If you or a loved one has been in a car accident, you should consider hiring an auto accident lawyer if you believe your insurance company will not help you get the justice and compensation you deserve. However, filing a claim against the liable party can be a little trickier if the automobile you have gotten into the accident with is a federal or state government-owned vehicle.
Check all involved for injuries
The first thing to do after a vehicle accident with a federal vehicle is to make sure that all parties are not injured. If anyone in the party is injured, call 911 and seek help, as this is the priority.
Even seemingly minor symptoms like dizziness or confusion, can be a sign of a larger and potentially life-threatening injuries.
Call the police
Even if it feels like you might not need to resort to this, if you are eventually going to have to go to court and testify against someone who will have the power of the federal government behind them, it is in your best interest to have an official police report of this incident.
If the police are unable to make it to the scene of the accident, you can also increase federal knowledge of the accident by filing a report with your state’s department of motor vehicles after the fact.
Gather information and take photos
This is another simple instruction, as it usually happens whenever any vehicles get into a car accident, but again, it is even more important to capture an accurate picture of the accident and the damages on each car when preparing to face off against the United States government in a courtroom.
If you are able to take photos of your injuries or the injuries of any other people in your party, do your best to capture those as well (as long as you are not compromising your health by taking these photos).
Photos can also be a valuable way of capturing information about the car that hit you. Make sure to record the license plate number of the car that hit you and the plate numbers of any other vehicles involved, the driver’s license and contact information of the other drivers relevant to the accident, insurance information from everyone who was driving an accident-relevant vehicle, and the makes and models of each vehicle involved in the wreck.
Also, gather contact information from all witnesses and any officers who arrive at the scene of the accident. To obtain this information from an officer, ask them politely for their name and their badge number while making sure you are not impeding their ability to do their job.
Obtain police report and medical records
After you have left the scene of the wreck, make sure you can get your hands on the official police report as well as the medical records of any person who may have been injured during the accident (with their permission, of course).
Don’t expect something like this to be available immediately after you get home: police paperwork can take time. But make sure to keep asking periodically until someone at the station sends you the full copy of the report. This could prove very helpful in your case against the United States government.
Contact an attorney
If you have been involved in an accident similar to the type described here, contact a skilled and experienced auto accident lawyer as soon as possible to schedule a free consultation. They can help you work through the intricacies of filing your claim and fighting for your case so that you receive the justice you deserve.
