One of the tips that an Indianapolis car accident lawyer will give you about car accidents is to obtain contact information for witnesses who stop immediately after you have been involved in an accident. You should do this regardless of whether you realize you are injured or not. Unfortunately, many people do not realize why this is so important, and how it can be extremely beneficial to them if they need to file a personal injury lawsuit down the road. Here are a few of the questions you may have about witnesses and car accidents.
Table of Contents
What Type of Information Should You Obtain From a Witness After a Car Accident?
After a car accident happens, you may have a lot going on in your head. One of the thoughts that you should have is to obtain information from witnesses who saw the accident and pulled over to help. You should not try to get a statement from a witness at this point in time. Instead, you should simply obtain the contact information for these witnesses. You want to get their full name, address, phone number, email, and employer information. This gives you different ways to reach the party if you or an attorney need to talk to them in the future.
Why Is It Important to Obtain Witness Information After a Crash?
It is important to act quickly and obtain witnesses’ information after a car accident happens. This is because witnesses typically do not stick around long after an accident. Once a witness ensures that everyone at the accident scene is fine, they usually leave the accident, allowing you to obtain insurance information from the other driver. Unfortunately though, once they leave, it can be hard to ever find that witness again. Obtaining their information then and there helps to ensure you have it just in case you ever need it again.
Will a Car Accident Lawyer Talk to Witnesses Who Saw the Accident Happen?
If you have sustained injuries in a car accident, you may hire a car accident lawyer to help with your personal injury case. When that happens, you should always provide the lawyer with any witness information you may have. If fault for the accident is disputed, there is a strong possibility that your lawyer will depose the witness and obtain their statement. The lawyer will find out what the witness has to say, and find out if their statement can be beneficial to your case.
How Can a Witness Affect Your Car Accident Case?
Witnesses statements become vital if fault is disputed in a car accident case. If you and the other driver disagree as to why the accident happened and who is to blame, witnesses can shed light on what happened. In order to recover money in a personal injury case, you have to be able to prove the other driver had some fault in the accident. Witness statements are one of the types of evidence that can help to prove fault, ultimately helping you to recover money after a car accident.
If you wind up with injuries following a car accident attorney, the information that witnesses provide can be important to showing how and why an accident happened. In turn, this puts a car accident lawyer in the best possible position to win an injury case and recover the maximum amount of money on your behalf. This is why it is so important to obtain witness contact information as soon as a car accident happens.
