In 2020, 107,000 large trucks were involved in crashes that resulted in injury. Many of those victims didn’t get the compensation they were entitled to because they didn’t take some vital steps after the accident.
So what exactly do you need to do if you’ve been in a truck accident? This article tells you everything you need to know.
Check for Injuries
The first thing you’ll need to do is to check for injuries. This means establishing whether or not you’re hurt and also checking on any other passengers who were in the vehicle.
In a high-adrenaline situation like a trucking accident, you might not feel like you’ve been injured initially. You’ll need to take care because not every injury will be immediately apparent. Even if you don’t feel like you’re hurt, it still makes sense to get checked out by a doctor.
Get Information
You’ll need to get as much information from people at the trucking accident as possible. The more information you get, the easier it will be for your truck accident attorney to build a case.
You’ll need to get the contact and insurance details for all the drivers involved in the accident. It also makes a lot of sense to obtain contact information for witnesses. Having witnesses who saw the accident can make a big difference in a legal case, so ensure you get them before you miss the opportunity.
Gather Evidence
You’ll also need to gather as much hard evidence as possible from the crash site. This includes things like photos and videos. Thankfully, we all have phones that are more than capable of doing these things.
Not only should you document the damage to your truck, but you should also document things like skid marks on the road. This evidence can be used to recreate what happened at the accident scene.
Report What Happened
You’ll need to contact your insurance company as soon as possible to report what happened. The insurance company will likely want to get a lot of details about what happened, so be prepared to explain things to them and provide evidence.
You might also want to report to law enforcement or the emergency services, depending on the severity of the crash.
Contact a Truck Accident Attorney
If you or a passenger has been injured, you should absolutely contact a truck accident attorney. When choosing a truck accident attorney, look for someone who has a tried and tested reputation for getting accident victims favorable results.
Get a Favorable Outcome After a Truck Accident
If you want to get the best outcome after a truck accident, you’ll need to follow the steps listed here. Perhaps the most important step is to get good legal representation, but you’ll also need to make sure you gather as much evidence as possible at the crash site.
If you want to learn more about some other legal topics, check out the rest of our blog posts.