What Your Future Car Accident Attorney Wants You To Do And Not Do After An Accident
Automobile accidents typically happen very quickly, making accident scenes very chaotic. For this reason, many motorists involved in car accidents find their adrenaline takes over, and after everything is said and done, there are things they wish they had and had not done at the accident scene.
The best way to keep your head clear and take the right actions on an automobile accident scene is to have enough information about what you should and should not do ahead of time.
To this end, here is what your future car accident attorney wants you to know:
Always Tend to Others' Injuries if You Are Able
If you are able and it is safe, you should make every attempt to help any injured accident victims while waiting for an ambulance to arrive on the scene.
If you are concerned about being sued over the assistance you offer, most states have good samaritan laws which prevent this.
Doing everything you can for those at an accident scene is always advisable. The assistance you render may be the difference between someone living to make it to the hospital or dying on the accident scene. Don't let the fear of a future lawsuit prevent you from rendering medical aid.
Strongly Advocate for a Police Report for Injury or Property Damage Accidents
Many law enforcement departments today are underfunded and have a policy not to respond to non-injury or minor automobile accidents. However, this can be problematic if you later discover that you have an injury from the accident or significant property damage. You may find your insurance company doesn't want to pay to fix your vehicle if you don't have an adequate police report.
For this reason, if your vehicle is damaged, or you believe anyone could be injured, strongly advocate for a police officer to respond to the accident and write a report. Usually, an officer will respond if you are polite and willing to wait around.
Never Admit Fault Even if the Accident was Your Fault
Even if it is blatantly apparent that the accident was your fault, the worst thing you can do is walk around the accident site apologizing to people and admitting it was your fault.
If you do this, you can be guaranteed that it will count against you in court.
And ultimately, you don't know that you're at fault. Perhaps there was oil on the roadway from a truck accident earlier in the day — you don't know!
And since you don't know, you need to stay quiet. Let the police department and the courts figure out who is at fault and who needs to pay for what without prematurely laying the blame on yourself.
For help with your case, contact a car accident injury lawyer in your area.
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