Being involved in a motor vehicle accident is always frightening, even if the collision is minor. When the crash involves a truck, the situation is quite terrifying. What you do right after the crash is very important since it will influence the outcome of the potential injury claim. If you leave the scene of the accident, even when the only problem is property damage, you might be faced with a very serious criminal offense.
Call The Police
To put things as simple as possible, right after the truck accident, you need to contact the police. Then, you have to wait until officers arrive at the scene. This helps you because it respects the law and it also gives you the huge advantage of telling the officer what you think happened. Also, it will make it much easier to exchange information.
In so many cases, the officer just speaks with the driver of the truck. You mentioning facts will not be included in the official police report. You have to make sure this does not happen.
Get Medical Help
Whenever injured, you need fast medical attention. This is important due to several different reasons. For starters, we are talking about your health. You never know if you are actually injured even if you feel you are not. For instance, with whiplash, symptoms can appear days or weeks after the collision.
Getting checked out by a medical professional is also important since you will receive medical documents to prove what happened to you. Remember that if you decide to file a personal injury claim, it is up to you to offer evidence of what you say happened.
Contact An Attorney
Your priority should be to get treated if injured but the next thing you need to consider, in the event that you did not cause the crash, is to contact a truck accident attorney at Hensley Legal Group or another highly reputable injury law firm. The reason for this is very simple.
Truck accident injury claims are very complex. There can be several parties involved and there is a very big possibility insurance companies will get involved fast so they pay the least amount possible. Without the help of the truck accident attorney, there is a pretty good chance someone will take advantage of your lack of legal knowledge.
Another thing that should be highlighted is that truck accident attorneys use their own investigators. This helps them get the information needed to prove what happens from event data recorders and black boxes. Such data might be very difficult to get when you try to do it alone by contacting the trucking company. The data in these devices is very often the only real evidence you need to win the case.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, right after a truck accident, the very important thing is to get the medical help you need. Then, you should look for an experienced truck accident lawyer to hire for the future injury claim. Do not do something else since the outcomes will not be good for you.
