Every morning before going to work, while taking out your car, you hope not to become involved in a very inconvenient traffic problem or worse, an accident with other cars or vehicles.
Unfortunately, once you are out on the road, you only have control of your car and not anything else happening in the highway, especially not the other drivers. Thus, accidents, even if you pray hard not to happen, are quite unpredictable.
With this in mind, it also pays that you should know what to do when you indeed become involved in an accident.
If you happen to become involved in a car accident like car collisions or crashes with other vehicles, the details of which somehow found its way into newspaper and television reports, you have to take advantage of this opportunity of having qualified evidence taken by professionals.
Unless you have a degree of liability or fault in the accident, you have all the right to file for car accident claims and recover for the damages you suffer. Thus, you can use these live pieces of evidence to show the damages you have sustained. As we all know, you have to gather as much information as you can regarding the accident. Having this featured on print media and TV is a decided advantage in your favor in order that you gain more information about your accident.
Here is what you can do:
• Scour local and national newspapers and check out if their articles gave a detailed and accurate account of the car collision / crash.
Clip the articles that have details of the incident.
Locate other articles that feature events related to the day you had your car collision accident. You might get some articles that mentioned something about the weather on that day. Check out those articles that came out specifically on the day of your accident. You can also clip some information related to what you think had caused the accident, like road works or construction.
Once you cut out any articles from newspapers, make sure that you do not forget cutting, pasting it together with the date, page, and name of the newspaper. You can also note such information at the top article of the newspaper.
• Pictures are very good evidence. If you failed to take pictures of the scene where the accident occurred, it is a good idea that you find photos of it along with scouring for articles. Furthermore, look out for pictures about the crash.
It is possible that there are accompanying pictures in the articles about the accident. If you do not find anything at all, you might also try contacting the newspaper offices for pictures they have taken but was unable to use.
If it turns out that they do have unpublished photographs, make it a point to request permission to visit their office and pick up some copies.
• Look out for TV coverage of your car accident. Some accidents are quite spectacular for the media that the incident could have major television news or TV traffic report coverage.
If your car collision accident happens to get TV coverage, exert some effort to have it taped. You might be given a new perspective on what happened due to the angle on how the video shot was taken.
These are but some of the valuable and valid information that could immensely help in building up your car collision accident case. Make sure to give copies to your car collision lawyer too.
By: Carla C. Ballatan
Posts Tagged ‘Car Crash’
Noteworthy Pieces of Evidence in Car Collision Accidents
January 12th, 2010Tips on Negotiating a Car Accident Settlement
January 6th, 2010
An experienced Cypress car accident lawyer will tell you that if you’ve been injured in a car accident and want to recover fair compensation for your losses, you must be very shrewd when dealing with insurance companies, particularly the insurance adjuster. But before getting into details, a brief overview of car accidents in Cypress, California may help.
Car Accidents in Cypress Are Alarmingly Tragic
In 2006, the California Highway Patrol’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) showed that four people died and 172 were injured in Cypress car crashes. DUI crashes caused one death and 16 injuries. A total of 20 bicyclists and 12 pedestrians were injured in traffic accidents. Motorcycle collisions killed one and injured nine. In 2007, four car accidents resulted in four fatalities. In 2008, one car crash ended in one death.
Be Detailed and Thorough When Dealing with Insurance Adjusters
Experienced Cypress car accident lawyers will advise you to present the insurance adjuster with documents that detail the full extent of your damages and losses. You’ll then want to ask the adjuster how much the insurance company will pay to repair or replace your vehicle. And how much they will offer to compensate you for your lost wages, as well as the doctor, hospital and other medical bills related to your accident. If your injuries require extended long-term care or rehabilitation, you’ll want to know about compensation for those costs. Finally, you’ll want to know how much they will pay for your pain and suffering.
Why You Should Let the Adjuster Make the Initial Offer
The thing to keep in mind is that insurance adjusters are knowledgeable and very savvy negotiators. They’ll want you to make the initial settlement demand first–in other words, a specific dollar sum. That way, they’re in control. They know that you may very well ask for less than what the adjuster was willing to offer. Cypress car collision lawyers say this is where you play hardball and insist that the adjuster come up with the first offer–one that’s realistic. If he resists, tell him you’re thinking of retaining a lawyer. Once the adjuster commits to an offer, you can counter with your offer. But before doing so, tell the adjuster you’ll need some time to think it over, to consult with a lawyer and other family members. Make him sweat. And always act disappointed (never rude or belligerent) with anything he offers.
By: J. Bisnar
How Car Crash Lawyers Proceed With Liability Determination in Court
December 27th, 2009
When a motorcycle accident case goes to court, the case is judged from different angles and a lot of points are considered before judgment. To prove the negligent conduct of the offender court checks whether the car or truck drivers, motorcycle riders and pedestrians, if any, involved in the accident complied with traffic laws or not. Court decides who was responsible for the accident after checking all the evidences, considering statements of eye witnesses and finally performing a comparative study of fault. At last the compensation amount is computed.
The actions taken in court can be broadly classified under following headings:
Liability determination
Compensating the victims
Liability determination is the process of determining who was responsible for the accident. A lot of drivers and motorcycle riders violate traffic rules while driving. Disobeying traffic rule does not necessarily fetch any penalty, however, if an accident happens because of the driver’s fault OR rush driving results in injury for someone else, the driver is held responsible.
However, the process is not so easy. Most of the time both of the parties involved in the accident are responsible more or less. Hence, a comparative study is carried out to find out each party’s share of responsibility. If both of them violated street laws and traffic rules then who was at bigger fault? A comparative responsibility study answers such questions.
There is no specific rule for conducting comparative liability study as all accident cases are unique in nature. One can hardly find similarities between two motorcycle accidents. That is why a thorough study of the situation is required to carry on the comparative liability study.
Accident vicims in Florida may see Florida lawyers. Competent Fort Lauderdale accident attorneys and personal injury lawyers sketch the plan of action in such a way that establishing the liability clause against the offender becomes easier. Once liability determination is done, the case becomes simpler.
Having liability determination done, personal injury lawyers focus on Compensation Evaluation. The objective is to help the victims get just compensation that satisfactorily fulfills all the requirements of the moment.
Common damages from motorcycle accident are:
Property damage: Motorcycle and vehicles involved in the accidents may get damaged. Valuable possessions may be spoiled or lost during the accident. All these details must be documented properly.
Personal Injuries: Victims or both the parties can be severely injured. Bone fracture, spinal cord injury, brain injury etc. are quite common in motorcycle accident. Victims may become permanently disabled if the accident was too harsh.
Wage Loss: With severe injuries it becomes difficult for the victims to go to work. Therefore reduced income, wage loss and unemployment are inevitable.
Physical and mental stress: Not only the victims, but their family members undergo huge mental pressure and stress because of the whole incident. These damages are counted during compensation evaluation. Florida personal injury lawyer knows how to get these damages counted.
Medical expenses: One needs to spend a lot on treatments after automobile accident. Total amount of expense may depend on the nature of injuries. Amount expended for treatment must be compensated by the guilty party.
Compromised lifestyle: Victims and their dependants are put in a compromised lifestyle physically and financially. This creates huge mental pressure that should be compensated by the offender.
Expert motorcycle accident attorneys present the case in most effective way so that all the damages are considered and counted properly while calculating compensation amount. Should you become victim of motorcycle accident, take help from professional personal injury lawyers to win your compensation claim lawsuit.
By: Markus Skupeika