What Are the Legal Steps to Take After a Car Accident in Corona?

After an accident, the number one priority is always the health and safety of everyone involved. Whatever else you do, and before you follow any of the steps given below, be sure that anyone who's injured is taken care of and an ambulance has been called, if necessary. If anyone is badly injured, don't attempt to move them unless it's necessary to protect them, such as if they are lying in traffic or need to be moved from a car that's on fire.If you yourself are injured, don't attempt to take pictures or gather other evidence if you need to be heading to the hospital! But assuming that your injuries are minor enough that you can wait until after you have talked to the police and dealt with the accident itself, the following are the steps you should take to protect your right to bring a personal injury lawsuit, should that become necessary:

1. Get as Much Evidence As You Can

Pictures are one of the first things you'll want to get here. Use your cell phone to take pictures of the accident scene. Be sure to capture all vehicles and their license plates, all the damage to the vehicles and their placements, any skid marks, and any road obstacles or road conditions that contributed in some way to the accident. If the weather is poor, try to get shots to capture the weather conditions. You should also take photos of your injuries if they can be seen.Another type of evidence you're going to need will be witness statements, if there are any. If there are any individuals who saw the accident, approach them politely and ask if they would be willing to testify to what they saw. Finally, take note of whether there are any video cameras in the area, such as traffic cameras or security cameras on a nearby business. You'll want to tell your lawyer about them so your lawyer can get access to the video and make sure it's saved.Other evidence that you will get later, but which you also need to keep, will include a copy of the police report and all the medical bills related to your injuries from the accident. Your lawyer will use all this evidence to show what happened and exactly what it did to you.

2. Call the Police

Don't let the other party try to convince you to settle the matter privately. You should always call the police and get a report. Even if the other person seems very trustworthy and the damage seems minor, they are a couple of reasons you really want a police report. First of all, no matter how nice the other person is, you don't know what's going to happen once you both drive away. They could deny everything, refuse to communicate with you, or even call YOUR insurance company and try to blame the accident on you.Second, even if the other person is completely genuine in their desire to make things right, neither of you really know what the final damage is going to be until you've taken your vehicles to a mechanic, and you have been to see a doctor. Injuries can be masked by the adrenaline of the moment, and what looks like minor damage to a car can turn out to be extensive frame or engine damage that costs thousands of dollars to fix.

3. Get the Other Driver's Information (And Give Yours)

Be sure to get all the information from the other driver, like their name and insurance information, as well as the make and model of their car. Even if you are completely sure that the other driver is 100% at fault, bear in mind that you must also give all this information to them, too. This is an exchange of information.The only time you should not do this is if the other driver is belligerent or violent. In that case, stay in your car until the police arrive. If you have genuine concerns about your safety, call 911 and follow their instructions.

4. Discuss Facts Only

Whoever you are talking to after an accident – whether that's the other driver, the police, or an insurance company – you should only discuss the facts. Do not accept any blame, or cast any blame, at this time. Don't speculate. After you talk to your lawyer, you can discuss who is at fault.This doesn't mean that you can't be polite, helpful, and honest: you should be all those things. But don't accept any blame for the accident or speculate about what happened.

5. Get Medical Help (and Follow It!)

Even if you feel you were not injured, it's still a good idea to at least visit an urgent care center and tell them you've been in a car accident. This will alert the doctors to look for certain common car accident injuries that sometimes don't manifest with serious symptoms right away. Whiplash, for example, can cause serious pain and neck problems, but it doesn't always create a lot of pain until a few hours after the accident. Adrenaline can also mask pain so much that you may not even have noticed a minor fracture. And even a very serious condition, such as internal bleeding, may not manifest with symptoms right away.Once you have been to see the doctor, it is absolutely vital that you do everything the doctors tell you to do. You must follow their treatment plan to the letter, and you must avoid all activities they tell you to avoid until you are cleared.If you don't do all this, you risk the other party and their insurance company arguing that your injuries are not actually related to the accident, are not as bad as you claim, or that you are making them worse by your behavior. All of this could make it more difficult for you to get the compensation you are owed for your damages and losses after an accident.

6. Contact a Personal Injury Attorney in Corona

Finally, you should contact a personal injury attorney in Corona as soon as possible after the accident. You want to do this quickly, so that the attorney can get to work investigating the accident and definitively showing who is at fault. Your attorney will also negotiate on your behalf and protect you from attempts by the insurance company to get you to say things that would undermine your case or sign settlements that are not in your best interests.If you've been in an accident, contact us today at Cesar Ornelas Injury Law in Corona for a free consultation. We also serve San Antonio, El Paso, Dallas, Midland, Odessa, Laredo, Hobbs, Corona, and Atlanta.