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
Traffic Signal, Signage and Street Lighting Documentation
Delator Claims Division documents the traffic-control devices and street lighting at a collision site: which signs and signals exist, where they stand, how visible they are and whether they work. The record serves carriers, attorneys and drivers statewide.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
Many intersection claims rest on a device. A stop sign hidden behind a crepe myrtle, turned on its post or knocked flat in an earlier crash. A signal head that cannot be seen until a driver is under it. A stop bar worn to nothing. A streetlight out over a crosswalk. Each driver describes what the device told them to do, and the device itself, as it stood that week, is the only neutral witness to how it presented.
Our investigators inventory the control devices on every approach, measure their placement, and photograph them from the driver's path at stated distances. Signals are recorded on continuous video through several full cycles. Lighting fixtures are checked after dark. For claimants and policyholders this is neutral documentation. We do not say whether a device was properly installed or maintained, and we do not decide which driver had the right of way.
When signs, signals or lighting are in question
- A driver says a stop or yield sign was missing, down, faded or blocked by vegetation, a parked truck or another sign.
- Both drivers claim a green signal and nobody recorded how the phases run for those two movements.
- A signal was dark or flashing after a storm and drivers disagree about how the intersection was being treated.
- A pedestrian was struck in a marked crosswalk beneath a streetlight that witnesses say had been out.
- Worn lane arrows or a missing turn-only sign are said to have put two vehicles into the same lane.
The device inventory we prepare
- Sign presence and condition
- Each regulatory and warning sign on the approach, with its legend, face condition, fading, graffiti, lean or rotation, and damage to the post or base.
- Sign placement measurements
- Mounting height, lateral offset from the pavement edge, and distance from the sign to the stop line, crosswalk or intersecting road edge.
- Distance at which a sign is visible
- Photographs toward the sign at measured intervals along the approach, noting the point where foliage, poles, parked vehicles or roadway curvature stop blocking it.
- Signal heads and observed phases
- Number and position of signal heads per approach, lens condition, and timed video of the phase sequence, including turn arrows, yellow and all-red intervals as observed.
- Stop bars, arrows and crosswalks
- Condition and position of painted control markings, how much of each remains, and whether they agree with the signs and signals above them.
- Street lighting fixtures
- Each pole and luminaire near the scene by pole number, checked after dark for operation, with tree canopy or damage that shades the fixture noted.
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.
Devices are corrected soon after a crash draws attention to them
A collision report or a citizen call often prompts a maintenance visit. A leaning sign is straightened, a missing one replaced, limbs are cut back, a lamp is changed, a signal is retimed. None of this is improper, but it means the condition that existed for the drivers may be gone within days, and the new sign carries nothing on its face about what stood there before. Vegetation works in the other direction, growing over a sign through spring and summer and dropping back in fall.
Signal operation is equally changeable. Timing can differ by time of day and day of week, and a signal on detection behaves differently in light traffic than in heavy. We therefore record the phases at the hour and weekday of the incident and note traffic demand during the recording. The video shows what the signal did during our visit. The controller's programmed timing and any malfunction logs are agency records that the requester or counsel may seek.
Using the record when drivers give opposite accounts
When two drivers each say they had the green, observed phase video lets an adjuster test each account against how the signal actually cycles: which movements run together, how long a turn arrow lasts, whether a driver stopped at the bar can see the opposing indication. When a driver says a stop sign was not visible, photographs at measured distances show where it comes into view. These are facts that narrow a dispute without anyone having to rely on memory alone.
Lighting complaints are handled the same way. The fixture inventory identifies which poles serve the area of impact and which were dark on the night of the visit, by number, so that a maintenance history can be requested for the right equipment. We report conditions and measurements only. Whether a device was deficient, whether an agency had notice of it, and how fault is shared among drivers are determinations for the carrier, the attorneys or a court.
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 get the official signal timing?
We record the signal on video and time each phase as observed during the visit. Programmed timing sheets and maintenance logs belong to the agency that operates the signal. Requesting them is up to you or your attorney, and our video can be compared with them afterward.
The stop sign was replaced after the crash. What can be documented now?
The current sign and its placement, the old post or base if it remains, cut vegetation, and the view along the approach. We will state that the sign appears recently installed if the hardware indicates it. Photographs taken by others before the replacement can be referenced in our notes at your request.
Do you check streetlights at night or just photograph the poles?
Both. Poles and fixtures are inventoried in daylight by pole number, and the investigator returns after dark to record which are lit. If the question is what a driver could see at the incident hour, a fuller after-dark visibility visit can be added.
Will the report say the sign did not comply with standards?
No. We give heights, offsets, distances and photographs. A requester's expert or counsel can compare those figures with whatever standard they consider applicable. We are not an engineering firm and do not offer compliance opinions.
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.