New York Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Recently, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law important road safety rules that extend red light camera programs across the state. Sometimes the pictures that are taken by these cameras provide crucial evidence after an accident. However, there are also steps you should take, even if you’re stunned by the accident, to protect your rights and make it more feasible for our car accident attorneys in White Plains to obtain compensation on your behalf in a lawsuit.
One of the important things you and any other involved drivers can do is to keep cars or other vehicles in the position they were in after a crash. This helps the police investigate the accident and can have bearing on the opinions of a car accident reconstruction expert about who was at fault. However, when a collision happens on the highway or other location where vehicles are traveling at high speeds, it’s vital to move the vehicle to a shoulder or other safe off-road location than to preserve the scene perfectly.
Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law § 600(1) and your car insurance policy, there are four pieces of information you will need to exchange with other drivers in the accident when you know or should know there was property damage, as a result of the collision. These are: your name, address, proof of insurance, and your license plate number. In such cases, you should also report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Even in an accident where your injuries seem minor, you should permit medical attention. Sometimes injuries may see trivial in the moment, when you are still shocked by the impact, but the symptoms worsen in the days and hours after the crash. You may not wish to take an ambulance to the ER right away, but it is important to go see a doctor as soon as possible after the crash to get checked out. Refusing to cooperate with offered medical attention will be listed on the investigating police officer’s report and could negatively impact your ability to recover damages for your injury-related losses.
Assuming you are able to move around and think clearly after an accident, you should seek names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of witnesses to the accident. You should also note and take photographs of road conditions like the exact location of the collision, skid marks, debris, weather, obstructions, and road signs. It is also crucial to take photographs from all angles of every vehicle involved in the accident. All of these notes and photographs may be evidence in your case, utilized by insurers, as well as, in some cases, juries.
Photographs and notes can also be useful to an accident reconstruction expert, should it become necessary for our lawyers to retain them to assess what happened and the respective fault of the drivers and other parties. If you cannot take these photographs, you should ask someone nearby to take them and send you the photos.
Other evidence our attorneys may need from you is contemporaneous documentation of your injuries, whether notes or photographs at the time of accident, and subsequently; these notes should also include medication and appointments and indicate your pain levels at various points. Your notes should also include what impact those injuries have on what you’re able to do as part of your daily life, such as your ability to take care of your children, do your job, or perform chores around the house.
You should report the accident to your insurer as soon as you can after the accident and cooperate with their investigation.
It is imperative not to talk with the other driver’s insurance representative, who may call you seeking a recorded statement from you while you are not represented. The other driver’s insurance representative doesn’t owe you any sort of duty, the way your own insurer does, and when they make these calls, it’s to find ways to weaken your case. You also should not settle your case or sign a general release related to the other driver.
Call a Trustworthy Personal Injury Attorney
If you suffered injuries in an accident, call seasoned White Plains car accident attorney Mark Siesel. With 35 years of experience, he takes a fearless approach to cases. When a fair settlement is not offered, he will take cases to trial. He represents accident victims in in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, along with Westchester, Putnam, Kings, Orange, Dutchess, Sullivan, Rockland, and Ulster Counties. Contact us at (914) 428-7386 or complete our online form.