While there are many ways that a person can get injured, motor vehicle accidents are common issues that can result in serious injuries. If your loved one was involved in a motorcycle, truck, or automobile accident, and the accident was someone else’s fault, the at fault party may be liable for any injuries that your loved one sustained. If this is the case, your family should try to preserve evidence from the accident, which can be used if you decide to file a personal injury claim. Of course it is important to get your loved one medical attention as soon as possible after an accident, but preserving evidence is another important step in making sure that your loved one gets justice for what they went through. On this page, I will discuss a few important steps in preserving evidence from a motor vehicle accident.
Why Preserve Evidence?
Unfortunately, recovering damages for an accident is not as simple as explaining the accident. Under the law, your family will have to prove that an accident occurred, that it directly caused your loved one’s injuries, and that someone else was responsible for the accident.
After a motor vehicle accident, an accident reconstruction expert will try to recreate what happened. This person’s findings can be used in a personal injury claim. They can determine factors that led to the accident, such as how fast the vehicles were traveling. The vehicles themselves can also hold answers, such as if an accident was caused by an error in the vehicle (faulty brakes, engine failure, airbag issues, etc.)
All of these factors can determine what really happened during the accident, and who is really at fault.
How to Preserve the Evidence
Preserving evidence after a motor vehicle accident is a fairly simple process, but it should be done as soon as possible. Making sure that both vehicles involved in the crash can be properly investigated will help in establishing what happened. This will ensure that evidence is not destroyed or lost.
In order to preserve the evidence, you need to locate the vehicles and make sure that they are properly inspected. Contact the police, the towing company, or whoever is in possession of the vehicles. You should also contact both insurance companies and inform them of the accident.
If a towing company took one or both cars, contact them as soon as possible. This will ensure that the company does not send a totaled car to a junkyard or to be crushed.
You should send preservation letters to the parties involved to make sure that the vehicles are not tampered with before they can be properly inspected.
Even if you have to pay moving fees or salvage fees, you should do this if your loved one was involved in a serious accident. Inspection of these vehicles can have a significant impact on traumatic brain injury cases or spinal cord injury cases.
In addition to preserving the vehicles as evidence, you should make sure to preserve anything at the scene of the accident. That might include vehicle parts that broke off in the class, broken glass, road debris, and more. Make sure to document and preserve this evidence, since it can be used in a personal injury case.
Getting Help
It is oftentimes not enough for you to go out to the scene of the accident, snap a couple of photographs, and use this as evidence. To make sure that you properly preserve evidence, you should contact a personal injury lawyer for assistance. Such a lawyer will know how to properly preserve all evidence and make sure that no evidence is lost or destroyed in the shuffle. For assistance preserving evidence after a motor vehicle accident, you can contact my office.
