Handling Grass Valley Accidents

It can be hard to imagine that you will be involved in a crash while making your daily commute to work, picking up your children, or going to the store to pick up groceries. However, the California Office of Traffic Safety has published data that shows more than 250,000 people are injured annually in collisions across the state. Many people are left confused after being in an accident and aren’t sure of what they should do to keep themselves safe. Furthermore, many car accident survivors don’t know the right steps to take to make sure that they are able to hold reckless drivers or other negligent parties responsible for the damages they have caused. While preventing accidents isn’t always possible, drivers should know beforehand what to do at the scene of an accident.

Staying Safe

Your first priority after being in a crash should always be safety. Check yourself and all vehicle occupants for injuries. If any of you have been seriously injured, call 911 for medical help immediately. After calling, apply relevant first aid if you know how. After making sure that everybody in your vehicle is okay, move to safety as soon as you can. Make sure to turn your hazard lights on so that other vehicles can easily notice you.

If your vehicle is working, pull off to the side of the road or a nearby area that is free of traffic such as a parking lot. Accidents are sometimes made much worse by secondary collisions. If your vehicle is not working, exit the vehicle safely and carefully before going somewhere away from traffic. Set up road flares if you have them to alert others to your presence.

Exchange Information and Collect Evidence

After you have made sure that everyone is safe, take down the address, phone number, driver’s license number, and insurance information of all drivers who were involved in the crash. It’s also smart to note license plate numbers of the vehicles that were involved.

After exchanging this information, you should begin collecting relevant evidence. You should use your phone to take pictures of any injuries that were suffered during the crash as well as damage sustained by your vehicle. You should also make sure that you take pictures of the crash site including photos of the surrounding roadway, road signs, and any tire marks you can see. These kinds of pictures often give investigators important details that may have not been noticed otherwise.

Talk To Witnesses

After collecting photo evidence, try to find any accident witnesses that you can. Take down the contact information, name, and a personal statement about the accident from all witnesses that you speak to. If you can’t find anybody in the immediate area, check nearby homes or businesses to see if anyone inside saw the collision take place. Testimony from accident witnesses can be crucial to your case later on.

Call a Lawyer

The final thing to do after a crash is to contact a Grass Valley personal injury lawyer. Not all cases require the help of an attorney, but most lawyers will give you a free consultation over the phone where you can learn whether or not you have a viable personal injury claim. It’s important that you talk to a lawyer as soon as you can because responsible parties usually begin defending themselves right away. The sooner your attorney can start working on your case, the abler they are to make sure you obtain just payment for your damages.

To get an idea of what to look for in a personal injury lawyer, you can watch this short video:

More by Ed Smith, Grass Valley Personal Injury Lawyer

Grass Valley Personal Injury Lawyers

I’m Ed Smith, a Grass Valley personal injury lawyer. Crashes can be very serious. If a collision has affected you or your family, talk with me for free, friendly advice. You can call me at (800) 404-5400 or (530) 392-9400.

I’ve been helping Grass Valley residents obtain fair payments in wrongful death and personal injury cases since 1982 and have many successful verdicts and settlements.

See what my past clients have written about my practice:

I’m part of the California chapter of Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a nation-wide group for attorneys who’ve resolved a trial case that was valued at one million dollars or more.

I founded the leading website in Northern CA for personal injury and auto accident information, AutoAccident.com.

Handling Grass Valley Accidents: Ed Smith

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Handling Grass Valley Accidents