Boston Injury Attorney Blog
If you’re lucky, you’ll never have to deal with the headache of being involved in a car accident. Unfortunately, most of us will be involved in a collision at some point in our lives. Statistics show that over the course of a typical long, driving lifetime, you should have a total of three to four accidents. When you are involved in an accident there are numerous problems that arise. First, and foremost, are any of the people involved hurt? Even low impact collisions can cause injuries, including injuries you don’t feel immediately after the accident. Here are a few tips on what to do if you’re involved in a car accident.
If either driver feels they’ve been injured or there is any vehicle damage, call the police. Calling the police doesn’t necessarily mean one of the drivers will get a ticket or arrested, but it does ensure that there will be documentation of what happened including the identity of all persons involved and any witnesses. A police report can be a vital piece of information if a dispute about the collision arises.
The police officer that responds will be gathering as much information about the collision as he or she can, but this doesn’t mean you can’t collect your own too. If you have a smart phone take pictures and take notes. Pictures of injuries to yourself, vehicle damage, license plate numbers, skid marks, traffic signals and mile markers on the road, are all valuable pieces of evidence to preserve. You don’t have to be exhaustive, just get what you believe to be the important evidence. If you do end up in an insurance dispute or lawsuit, contemporaneous pictures and notes could help you against the other driver when often times collisions are not witnessed and the case becomes one of “he said versus she said.”