Accident Issues? Get Instant Legal Help

Accident

No one wants to face an accident or become an accident victim. Even after enough efforts to Accident Avoidance and accident prevention, most of us, at some point in our lives, face accident injury. Whether you are a victim or a witness of an accident, you should not keep quite. One must claim for accident compensation. An accident attorney can provide the best legal help and accident advice in getting you accident injury claims and assert your rights.

There are different aspects of an accident. You can be the victim in the accident, your relative, a friend could be a victim, or you can be the witness of an accident. In all the cases, one must take necessary steps to protect ones legal rights and get accident compensation. Law on accidents has different provisions that safeguard the interests of the sufferers in accidents.

Steps to be taken when an accident occur

In case you are a victim of an accident, there are chances that you can have accident injuries. You don’t have to feel helpless. When you experience or witness an accident, fill up an Accident report form. Recent accidents records suggest the accidents rates in the recent years have gone up.

Get medical help from a doctor. Tell the doctor clearly if you have any headache, loss of memory, blood in your ear or nose, disorientation, nausea or other physical and mental disorders. There are cases in which many people had severe internal injury but unknowingly they don’t reveal to the doctors which result in serious problems in the long run. The most common injury because of accident is Brain Injury. After the medical attention has been given, you should sue the accused driver or the one responsible for the accident.

You should take help from an accident lawyer. It is always a wise option to seek help of an accident attorney for accident settlement issues. An expert accident attorney can guide you and assist you in filing an accident lawsuit. Many accident law firms provide assistance in getting you accident compensation for any type accident.

In case you are a witness, the first thing that you should to do is inform the accident investigators and call the ambulance for the accident victim. Do work together with the accessible authorities who come to the scene. Take precautions to safe guard your vehicle from any other loss. Consider moving it out of the traffic. Further try to record every thing what every possible on the scene. Your notes should carry the details of accident, recognition of the autos and people available, and the names and badge numbers of all urgent situation personnel. Take pictures in case possible. Insist on breath tests if you suspect it is a case of drunk driving.

If your family member or your near one is the accident victim, then your responsibilities increase. Your first priority is to give the accident victim the right medical care at the right time. When a person is injured, we should never delay in giving medical care. Once the medical care is given, then you should put a legal action to the accused driver. For this, you have to gather some information about the other driver, which includes the driver’s name, address, driver’s license number and accident insurance information. Besides this, you should try gathering information about the witnesses of the accident. Know the condition of the road where the accident occurred.

If you are a witness of an accident, do not run away from the scene. Instead, try to help in some or the other way especially if the accident results into some kind of injury. Stay at the scene until police arrive and do the investigation. Fill up an accident report form to report the accident. Leave only when you have been told to leave.

Accident Settlement

Automobile accidents, personal injury accidents, slip and fall incidents, bike accident, bus accident, train accident, airplane accident, sea world accident, school bus accident, accident at work and industrial accidents occur every day. Those accidents that result in personal injury or property damage often end up in court as a lawsuit, and accident settlements can run from a few thousand dollars to millions of dollars.

The purpose of an accident settlement is to compensate the victim for his or her pain and suffering, to replace property damaged in the accident, and to cover medical expenses, lost wages, physical therapy and other services. While victims wait for accident settlements to be reached, many take advantage of funding companies to receive a accident lawsuit cash advance against the accident settlement.

Hit and Run Accident

1. An altercation with the “suspect” may result in far more serious problems.
2. If at all possible, get the license plate number of the vehicle.
3. Call 911 immediately. Provide the police with as much accident information as you can about the other driver. Make, model, color of car, physical description of the driver if you are able to see them, and most importantly, the direction they are traveling. The police may issue a notice to nearby towns to pursue the suspect vehicle and also send a unit to assist you.
4. Talk with as many witnesses as you can. Make sure you ask for their name, address, and telephone number and ask them (beg if you must) to please wait for the police to arrive so that they can give a statement while their memories are fresh.
5. Protect the accident scene. Even the smallest piece of evidence could carry a “signature” of the other driver.

Auto accident

Each year, thousands of people are involved in traffic accidents during the Memorial Day Weekend. If you are one of these unfortunate people, will you know what to do in the aftermath of a collision? How you react can prevent further injuries, reduce costs and accelerate the clean-up and repair process.

The Consumer Protection Association of America is increasing public awareness on this subject by designating the week before Memorial Day "National Driver Education Week." The Association has developed a list of suggestions to help drivers anticipate what they need to know about dealing with an accident.

