of the collision are exaggerated in order to claim a pay-out where none is due. The new technology can be used both to establish whose fault the collision was and to establish whether the collision was hard enough to cause the injuries described. Why Are Couriers Targeted? Couriers make good targets for two main reasons: one is that they almost always have comprehensive insurance cover, and another is that they work to deadlines and rarely have the time to argue the toss over whose fault a collision was and how hard it was. Moreover, it may be easier to argue the claim when the claimant has been involved in a collision with a large commercial vehicle than with a smaller personal vehicle. All of this adds up to severe losses experienced by the logistics industry. What Is This New Technology? The new technology is a way of indisputably establishing the sequence and nature of events just before and after a crash. It takes the form of a camera fitted to the front of the car, which persistently saves video and image information to storage within the car. When a crash occurs, the relevant information, including the speed of the car and a series of images around the time of the crash, are uploaded as a crash report. Therefore, there is visual evidence of what exactly occurred at the time of the crash, and whether the vehicle was even moving quickly enough to cause the injuries described. Does It Work? Yes. The new technology is able to establish what happened at the time of the crash (and therefore whether a pay-out is due), as well as the number of people in the car (there have been cases of scammers claiming for more people than were actually involved in the collision). The visual presence of the technology is also a powerful deterrent: there have been reports of scammers immediately dropping the dispute and driving off when they realise that it is present. Collecting video evidence is a great way to ensure that your comprehensive insurance cover isn’t being taken advantage of by scammers. I would highly recommend that you go about ensuring that your vehicles are protected as soon as possible. Norman Dulwich is a Correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the leading online trade network for the road transport industry. Connecting logistics professionals across the UK and Europe through their website, Haulage Exchange is the leading service for matching haulage jobs with available vehicles. They also provide expert articles on new technology in the freight industry and other related topics. Over 4,000 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.
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