One of the most valuable tools of a car accident lawyer in building a case on behalf of a victim is a reliable witness.
If you observe an accident in Florida, you can be of tremendous assistance, even if you do not know first aid and even if a police officer is already on the scene. How?
- Stick around. Too often, Good Samaritans walk away after emergency professionals arrive, assuming that they will just be in the way. Instead, stay near, not only to provide your contact info to the police or the victim but to gather and report valuable information as a witness.
- Make a written record. Write down precisely what you saw and what you think happened, based on your observation. Even if you are not sure who to give the information to, or if the officer does not seem interested in your observations, these notes may be useful later to the victim, the police, or the car accident lawyers.
- Take pictures or video. With most mobile phones having built-in cameras or video recording features, it is often easy to capture images from the incident that will help verify the facts later. Capture shots of any related property damage, road marks, vehicle damage, road conditions, broken glass, contributing conditions of the location, and the injured victims. This evidence will not be there as time passes, or the condition of the evidence may have changed by the time the victim’s car accident lawyer becomes involved.
- No pen or paper? Make a call. To make an immediate record of what you saw when but writing down the facts is not possible, call your mobile number or home number from your cell phone to dictate a message to yourself, speaking what you would otherwise have written.
- Write out other pertinent info. After an accident, with so much going on, a good witness can help by getting as much of this critical information as possible:
- Names and addresses of the roads involved and any distinguishing landmarks
- The names of drivers involved
- The name and officer number of any police working the scene
- The official accident report number
- Information about the vehicles involved, such as license plate numbers, make, model, year, and a general description of each car’s damage
- The physical condition of those involved
- An audio, video, or written record from other witnesses or from those involved
A witness who captures this information may be critical for the victim’s West Palm Beach auto accident lawyer and may become pivotal in helping the car accident lawyers make sure that the victims receive sufficient financial recovery from the event and, if their injuries are permanent, enough resources to live out a much better life.
Related legal information: