One important part of any auto accident is determining fault. This is because fault will decide who's auto insurance will pay for all the damages, which is crucial in cases where cars are totaled or a personal injury occurs due to a crash. Here are a few things that are considered when determining who caused an auto accident.
Gather The Evidence
There is a lot of evidence that can be gathered right after an accident happens, and it's important that you move quickly to get the evidence before it is gone. You'll want to take photos of the accident site since there are many things that can indicate fault that will soon go away. This includes the locations where the vehicles were hit, where the vehicles settled after the impact, and even the velocity of how far parts of the vehicles broke off after the impact.
You should also get contact information from witnesses since a neutral third party can be very helpful to prove which driver is telling the truth. You should also look for video evidence in the form of security cameras. With so many people having doorbell cameras, it's possible that one of them caught the entire accident on video. You'll need to speak with home or business owners in the area to see what kind of video evidence was saved before it is purged from storage.
Review The Traffic Laws
You'll want to become very familiar with the traffic laws that were violated that led to the accident. This includes things like who had the right of way at the time of the accident, what the speed limits were, and anything else that may apply to the crash. Violating traffic laws can put someone partially at fault for causing the accident, and you may not have realized who was breaking the law until you look into it thoroughly.
Consider The Road Conditions
The road conditions at the time can play a role in determining who was at fault, because driving behavior may have to be layered to accommodate for those conditions. For example, a slippery road with ice on it will require more stopping time to avoid hitting another vehicle. The driver may have been driving under the speed limit at the time of the crash, but they were not being careful in accounting for the road conditions.
Reach out to an auto accident lawyer if you need help proving the other driver was at fault in court.
For more info, contact a local company like Wingfield, Ginsburg & Lipp, PC.
