Mistakes To Avoid After a Pedestrian Accident

Answer:

We talked to someone recently who’d been injured in a pedestrian accident case, and unfortunately, they made some mistakes that we see a lot of people make in this situation. For one, this person didn’t gather all the evidence that they could there from the scene. It’s important to make sure that you collect all the evidence that you can, you take photographs, that you collect witness statements or at least contact information right away there at the scene, or if you’re not in a position to do that that you hire an attorney right away that can do that for you. The more time that goes by, the more evidence is lost. Things change, and witnesses forget what they saw or change the story from what they told you there at the scene, so you want to make sure that you gather the evidence right away.

Another common mistake is that they don’t go get the treatment that they need. People will oftentimes wait to get treatment thinking that they’ll get better from their injuries, and they won’t need to go to the doctor, and then two, three, four weeks down the road, they’re still having problems. It’s important to get in to see your doctor right away so that you can make sure you’re getting the treatment that you need and get started on that treatment right away and also to make sure that your injuries are well-documented. If you wait too long to go to the doctor, the insurance carrier will use that delay in getting treatment as an excuse to delay or maybe deny your case entirely.

Another mistake people make is that they will give statements to the insurance company without the assistance of an attorney. That’s a huge mistake. You do not want to give a statement to the insurance carrier. The insurance carrier’s sole focus in obtaining a statement from you is to gather evidence that will help them delay or deny your claim. Even though you feel like you’re going to tell the truth, what harm could there be in talking to the insurance carrier, the insurance carrier is skilled at getting information, asking questions in a certain way, maybe asking the questions in a certain order that will be detrimental to your case.

Probably one of the biggest, most common mistakes we see is people hire the wrong attorney to represent them. You want to make sure that you have an attorney that understands this area of the law, that has experience and success in handling these types of cases and is willing to take your case to trial if that’s what’s necessary to get the best recovery for you. Don’t make these common mistakes. Hire an attorney early and quickly and hire the right attorney. If you have any questions about hiring an attorney or any other aspects of your pedestrian accident claim, give us a call. We’d be happy to talk to you about it.