After being involved in a car accident there are a lot of things going through your mind. What hurts? Is anyone else hurt? How much damage was done to my car? What should I do next? Well, these are all valid questions to ask. After calling 911, your next step should be to start gathering information if possible. Your actions start to affect your potential claim as soon as the car accident has occurred.
If, and only if, you determine that you are not too hurt to do so, you should take pictures of the accident to help your claim. If you are too hurt to do so, your claim will not be negatively affected. The pictures only help the claim. A lack of pictures will not alone cause you to lose your claim.
You may wonder why pictures are important. There is an old adage that states, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, this is true in court because pictures tend to help prove or disprove what happened on the scene. The point of bringing a claim is to paint the picture of what happened to determine liability. What better way to paint the picture than through an actual picture you took at the scene, immediately after the accident occurred.
There are a few different things that you should consider taking pictures of while waiting for the police to arrive on the scene, if, and only if, you are not too hurt to do so. Take a picture of the damage to your car. Take a picture of the damage to the other person’s car. If there are track marks or debris left on the road that came from the car accident, photograph each item twice. If there was a witness, photograph the scene of the car accident from the viewpoint of the witness. Take pictures of any traffic control signs leading up to the area where the accident occurred. Photograph every traffic control sign that there is all the way to the accident scene. Finally, take a photograph about 25 feet from the point of impact on the roadway. This will include such items as tire marks and point of impact debris if any.
Do not put yourself in danger trying to get pictures of the accident. Accidents usually happen in the middle of a road, which means you will have to be in the middle of the road to take pictures. Be aware of your surroundings. Look for other drivers who may be driving past the accident, be aware of what color the light is (if your accident occurs at a light) and which direction oncoming traffic will be coming from. If you are in a busy area, do not risk further injury by putting yourself in the way of traffic to get pictures.
Determining the possibility of a successful personal injury claim and how to best proceed is essential for your personal injury case. Most of the legal issues in your potential claim – duty, breach, causation, and damages – will revolve around your specific facts. Without the proper representation, you could possibly be barred from recovering the most possible damages for your injuries. Your Durham Personal Injury Attorneys at Wallace Pierce Law can explain what the possibilities for recovery on your potential claim are and what it means in terms of moving forward with your claim. Call Wallace Pierce Law today at (919) 887-7892 for a free consultation.