If you’ve been involved in a truck accident in Virginia, you need to take care of your medical needs first. However, you need to understand that the trucking company will likely have a large contingent of personal injury lawyers ready to protect their client. Contacting a personal injury attorney that specializes in commercial truck accident cases will help keep the playing field and the scales of justice even and level.
If you’ve been involved in a crash with a commercial truck, you can help protect your rights after the accident by remembering a few simple things:
Take Note: Make a mental and physical note of the road conditions. Was it raining on the day of your truck accident? Was it foggy? Icy? Was there debris in the road? Take note of the skid marks and any gouges in the roadway. Make a note of your surroundings as well.
Take Pictures: It’s always a good idea to carry a camera with you and take pictures of the accident scene. Remember, the commercial truck involved in the crash will definitely be sending their investigators to take photos. If there was any property damage, take a picture or write down what you see while it’s still fresh in your mind. If you cannot, ask any uninjured passengers to assist you.
Take Names: If there were any witnesses to your crash it’s important to take down their names and any contact information before the accident is cleared. Their shared and varied viewpoints will help give a better overview of the truck accident.
Take a Minute: You may want to send your car to the repair shop right away. The commercial truck company would like nothing better. Sending your car to be repaired may destroy critical evidence need to support you in a personal injury case. You’ll want to speak with an attorney who specializes in commercial truck and vehicle crashes about what to do next. In some cases, your personal injury attorney may want to store your vehicle until a later date.
We specialize in representing people injured by truck accidents and have a thorough understanding of the applicable state and federal laws and the federal regulations governing the truck industry. You can find the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations; rules-regulations.htm.
A review of these regulations shows why prompt investigation of large truck accidents is crucial to winning truck accident cases. You can count on the fact that soon after the dust from the crash settles the trucking company or truck company insurer will send its investigator to the crash scene to interview witnesses and collect forensic evidence found in the road, captured by the truck’s data recording systems, or entered in the driver’s logs. Unfortunately, the federal regulations require the truck company to retain some of this crucial information for only six months. That is why fast action on your behalf is necessary. The sooner you contact the Law Offices of Michael G. Phelan, P.C., the sooner we can send our trained investigators and experts to investigate the accident, and the sooner we can take steps to preserve the evidence in the possession of the trucking company.