"These tips can make a big difference in everything from protecting yourself and your passengers to ensuring that you won't be without a car while yours is in the shop," said Dr. Ray Bruce, president of the association.

Over 6.3 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes occurred in the United States in 1998. Almost one-third of these accidents resulted in injury. In 2001, nearly 42,000 people died on America's roadways. Clearly, accidents are a part of life in America.

So, if you are involved in a traffic collision, try to remain calm, and follow these steps:

• Action Plan to Deal with Accidents:

1. Keep an Emergency Kit in Your Glove Compartment. Drivers should carry a cell phone, as well as pen and paper for taking notes, a disposable camera to take photos of the vehicles at the scene, and a card with information about medical allergies or conditions that may require special attention if there are serious injuries. Also, keep a list of contact numbers for law enforcement agencies handy. Drivers can keep this free fill-in-the-blanks accident information form in their glove compartment.

2. Keep Safety First. Drivers involved in minor accidents injuries with no serious injuries should move cars to the side of the road and out of the way of oncoming traffic. Leaving cars parked in the middle of the road or busy intersection can result in additional accidents and injuries. If a car cannot be moved, drivers and passengers should remain in the cars with seatbelts fastened for everyone's safety until help arrives. Make sure to turn on hazard lights and set out cones, flares or warning triangles if possible.

3. Insurance and claims. After the accident, exchange the following information: name, address, phone number, insurance company, policy number, driver license number and license plate number for the driver and the owner of each vehicle. If the driver's name is different from the name of the insured, establish what the relationship is and take down the name and address for each individual. Also make a written description of each car, including year, make, model and color — and the exact location of the collision and how it happened. Finally, be polite but don't tell the other drivers or the police that the accident was your fault, even if you think it was.

4. Accident information. Use your camera to document the accident damage to all the vehicles. Keep in mind that you want your photos to show the overall context of the accident so that you can make your case to a claims adjuster. If there were witnesses, try to get their contact information; they may be able to help you if the other drivers dispute your version of what happened.

5. File An Accident Report. Although law enforcement officers in many locations may not respond to accidents unless there are injuries, drivers should file a state vehicle accident report, which is available at police stations and often on the Department of Motor Vehicles Web site as a downloadable file. A police report often helps insurance companies speed up the claims process.

6. Know What Your Accident Insurance Covers. The whole insurance process will be easier following your accident if you know the details of your coverage. For example, don't wait until after an accident to find out that your policy doesn't automatically cover costs for towing or a replacement rental car. Generally, for only a dollar or two extra each month, you can add coverage for rental car reimbursement, which provides a rental car for little or no money while your car is in the repair shop or if it is stolen. Check your policy for specifics.

The final question in dealing with an accident is usually who will pay for the damages? If the accident was minor, you and the other drivers may decide to handle the damages yourselves without the involvement of an insurance company. But this isn't always the best idea, for several reasons.

While the other driver may agree to pay for the damage to your car on the day of the accident, he may see the repair bills and decide it's too high. At this point, time has passed and your insurance company will have more difficulty piecing together the evidence if you file a claim.

Also, keep in mind that you have no way of knowing whether another driver will change his mind and report the accident to his insurance company. He may even claim injuries that weren't apparent at the scene of the accident. This means that your insurance company may end up paying him a hefty settlement, or worse yet, you could be dragged into a lawsuit. So make sure that your company has your version of what happened and check your policy — if the damages paid out by your insurance company are below a certain amount, the accident may not be considered chargeable. And you will avoid the penalty of a premium hike.

Auto accidents take a tremendous toll on everyone involved, both financially and emotionally. If you're one of the lucky ones who have thus far avoided a serious accident, hopefully the tips on prevention will help keep it that way. The chances are high, though, that at some point you will be involved in a minor accident. Just keep your head and make safety your primary concern. You'll have plenty of time to deal with the consequences later.

Car accident do’s and don’ts

If you have been involved in any kind of traffic accident, whether a car accident, truck accident, or motorcycle accident, you will inevitably have to deal with your insurance company as well as the insurance agents of others involved in the accident. Filing an insurance claim and handling insurance adjusters can be quite a task. Here are some essential dos and don’ts to remember, regarding insurance claims.

