Car Crash: Wasn’t Your Fault? Prove It!
Posted by admin at 18 August 2021, at 09 : 04 AM
None of us ever want to be involved in a car crash, but none of us have a choice. We can take care of our car, make sure we are responsible behind the wheel and be super cautious. But we can’t have his eyes in the back of our head. Even if you are a good driver, you have great skills and awareness, you just can’t avoid stupid sometimes. The greatest danger posed to you, isn’t yourself, your car or some kind of weather event. It’s the cars that you share the tarmac with. So when you are involved in a car crash, how do you prove it wasn’t your fault if it truly wasn’t?! Here are some things you can do and prepare for, so you are never caught in a horrible situation where you are being blamed for hurting or killing another driver who was at fault.
Be quick to snap
Now what we mean by that is, to get out your smartphone and start snapping. We don’t mean you should fly off the handle and just vent your frustration on the other driver. You need to be extremely quick and take photos of the crash. You don’t even have to talk to the other driver if they seem fine. You must however, first check up on them if they don’t appear to be moving. Once they are seen to be fine, call the emergency services. Then you can begin taking photos. Here is what you look out for.
* The marks on the road tell a lot. If there are skid marks on the road, it can show the other car trying to slow down before they hit you, or perhaps, the direction of travel. So if you were going east and the car hitting you was traveling south, the marks left by the tires, metal and glass on the road, can show the story.
* Then you should take photos of your car, the damage and the inside. Sometimes impacts are a little odd. Your car’s rear end might be smashed but the airbags didn’t go off. If this is the case, the other driver can say that it wasn’t a major impact because the airbags didn’t go off; i.e. the pressure at the driver’s side was not harmful enough to cause serious injury.
* Next you need to take photos of their car. Even if they attempt to block you and kick up a fuss, make sure you are taking photos of their car. Get the impact zone, the damage inside the car and pieces of the car left on the road. You’re trying to build a story of what happened and as few gaps you have to fill in with words yourself, the better.
* Finally, take photos of where you are on the road, the location, any traffic lights, road markings and traffic you were driving in.
Record if you can
Aside from photos, you should try to record what happened immediately after the crash. One of the reasons for this is, the other driver might be acting obnoxiously, they might admit they were wrong and you may also be lucky enough to get eye witnesses on camera. They could be captured on camera, saying things like ‘oh yeah, it wasn’t your fault, I saw it all’ or perhaps blame the other driver openly for causing the crash.
Any audio and visual evidence you can capture the better and better it gets for you. This evidence will be used against them in court or when it comes to insurance claims. You can also give this evidence to your own insurance company and they would be more likely to take care of everything for you.
This evidence is also going to become invaluable when it comes to health insurance claims. It’s horrible to think, the driver who caused the crash could bill you for their medications for the rest of their life. If they suffer from chronic pain after the crash they caused, unfortunately, that is something that they have to accept responsibility for, not you.
When it becomes serious
Okay, we all hope we never have to go through something like this, but when someone has died in a crash you are involved in, that’s when it gets serious. It’s your duty to give a police report although you don’t have to by law unless compelled to. If you don’t give it of your own free will, this kind of gives the other party’s family or friends, to push forward with a lawsuit. So before you are thrust into such a case, know-how police reports for car accidents work. This legal team can fill you in on the details as they deal with serious cases of this kind and help clients to beat cases put against them.
So what is included in a police report for a vehicle accident?
It will include the time of the accident. As accurately as you can, remember what the exact time was when you were hit by the other driver. The police will eventually pull footage from cameras at the location and if they can see your accident, they will know the exact time. So don’t lie, don’t try to guess the time, if you don’t remember just say you don’t remember.
* The report will also include damage to your vehicle and the other party’s vehicle.
* It will include injuries, type, severity, location, etc. Again, having photos of your injuries is vital.
* It may also include witness testimony.
* It could also include the general description of the accident at the scene, in terms of size of the crash, distance traveled after impact, damage to public and private property.
As you can see there is a theme running through this. You need to gather as much evidence yourself. Use your phone to take photos and video, work with witnesses, be honest and fully compliant with the police and be ready for some type of lawsuit against you.