Car Accidents

Car accidents happen. When people get into car accidents, many things seem to happen all at once. There is shock, adrenaline rush and potential harm to yourself or someone else. After the initial disorientation, you'll soon realize that you've been thrown neck deep in the middle of a crisis.

You or someone else may be hurt. There may also be the potential for further injuries if action is not taken. You may have to flee or pull someone to safety. You may have to save yourself or a loved one from further injuries or even death.
One of the most important aspects of being in a car accident is to first attend to the crisis at hand. Call the police or 911 where available. Attend to the injured. Attend to yourself if you are injured or seek help. Once you become oriented and things calm down somewhat, there are some matters that you need to attend to just in case you would like to pursue future legal matters.

To many this will sound distasteful as it smacks of how litigious our society has become. But, preparing for a potential future lawsuit is not the same as a blatant, merit-less money grab. Your car accident may mean that you or your loved one is out of work for an extended time and there are bills to pay and a family to feed and many needs that will require your attention. Hospital bills can be enormous especially for the uninsured or underinsured. In sum, the crisis of the car accident may be over with, but a bigger and longer lasting crisis may just be starting and that is the recovery process, which means physical, emotional and financial.

If you're involved in a car accident, you don't have to think about hiring an auto accident attorney right away as this can come later. It will be prudent, however, to gather all the information that you can about the accident so that in case you'd like to hire an auto accident attorney later, or even negotiate with the insurance companies yourself, you will have information and documentation to help you with your claim.

Some of the information that can be gathered at the scene of the accident once everyone is out of danger and medical and police personnel have been called include:

* Names, addresses, phone numbers and driver's licenses of all the drivers involved
* Names, addresses and phone numbers of everyone else (passengers and pedestrians) involved
* Those who reported personal injuries right after the accident
* Those who received medical attention on the scene or who were taken from the scene for medical attention
* Did anyone appear to be under the influence of drugs or alchol and were there other witnesses to this behavior
* Location of the accident
* Names, addresses and phone numbers of witnesses to the accident
* Write down how you think the car accident happened, such as which directions the vehicles were traveling, what time of day and weather conditions
* Was there any damage to the vehicles and if so which vehicles, how much and did any of the vehicles need to be towe
* If you have a camera or video camera take photos to document the scene of the acciden
* Did anyone say they were responsible for the accident or did anyone state they may have been partially at fault and if so, who
* Did the police come, issue a ticket and what are the names of the police officers involved