Building Your Case After an Accident

Some of the following tips are obvious and take place all the time, but it is important to make sure that this process is followed. Once you talk with your attorney, there will be many things he or she will ask you to do to help him or her prepare first for the offer of settlement and then for trial later on. Right after the accident, and even before you hire your attorney, you should take the following steps.

1. Go to www.mapquest.com or www.maps.google.com and print an overview of the intersection or location on the highway where the accident took place. Do a close-up so you can then insert your motor vehicle and any other motor vehicle involved in the accident. The purpose is to show this to your attorney on the first visit so he or she can have an immediate understanding of who was driving where before the accident and at the point of impact. This will also help you remember what happened. You need to be accurate, your attorney needs to have the true facts.

2. Pick up a copy of the accident report as soon as possible. Most attorneys can get them right away as well, but just in case, take a copy of the accident report to your attorney.

3. If you have a camera or if your cell phone takes photographs, take immediate photographs of the damage to each motor vehicle and zoom out to show the location. If there are any tire marks or scrape marks on the highway from either vehicle, take a good photograph of them as well.

4. If you are clearly in the right, talk to any witnesses that may or may not be around when the police get there, and get their name and phone number, particularly if their testimony will be helpful.

5. If the other party says anything to you while you are waiting for the police, remember what he or she said and write it down afterwards to help refresh your memory later on. Comments by the other party, many times, help prove fault. If your motor vehicle is not to be used conveniently for work or pleasure after the accident, do not drive it anymore. In cases where there is a significant injury, it is important for your attorney to arrange for a download of the black box (EDR) in order to determine the speed of your vehicle, location of braking power, etc.

6. If the accident occurred at an intersection where the dispute may be whether you had a red light or a green light, then while you are waiting, count the seconds for a typical red light, yellow light and green light. Your attorney can then later get the engineering designs for the lights at that intersection, but it is good for you to have that information ahead of time.

This is a short list of things to do. Follow your best instincts for other items, and make sure to talk to an attorney if you or anyone else involved was injured. It's important to make sure your legal rights are protected.