Calling an attorney to the scene of a commercial vehicle accident

Accidents that involve commercial trucks are innately capable of causing enormous damage, but they can also produce injury claims that are difficult to follow through. The actions that you or someone you love takes immediately following a truck accident may seriously alter the direction of a potential personal injury claim.

Assuming that you receive the medical care that you need, or already have plans to address injuries, it is often wise to call for an experienced attorney to come out to the site of a commercial truck accident. An experienced attorney offers many benefits and protections, which may prove valuable as the process of seeking fair compensation for your losses moves forward.

Be sure to look for an attorney who has a number of years of experience fairly representing victims of car accidents, so that your rights and privileges remain protected as the attorney also identifies important information about the accident itself.

Determining who bears liability

In many cases, it is not immediately obvious who is responsible for the accident, although large trucks often cause serious accidents. At the same time, the liability may not rest entirely on one party. An attorney can assess these issues at the scene and gather evidence that helps protect your priorities.

Not only do you want to build a strong claim to bring against whoever is liable, you want to make sure that you do not face unfair accusations of liability in the accident. One of the key ways that an attorney may help is by advising you before you speak, especially to other parties in an accident. You may not realize that something you mean as a mere platitude may seem an awful lot like an acceptance of liability to the other party. Before you accidentally make a mistake that could cost you thousands of dollars, it is wise to listen to an experienced attorney.

Identifying helpful evidence

Not only does an attorney understand how to protect your priorities at the scene, he or she may find evidence that you wouldn’t know to look for, or may not know how to obtain. An attorney can review records that truck drivers must keep, and determine the relationship of the driver to the shipping company using his or her services. Depending on whether the driver is an employee or an independent contractor, the path forward may look slightly different.

An attorney can also look for footage from nearby security cameras maintained by businesses, and help you obtain the official police reports. Even if you suffer injuries and need to leave the scene of the accident fairly soon, an attorney can represent you at the scene and beyond.