Who Really Ran the Red?
Signal Timing Analysis | Disputed Liability
The Situation
An intersection crash between two vehicles on opposing approaches. Both drivers insisted the light was in their favor, and the police report left the question open. The case had stalled on a classic he-said/she-said dispute over who actually had the green.
The Analysis
Coastal Crash Consultants pulled signal phase and timing data directly from the intersection's traffic signal controller. To anchor the controller's phase log to the exact moment of impact, we extracted timestamped data from applications on one of the driver's phones, establishing a precise time of crash down to the second. That timestamp was then cross-referenced against the signal controller log.
The Finding
The controller's own records revealed which approach had a green indication at impact and which had been red for several seconds prior. The at-fault driver was identified unambiguously from the intersection's own data.
Why It Matters
Signal timing data isn't just persuasive, it's objective, timestamped, and pulled from the infrastructure itself, which means it sidesteps eyewitness unreliability entirely. What started as a disputed liability claim ended with a clear, defensible reconstruction grounded in the intersection's own records.
Signal timing data is time-sensitive and is often overwritten within days or weeks of a crash. If your case involves a signalized intersection, preserving controller data early can be the difference between a disputed case and a decided one.