Can you record the scene after a car crash? (original) (raw)
It’s common for people to reach for their smartphones in almost any situation these days, including video recording the scene after a car crash. Using your smartphone to record video has become a norm in today’s digital age. With the prevalence of dash cams and the ease of recording video on mobile devices, many individuals wonder whether it’s a good idea to document the aftermath of a collision by taking video at the scene of a car crash. The answer is always: yes!
Some Benefits of Recording the Scene of a Car Crash
Capture Evidence
Recording video at the scene of a crash can provide visual evidence of what happened. This footage can be crucial in determining fault and liability, especially if there are disputes about the sequence of events.
Document Damages
Video footage can also assist in documenting the extent of the damage done to vehicles and property. This can be useful when filing insurance claims or pursuing legal action to recover damages.
Preserve Witness Testimony
If there are witnesses at the scene, recording their statements can help preserve their testimony. Witness accounts can be valuable in corroborating your version of events.
Protection Against Fraud
Unfortunately, insurance companies often accuse injured people of fabricating or exaggerating their injuries. Recording the scene can provide protection against such baseless accusations by providing an accurate account of what occurred.
What if instead of making a video recording, you decide to make a secret audio recording of a conversation? Can you do that?
Well, you can, but you absolutely shouldn’t. Here’s why:
Florida is a “two-party” consent state. This means that in Florida, with a few exceptions, all parties involved in a private conversation must consent to the recording of that conversation. This applies to conversations that occur both in-person and through an electronic device such as a telephone.
For Florida’s recording law to apply, the subject conversation must happen in a place where there is an expectation that the conversation is private. Conversely, in a public place, there is no expectation of privacy. Therefore, one can make the argument that any audio recorded during one of these conversations is legal because others could and may have overheard the conversation while it was taking place.
Penalties for Making a Secret Audio Recording in Florida
Per Florida Statute 934.03, violating Florida’s recording law is a 3rd-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
- Each illegal audio recording is a separate felony. This means that if someone were to record five-separate conversations, they will have committed five felonies under Florida law.
- Additionally, sharing an illegally recorded audio file is a felony. If someone were to secretly record a conversation and show that recording to a friend, they have now committed two felonies. If that friend shares the secretly recorded conversation with another person, and that friend knew the conversation was recorded secretly, the friend has now committed a felony.
- In addition to criminal penalties, a perpetrator can face civil penalties as well, including, but not limited to, a number of invasion of privacy torts. This could result in hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fines, attorney’s fees, and litigation costs.
Exceptions to Florida’s Recording Law
There are some instances in which you can legally record a conversation in Florida.
- If a person is or is acting under the direction of an investigative or law enforcement officer, that person may obtain audio recordings of a conversation for the purpose of gathering evidence of a criminal act. However, for this exception to apply, the person recording must be a party to the conversation, or one of the parties involved in the conversation must have given consent.
- Making a recording is also allowed if all parties involved give consent to a conversation being recorded prior to the recording taking place.
- A child under the age of 18 may make an audio recording of a conversation if the child is a party to the conversation and believes the recorded conversation will evidence a past, present, or future unlawful sexual act or unlawful act of physical force or violence against the child by another party in the conversation.
- As briefly discussed above, conversations taking place in a public setting such as a public speech or an on-the-record city council meeting have no expectation of privacy, and audio recordings may be taken under those circumstances.
At the end of the day, your best bet is to always get consent from all parties in a conversation to record that conversation. It is the safest and most reliable method to allow for the use of that recorded conversation later on.
However, if you are in a car crash, you can grab your phone and record the scene after a car crash. This will assist you down the road, especially if you are injured.
Authored by Mikayla T. Taylor
