After a truck accident, there are a few things you can do to make sure your injuries and other losses get addressed properly.
- Assess the damage
Ensure you check yourself and anyone else involved in the accident for injuries. If your injures prevent you from making a phone call, ask someone uninjured to make the call for you. Even if nobody has any obvious signs of injury after the crash with a large truck, all parties involved must seek medical attention.
- Get the truck driver’s information
If the truck driver is present at the scene, make sure you get their name, contact information, and insurance provider. If the driver flees the scene, this information should be available in the truck, so you should try to get as much information as possible to help authorities track down that person later.
- Get witness information
If other people were present at the crash, ask them for their contact information so you can follow up with them later if necessary to find out what they saw. Witnesses can be essential in cases where the truck driver attempts to give an inaccurate account of the crash, so be sure to document their information well.
- Document damages
As soon as you can do so, try to take photos of any damage done both to the vehicles involved in the accident and any property that was damaged. These photos can help you later when trying to get your losses documented, so be sure they are clear, focused photos showing all sides of each item.
- Get medical care
Even though it might seem like the last thing you want to do after getting in a truck accident, seeing a doctor can prevent further injuries and give you peace of mind.
Truck accidents often involve serious injuries even if the trucker wasn’t at fault. Your best bet is to seek medical attention whether or not you feel like you’re badly hurt because that way, your doctor will be able to document your damages and injuries to the fullest extent possible.
- Gather evidence
After getting yourself medical attention, you should seek evidence that might be useful in your case against the truck driver and their insurance company. Things like police reports indicating where the accident happened, and photos of the scene taken by law enforcement can be very important in a personal injury case. You can also write down everything you remember about the accident if your memory gets fuzzy later on.
- Contact a lawyer
If the other party’s insurance company contacts you to talk about your injuries, take all this information and discuss it with a personal injury attorney before making any agreements or accepting any payments from the insurance company. The trucker’s insurance provider will want to get you to settle your injury case for as little money as possible, so you mustn’t take this offer right away.
Conclusion
After a truck accident, it’s important to document your injuries and losses as thoroughly as possible so you can get the most out of your injury case. Even if you don’t think that your injuries are bad enough to justify hiring a lawyer, it never hurts to see what an attorney has to say about your situation before accepting any offers from the truck driver’s insurance company.
