Our Mission //
I’ve investigated and reconstructed hundreds of motor vehicle collisions and testified as an expert witness in depositions and trials. Over that time, I’ve found that far too many cases lack strong, well documented, physical evidence. Evident was founded to change that.
- Steve Teterus, Founder, ACTAR 3704
It doesn’t have to be so difficult (or expensive) to find out what happened in most car crashes.
In my years of experience investigating, reconstructing, and testifying about vehicle collisions, I repeatedly found that many disputes could have been easily resolved had the crash scene and/or vehicles been digitally preserved or documented. Many billable hours were spent attempting to track down any photographs of any of the vehicles involved before scouring every pixel of the images for insights. Even more time was spent searching through Google Earth satellite images, Google StreetView images, and other similar sources for the off chance that tire marks, fluid stains, or furrows in the grass were coincidently preserved. If I was fortunate enough to have received any photographs of the crash scene, the photos often failed to capture the most important aspects of the evidence as they were hastily taken by a well meaning witness or party to the crash. As a result, many more billable hours were spent using advanced analysis techniques to extract as much information as possible from those photographs, like the length of a tire mark or the location of a gouge in the asphalt within the intersection.
In most cases, thousands of dollars in billable hours could have easily been avoided had a single aerial photograph been taken of the intersection in the days or weeks following the crash. A simple download of just one vehicle’s Event Data Recorder before the vehicle was repaired, crushed, or sold would saved hundreds, or thousands, more.
Evident’s mission is to do just that, save all parties involved hundreds, or thousands, of dollars by offering affordable and reliable evidence preservation performed by highly trained, experienced, and accredited technical experts.
Where we’re coming from
After graduating from Temple University's with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering, I worked on the design and construction of government facilities critical to national security. Later in my career, I worked for a manufacturer of systems used to transport and store nuclear fuel rods. I wrote design specifications for nuclear equipment, analyzed the structural integrity of equipment designed to handle and carry nuclear fuel, and evaluated the susceptibility of the nuclear fuel storage systems to disasters like hurricanes, tornados, and explosions. In other words, the stakes were very high and getting it right was essential to ensuring the safety of everyone on site at the nuclear power plant as well as the surrounding public.
In the nuclear industry, it’s critical to get it right the first time. The method the industry uses to ensure they get it right is centered around the fostering of a culture where people at all levels of a project are empowered to raise questions or concerns. The industry exposes all work products, from design specifications to calculation packages, to intense scrutiny and review by other specialists and technical experts, all of whom are required to sign their name, personally endorsing the document, when they’re satisfied at the completion of their review. The end result is thoroughly vetted work product that provides overwhelming confidence in its accuracy and integrity.
Of course, in order to allow others to review your work, you need to document what you did! Much like I was taught to do in engineering school, the nuclear industry required me to show my work and detail each step of a calculation so it could be efficiently checked and reviewed by others. Unfortunately, the accident reconstruction industry usually functions under a much different philosophy where meticulously documenting your work is viewed as opening yourself to undesirable scrutiny.
At Evident, we seek to establish ourselves at the highest tier of integrity and technical excellence such that seeing “Evident Forensics” at the top of a page instills overwhelming confidence in the accuracy and integrity of what follows. We continue to encourage a questioning attitude, won’t shy away from technical challenges, and will lead the industry by demonstrating the best practice of clearly and confidently documenting our work.