Do's

• Do contact your accident insurance company as soon after the accident or injury as possible. Unless you have some very serious injuries to take care off, your insurance agent is the first person to call in case of an accident injury.
• Do take time to read your accident insurance policy and understand it. This will help you in determining what coverage your policy allows to make the necessary accident claims.
• Do your best to get as many details of the accident as possible. This will include taking pictures of the damaged vehicles and any injuries sustained. Also do try to take down the names and numbers of any witnesses to the accident who may later be able to help prove your insurance claim.
• Do make a note of the insurance details of any other person or vehicle involved in the accident.
• Do keep a written account of any conversations and dealings with the insurance officers, agents, and any other people involved in the claims process.
• Do save receipts and bills for any and all expenses relating to your insurance claim, bills for any repair work on the damaged vehicle, and also any medical costs incurred on the treatment of any injuries that are covered by your insurance policy.
• Do be frank and honest with the accident insurance investigators so that your claim is not denied for fraudulent reasons.
• Do check if you have more than one insurance policy that provides coverage for the particular accident or injury. Many people have multiple insurance policies under which they may be able to file valid insurance claims. So, do take the time to review all your accident insurance policies.

Don’ts

• Don’t admit to any kind of liability on your part but just stick to the facts without expressing any opinion. The ascertaining of liability is affected by different circumstances. It is not your job to admit fault but is the job of the insurance investigators to gather all the necessary facts and evidence and then determine liability.
• Don’t give anything in writing to any insurance officers, whether your own or the other party’s, if you do not understand any part of your policy or claim.
• Don’t let any time limits to file your insurance claim run out. All insurance companies require you to file an insurance claim within specified periods of time after the accident or injury. So make sure you don’t disregard this time limit or else your claim may not be considered valid.
• Don’t take everything that your accident insurance agent tells you as the last word, especially regarding the value of your claim or a accident settlement. Insurance companies always try to give you estimates of losses that are lower than your actual losses. Don’t just accept their estimates without doing some estimation of your own.
• Don’t sign any document that is a release or a waiver of any kind. If you are not sure about what you are being asked to sign, consult an attorney for help.
• Don’t take any check as a full and final payment unless you are certain that it is a fair compensation for your losses.

Personal Accidents Insurance

As accidents occur quickly and often unexpectedly, many organizations and individuals choose to purchase insurance coverage to help family members and loved ones deal with the associated financial instability.

By purchasing Personal Accident Insurance your beneficiary can receive a death benefit in the event of your accidental death during your business trip, vacation, or while going about your daily activities. Policies can be written on a group or individual basis and offer flexible coverage periods.

Types of Accidents

Auto Accident

Automobile Accident

Bicycle Accident

Bike Accident

Boat Accident

Bus Accident

Car Accident

Construction Accident

Crane Accident

Elevator Accident

Helicopter Accident

Industrial Accident

Mining Accident

Motor Vehicle Accident

Motorcycle Accident

Nuclear Accident

Parking Lot Accident

Pedestrian Accident

Plane Accident

Ski Accident

Skydiving Accident

Tractor Trailer Accident

Truck Accident

Vehicle Accident

Work Accident

Accident Causes

Accidents are caused because of many factors. Factors include the following:

Driver distraction, including fiddling with technical devices as noted previously, talking with passengers, eating or grooming in the vehicle, dealing with children or pets in the back seat, or attempting to retrieve dropped items.
Driver impairment by tiredness, illness, alcohol or other drugs, both legal and illegal. MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is an organization made up of the families of the dead who were killed in auto accidents caused by drunk drivers.
Mechanical failure, including flat tires or tires blowing out, brake failure, axle failure, steering mechanism failure.
Road conditions, including foreign obstacles or substances on the road surface; rain, ice, or snow making the roads slick; road damage including pot holes.
Speed exceeding safe conditions, such as the speed for which the road was designed, the road condition, the weather, the speed of surrounding motorists, and so on.
Road design and layout. Some roads are notorious for being accident "black spots" for a whole variety of reasons, many subtle and not necessarily immediately obvious. These include alignment, visibility, camber and surface conditions, road markings, etc. Finding out the causes for a repeated series of accidents on the same stretch of road is becoming a science in itself.
Many authorities emphasise speed as an inherent cause of accidents in itself, though most experts agree that speed alone is rarely a prime cause of accidents, though naturally a mis-application of speed can be a contributing factor, and higher speed in an accident resulting from whatever cause is more likely to have serious consequences. Critics of the "speed kills" mentality claim that this approach ignores the complex factors that are involved in accidents, and argue that it amounts to little more than a simplistic "quick fix" or political solution that does nothing to address the true Causes of Accidents. Proponents state that going slower at least can do no harm, and that physics is on their side, since the outcome of an accident largely depends on the energy dissipated in a crash, and that energy rises with the square of velocity, according to the equation E = ½ ·m·v², where E is the kinetic energy, m is the mass, and v is the velocity. The first person who died in a petrol engined car accident, Bridget Driscoll, was killed by a car driving only 4 miles/h (6.5 km/h).

Attempts to force automobile manufacturers to limit the top speed of vehicles has so far been resisted by both the manufacturers and governments themselves. Partly this is because the automobile manufacturers have substantial political lobbying power and speed and performance are powerful marketing tools, and partly because it is easy to show that such measures are unlikely to have a significant effect on the road toll, and might then force governments to seriously address the more complex Causes of Accidents.

Rubbernecking
Rubbernecking is where drivers slow down to look at accidents or anything out of the ordinary on the highway. Events ranging from gruesome auto accidents to a police car stopped on the shoulder can cause traffic jams on both sides of the road, even if the roadway has been cleared.

Although caution is advised when there is unexpected activity on the side of a road, a car with a flat tire on the side of a highway often causes as much slow down as a real accident would due to rubbernecking. The slowdown in traffic persists even after the accident scene has been cleared if traffic is dense. Traffic experts call this phenomenon a Phantom Accident. Often this behavior causes additional and sometimes more serious accidents among the rubberneckers.

Legal Issues with Auto Accidents

Auto Accidents often carry legal consequences in proportion to the severity of the accident. Nearly all Common Law jurisdictions impose some kind of requirement that parties involved in a collision (even with only stationary property) must stop at the scene, and exchange insurance or identification information or summon the police. Failing to obey this requirement is the crime of hit and run.

Parties involved in an accident may face criminal liability, civil liability, or both. Usually, the state starts a prosecution only if someone is severely injured or killed, or if one of the drivers involved was clearly intoxicated or otherwise impaired at the time the accident occurred. Charges might include driving under the influence of alcohol, assault with a deadly weapon, manslaughter, or murder; penalties range from fines to jail time to prison time to death.

As for civil liability, Automobile Accident Personal Injury Lawsuits have become the most common type of tort. Because these cases have been litigated often in the developed First World nations, the legal questions usually have been answered in prior judgments. So, the courts most usually decide solely the factual questions of who is at fault, and how much they (or their insurer) must pay out in damages to the injured plaintiff.

Another element of civil liability involves the administrative fines or license suspension/revocation that may be imposed by a civil authority when a driver has violated the rules of the road and thus the terms of a driver's license. Such complaint may be filed by a police officer or sometimes by other witnesses of an incident.

Auto Accident Prevention
Although many accidents are caused by behavior that is difficult to alter, by mechanical failure, or by road conditions, some technical solutions are becoming more widely available to prevent accidents:

Proximity Monitors: These would automatically detect how close you were traveling to the vehicle in front of you and automatically adjust your vehicle's acceleration to prevent you from getting closer than you can safely stop at your current speed.
Sobriety Detectors: These locks prevent the ignition key from working if the driver breathes into one and is shown to have consumed alcohol.
Drifting Monitors: These devices monitor how close a vehicle is traveling to lane markers and, if it starts to drift toward or over the markers without the turn signal being activated, sounds an alarm.
In most developed countries, young (under 25 years old) male drivers have been shown to be by far the most likely to be involved in a auto accident, and this has become an area of focus in recent times. Reasons suggested for this prevalence include inexperience combined with over-confidence, peer pressure, showing off, and even neurological development arguments. In addition most serious accidents occur at night and when the vehicle has multiple occupants. This has led to some discussion of the following proposals:

A "curfew" imposed on young drivers to prevent them driving at night.
Requiring an experienced supervisor to chaperone the less experienced driver.
Forbidding the carrying of passengers.
Zero alcohol tolerance.
Compulsory advanced driving courses.
Requiring a sign placed on the back of the vehicle to notify other drivers of a less-experienced individual in the driver's seat.
Some countries or states have already implemented some of these, but so far no consensus to a total solution has been reached. It should be noted that this prevalence has long been noted by insurance companies, and premiums reflect that; however, very high premiums for young male drivers does not seem to have had a significant impact on the accident statistics, suggesting that these drivers simply accept the high premiums as part of the "on road" costs of mobility.