Dallas Automobile Accident Attorney

What to do if you are involved in an
automobile accident involving an
injury: CALL US NOW for a free initial
consultation with a lawyer / attorney in
the Dallas area on your accident case
to protect your rights!!

1. Try to remain as calm as possible.   Auto accidents are
traumatic events, especially if you are injured.

2. Call the police. Do not accept any excuse for them not
writing a report. I cannot tell you how many times people say
one thing at the accident scene, and then say something else
once they leave the scene. Having the police come and make
a record will help you prove who was at fault in the accident.
Having any complaints of injury documented on the police
report also helps to document the fact that your injury indeed
came from the accident. Dallas area police are sometimes
reluctant to report on accidents, but you need the information
on their reports to protect your rights.

3. Gather witness information. Sometimes witnesses stop
and volunteer their information. Many times, in the Dallas area,
they don't. If there is an injury involved, many times it is difficult
to think about witnesses, but you must protect yourself. Look
around the accident scene, ask for the names, addresses and
phone numbers of people who may have seen or heard the
accident, or the admissions of liability after the accident that
the other drivers may make. If the witness overhears the other
driver admitting they were at fault, that is admissible in court.
Get that person's information so your lawyer can use it to
convince the insurance company to settle your case.

4. Take pictures of the accident scene if possible. Obviously, if
you have suffered an injury, you will very likely be unable to take
pictures. Call a friend, spouse, or relative to come to the scene
as soon as possible to document the positions of the vehicles,
where the debris is located, and the conditions of the vehicles.
Insurance companies deny countless injury claims based on
injured people's inability to prove the severity of the impact. If
you cannot prove that the impact was more than a
fender-bender, the insurance company will attempt to deny
your injury claim based on the argument that "your injury could
not possibly have been caused by such a minimal impact".

In order to collect for an injury, you will need to be able to show
that your injury was "caused" by the accident, and not due to
some "other reason" (such as trying to make a claim, or
blaming a preexisting injury on an accident). Even though
such incidents are rare, the fact that they do sometimes occur
causes insurance companies to closely scrutinize each and
every claim.

5. Gather all insurance information at the scene. At the scene
of an accident, with the police present, most people are
cooperative about giving out this type of information. Once you
leave the scene, your ability to gather this information
decreases. Some people refuse to give this information at all
after you leave the accident scene, which makes getting your
vehicle repaired, and settling any injury claims you may have,
very difficult.

6. If there are injuries, call an ambulance. Just after an
accident, when the adrenaline is pumping, people might not
realize just how serious their injury is. If you, or anyone, is
injured in the accident, EMS should be called to evaluate the
injury and make sure it is not life threatening. People who are
walking around and appearing normal can sometimes have
life-threatening injuries that can and will kill that person if they
don't receive treatment immediately. Internal injuries cannot
be seen. A person may appear perfectly "normal" to you, but if
they are complaining of pain, they need to be diagnosed as
soon as possible.

7. Get your own estimate for the damage to your vehicle. The
insurance companies almost always write the estimate for
less than the actual damage. There are several reasons for
this. First, they would rather be on the low side than the high
side. Second, if you decide to keep the money and not fix the
car, they end up paying less this way. Third, the lower the
amount of damage to the car, the less likely a jury will believe
that someone suffered an injury in an accident. So there are
several incentives for an insurance company to low-ball you on
your estimate.   Be sure and get your own estimate to make
sure you aren't being taken advantage of.