Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Documenting Accidents in Fog, Glare and Poor Visibility
Fog, low sun, smoke and road spray leave no mark on the pavement, yet they are often the center of the dispute. Delator Claims Division documents the terrain, roadway orientation and viewing conditions that bear on those accounts, for carriers, attorneys and drivers.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
A driver who says the sun was directly in the windshield, or that fog closed in at the bottom of a hill, is describing something that was gone before the tow truck arrived. The claim file is left with a statement and little else. What can still be recorded is the setting that makes the account more or less consistent with the place: the compass heading of the road, the horizon line, the low ground near water, and the windshield the driver was looking through.
Sun position is repeatable for a short window. Within several days of the incident, the sun crosses nearly the same point in the sky at the same clock time, so an investigator standing in the lane of travel can photograph what the low sun does to the view ahead. Fog cannot be scheduled, but the features that collect it can be documented. This is neutral work for policyholders and claimants. We describe conditions and do not assign fault.
Claims where viewing conditions need a record
- A driver heading east at sunrise or west at sunset reports being blinded just before striking a vehicle or a person ahead.
- A chain of collisions occurred in a fog bank on a river crossing or valley floor and the sequence is contested.
- Smoke from a brush or field fire drifted across a highway and several drivers give different accounts of how dense it was.
- Spray from heavy trucks on a wet highway is said to have hidden a slowing vehicle or a lane closure.
- A carrier wants to test whether a glare explanation fits the road heading and time before taking a recorded statement.
What we capture about viewing conditions
- Roadway heading and grade
- The compass bearing of each approach and whether the road climbs, falls or crests toward the sun, measured on site and tied to the incident location.
- Sun position at the incident time
- Photographs from the driver's lane at the same clock time, showing the sun against the horizon, tree line, buildings and the area of impact.
- Glare on signals and surfaces
- How low sun washes out signal lenses, brake lamps ahead, wet pavement or glass building fronts when seen from the approach in question.
- Terrain that collects fog
- Rivers, creeks, ponds, bottomland and dips near the scene, with distances and elevations relative to the roadway and photographs of the surrounding ground.
- Windshield and visor condition
- Where the vehicle is available, the glass for film, pitting, cracks and haze, the visor positions as found, and anything mounted on the dash.
- Warnings and visibility aids present
- Any fog or smoke warning signs, flashing beacons, delineator posts and reflective markers along the approach, and their spacing.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
The window for recording sun glare closes within days
The sun's path shifts a little every day. Around the equinoxes it moves fastest, and a road that points straight into the sunrise one week is noticeably off that line two or three weeks later. A glare visit therefore has a practical deadline measured in days, after which a comparable sun position does not return for months. When a request arrives late, we still document the heading and horizon so that others can calculate sun position, and we state that the photographs were not taken under matching conditions.
Cloud cover matters as well. A clear morning and an overcast one produce different views from the same spot, so the notes record sky conditions during the visit and the requester can compare them with weather records for the incident date. We also photograph with and without the visor lowered and at more than one exposure, because a single frame aimed at the sun tells a viewer very little about what remained visible below it.
Fog, smoke and spray: documenting what cannot be recreated
Fog in Tennessee tends to form in predictable places: along rivers and reservoirs, in valleys, and on higher ground such as the Cumberland Plateau and the mountains in the east. Our investigators cannot reproduce the fog of a particular morning, and the report does not pretend to. It records the features that explain where fog gathers, the length of roadway through that low or exposed ground, and the points at which a driver would enter and leave it.
Disputes in these claims usually concern how far ahead a driver could see and whether speed and following distance fit the conditions. The answers come from statements, weather data, vehicle data and sometimes expert analysis. The scene record supports that work by fixing distances between landmarks that witnesses mention, such as a bridge rail, a sign or an exit ramp, so that a statement like "I could see about as far as the overpass" can be converted into a measured length.
On this assignment Delator field personnel record what is physically present: photographs, video, measurements and factual notes. They do not adjust, appraise or value the loss, do not determine coverage, cause or fault, and do not represent any party to the claim.
Delator Claims Division is not a law firm, an insurer or an engineering firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Common questions about this service
Can you prove the sun was in the driver's eyes?
No. We can photograph the sun's position from the driver's lane at the same clock time and record the road heading and horizon. Whether a specific driver was actually impaired by glare is a conclusion for the adjuster, the attorneys or an expert, drawing on that record and other evidence.
How soon does a glare visit need to happen?
Within a few days of the incident where possible, at the same clock time and on a clear day. After roughly a week the sun's position has shifted enough that the notes will flag the difference. A Rush or Emergency deployment can be used when the window is short.
There was dense fog that morning. What is left to document?
The terrain and the roadway. We record nearby water and low ground, the length of the affected stretch, sign and delineator placement, and measured distances between landmarks that witnesses use to describe how far they could see. We also note which weather reporting stations are nearest for anyone obtaining records.
Do you obtain official weather records?
Our field notes record conditions during the visit. Historical weather data for the incident date is available from public sources, and official copies are typically requested by the carrier or attorney handling the claim. We can note the nearest observation sites so the request goes to a relevant station.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.