Practice Areas
Yes. You can go to the website of the local law enforcement agency that responded to your accident and look up their policy on providing police reports. They may be available online for a small fee. Occasionally some smaller law enforcement agencies require in-person pickup, but this doesn’t happen too often. If it does, you can also get a car accident report online from BuyCrash.com.
If you or a loved one have been in a car accident and are trying to figure out your next steps, obtaining a copy of your police report is very helpful. But so is speaking with an experienced car accident lawyer. Attorney Ali Awad grew a small law practice into the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, one of the fastest-growing firms in the country, in just a few years. He also posts about legal issues to more than a million followers on social media. The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is always happy to offer a free, no-obligation consultation about your car accident claim.
What Else Should You Do After Your Car Accident?
You may be confused and disoriented after an auto accident, and it is hard to know what to do. Right after the accident you should call 911 to report it and request an ambulance if anyone is hurt. It’s a good idea to let the paramedics check you out, even if you feel fine. Sometimes people are hurt but their pain and other symptoms don’t show up right away. This can happen due to stress or an adrenaline rush from the accident, or because injuries can hurt more once the body has a chance to respond and try to heal them.
If your car is still in the roadway and is driveable, you should try to get it out of the road to prevent further accidents. If not, put your flashers on and look out for approaching vehicles. While waiting for the police to arrive, you can take pictures of the accident scene. You might also talk to the other driver, if you’re able to get up and walk over to the other car. Try to exchange contact and insurance information.
It’s also helpful to make note of any witnesses. If you can, get their names and contact info as well. When that isn’t possible, you can write down a description of them. Where time allows, also write down everything you recall about the accident, as soon as possible. This may be helpful later.
What if My Police Report Doesn’t Assign Blame in the Accident?
This is not unusual. It’s often difficult for law enforcement to determine who was at fault after a crash, because they may be pressed for time, and have other accident scenes to attend. Sometimes the only evidence is two drivers telling their side of the story. Witnesses may not be present, even if they were there when the crash happened. If the police see no immediate evidence that anyone broke a traffic law, they may not issue a citation or assign fault in the police report. Instead, they will write down the facts of the case, including what each party said, where the accident occurred, what damage happened, etc.
How does this affect your case? It depends on the specific situation, but in many instances, we are still able to recover compensation from the other driver’s insurance company. We will start by conducting our own investigation. Our law firm’s investigators have the time and resources to investigate more thoroughly. We look at all available electronic data, from smartphone records to data from the car itself. Additionally, we request footage from traffic cameras in the area where the accident occurred. If there were no traffic cameras, we check around the neighborhood to see if anyone had a doorbell camera that might have captured the crash. At the same time, we look for additional witnesses who might have left the scene before the police arrived. Frequently, we are able to find more evidence to support the client’s case. If you’re concerned because your police report doesn’t assign blame, the best thing you can do is to contact a Georgia car accident lawyer right away.
What Should I Tell the Insurance Company?
Tell them that you will call them back. You should seek legal advice before having a conversation with the other party’s insurance carrier. This is important for several reasons:
- Georgia is a comparative fault state for car accidents. That means that you can still collect compensation from the other party’s insurance if you contributed to the accident, but only if you were less than 50 percent at fault. As a result, if the insurance company can make a case that you were more than half responsible, they don’t have to pay anything on your claim. Even if you were less than 50 percent at fault, your award will ultimately be reduced by whatever percentage of fault you’re found to have. That means that it’s in the insurance carrier’s best interest to claim you caused the accident. We’ve even met people who were convinced they were all or mostly responsible after talking to the insurance agent – and they were wrong.
- Even if you’re sure you weren’t at fault, the insurance adjuster will likely ask you a lot of questions, and every one you answer increases the possibility that they will twist your words into an admission of fault you never made. We’ve seen this happen, too – the client thinks they made it clear the other driver was at fault, and the insurance company interpreted their words very differently.
- Ironically, another issue is that the insurance adjuster might accept that their client is to blame, and make you an offer right away. Why is that a problem? Because their first offer is frequently too low for the client’s damages. Your attorney will go over all your expenses and the possible damages in your case, so you can see what a reasonable offer would be. It’s also important to take future healthcare costs into consideration if you have ongoing difficulties from the accident. Additionally, your lawyer will be skilled in insurance law and able to negotiate with the insurance carrier to get you the compensation you need.
Call the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm
If you or a loved one have been injured in a car accident caused by another driver’s negligence, you need to act quickly to protect your legal rights. Please don’t hesitate to contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation. There’s no need to worry about up-front costs – if we take your case, you won’t owe us anything until we win.