Defending Your Custody Agreement: Protecting Your Education Choices

Getting It On Paper: The Police Report

22 May 2018 by Daryl Young

When an accident has caused you to be injured and without transportation, you may be struggling to cope with everything. It might seem like you need to do several things at once but you must attend to your health first and foremost. At some point, however, you may begin to have some angry thoughts about the driver that caused you to be in such difficult circumstances and want to take some action. One of your first moves might be to access an important document about your wreck. Read on to learn more about the importance of the police report to your chances of compensation.

Accessing the report

If you or a loved one have been involved in an accident you are entitled to a copy of the report. The law enforcement agency who responded to the wreck will be the one you should contact and these reports are often available a few days to a week after the accident has occurred. You might need to appear in person to get a copy of it and you might also need to pay a minor copying fee to the agency.

If your accident happened outside of a city and a state trooper or highway patrol officer responded then you might have been handed a copy of the report at the scene since these agencies commonly have a way to print from their patrol cars. If not, be sure to phone first since some agencies will email or mail you a copy and save you a trip, which can be convenient if you have no car to get you there.

Full of information

You will find this report to be chock-full of information about the wreck and much of it will be needed by your personal injury attorney when they pursue a claim against the at-fault driver. Commonly, these reports contain the following general information about the incident:

1. The date, time of day and weather conditions when the wreck occurred. Rain, snow, ice and even the sun's location could all affect you and other driver's perceptions and driving skills.

2. The names of all parties and, in some cases, their insurance information. You should attempt to get this information at the scene, but that may not be possible given the extent of your injuries.

3. Eye-witness contact information. Having this information presents you with a key bit of evidence about the way the accident happened from a neutral third-party. While lay witnesses, who are may be passengers in the vehicles with you, or the other driver offers some evidence the word of friends and loved ones are not given as much weight as that of an unconcerned onlooker. Some reports can contain a bonus: a short statement by the eye-witness as to what they saw.

Vital information

There are a few vital pieces of information that could appear on your report that might turn out to be more valuable than just contact information.

• An opinion: The responding officer will often note their personal opinion as to the cause of the wreck. While this is just an opinion and is not valid in court it still can be used in settlement negotiations to add credence to your claim.
• Tickets issued: The report will also list any traffic violations recorded by either driver. As you might imagine a ticket issued to the other driver for failure to yield or reckless driving will go a long way to help prove fault in the accident.

Speak to a car accident attorney to learn more.

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