The one thing your insurer is hoping you never find out is this: missing evidence can change a Connecticut injury case by tens of thousands of dollars.

If this is only a workers' comp claim and no outside driver, cyclist, or property owner is involved, lost dashcam footage may not change the basic right to benefits much. Connecticut workers' comp usually covers medical care and wage benefits regardless of fault. But it can still cost real money if the footage was the clearest proof of how the injury happened, whether there was a head strike, or how severe it looked. That affects disputes over treatment, work restrictions, and permanency ratings before the Connecticut Workers' Compensation Commission. In that situation, lost footage might mean a difference of a few thousand dollars to much more over the life of the claim.

If a third party may be liable - for example, your employee in a work van collides with a cyclist on Park Avenue in Bridgeport, or a rider is hit near an I-95 ramp during spring visibility problems - lost footage can cost far more. A clean dashcam clip can decide fault, lane position, traffic-signal timing, and whether someone was using a phone. Without it, a case can swing by $25,000, $50,000, or more, especially when the police report is incomplete or witnesses disappear.

If the injury is serious - brain injury, facial trauma from an airbag, or long-term neurological symptoms - lost footage can become a six-figure problem because it may have shown immediate symptoms, speed, impact force, and who had the last clear chance to avoid the crash.

What to preserve right now:

• Dashcam and security video before overwrite, often in 7 to 30 days
• Photos of vehicles, bikes, helmets, airbags, road marks, and visible injuries
• Witness names and phone numbers
• The Bridgeport Police crash report or incident number
• Phone records if distraction may matter
• Any damaged equipment, especially helmets and bike parts

For Connecticut work injuries, written notice usually must be given within 1 year. For most injury lawsuits, the deadline is 2 years. Evidence disappears long before either deadline does.