A car accident can be over in a few seconds. Figuring out exactly what happened can take much longer. There may be different stories about who had the right of way. A driver may say the light was green. Someone else may remember it differently. A witness might have seen the other car speeding, but […]
A car accident can be over in a few seconds. Figuring out exactly what happened can take much longer.
There may be different stories about who had the right of way. A driver may say the light was green. Someone else may remember it differently. A witness might have seen the other car speeding, but only for a moment.
This is where evidence matters.
Photos, video, medical records, witness information, vehicle data, and other documents can help establish what happened. Some evidence is easy to collect. Some can disappear within hours or days.
If you are still dealing with the immediate aftermath of a crash, start with our guide on ‘What to Do After a Car Accident: 15 Steps to Take. This article focuses on the next problem: building a record of what happened.
The accident scene can change quickly.
Cars get moved. Broken pieces are picked up. Skid marks fade. Traffic returns to normal. A business camera may record over old footage.
If it is safe to do so, photograph the scene before anything changes.
Take wider photos first. Show the intersection, lanes, traffic signs, signals, nearby buildings, and the position of the vehicles. Then take closer pictures.
Try to capture things that could help someone understand the crash without being there.
For example:
You do not need to take perfect photographs. Take plenty of them.
A few extra pictures are much easier to deal with than trying to remember what the road looked like two weeks later.
Vehicle damage can tell part of the story.
Photograph your vehicle from several angles. Get wide shots first, then move closer to individual areas of damage.
Take pictures of:
If the other vehicle is still at the scene and it is safe to photograph it, document its damage too.
Do not rely on a few close-up photographs of the bumper. Damage to different parts of a vehicle can help show how the collision occurred.
Keep the original files when possible. Do not edit the only copies or overwrite them with compressed versions.
Dashcam footage can be extremely useful because it may show what happened seconds before the collision.
There is one catch.
Some dashcams automatically overwrite older recordings when the storage card becomes full. A recording that exists right after the crash might not exist a few days later.
If your dashcam captured the accident, save the file as soon as you can. Make a backup somewhere else too.
Do not record over the original card if you can avoid it.
The same idea applies to video from passengers’ phones or other devices. Keep the original files and note when and where they were recorded.
You may not have video of the crash yourself.
A nearby store might.
So might a gas station, apartment building, office, parking garage or private home.
Look around the accident location for cameras. If a business appears to have a camera pointed toward the road, write down the business name and location.
Ask whether footage from the relevant time is still available.
You do not need to argue with the business owner or demand the recording yourself. The important part is identifying that the footage may exist before it disappears.
Security systems often keep recordings for a limited period. Once the system records over the footage, getting it back may be impossible.
A witness is more useful than a vague memory that “someone saw it.”
If people stopped after the accident, get their names and contact information if possible.
Write down where each person was standing or sitting when the collision happened. That can matter later because someone who was directly behind the intersection may have seen something that a person standing farther away could not.
Do not try to coach witnesses.
You are looking for what they actually saw.
If someone tells you, “I saw that driver run the red light,” write down the person’s contact information and make a note of what they said. Avoid turning the conversation into an argument about who was at fault.
The police report can provide another record of the accident.
Depending on the circumstances and the jurisdiction, it may contain information about the drivers, vehicles, location, witnesses, and officer’s observations. It may also include a description of the crash and references to citations or other actions taken at the scene.
Keep the report with the rest of your accident documents.
Do not assume that the police report automatically proves who was legally responsible. It is one piece of evidence, and insurance companies or courts may consider other information too.
Medical evidence is different from photographs of the crash scene.
It documents what happened to your body after the collision.
Keep copies of relevant records, including:
A simple timeline can help too.
Write down when symptoms started, when you sought treatment, what doctors told you, and how the condition affected your normal activities.
This can be useful when an injury develops gradually and is not obvious immediately after the collision.
A claim may involve more than vehicle repairs and medical bills.
If the accident caused you to miss work, keep records showing the financial effect.
Depending on your situation, useful documents may include:
Keep the original documents whenever possible.
For self-employed people, income losses can be harder to document because there may not be a traditional employer or payroll department. Contracts, invoices, bank records, and previous earnings records may help show what changed after the accident.
Do not throw away documents related to the damaged vehicle.
Keep the repair estimate, photographs, invoices, and correspondence with the repair shop.
If parts are replaced, ask whether the old parts can be preserved until you know whether they could matter to the claim. Do not keep damaged parts in an unsafe place just for the sake of having them.
A mechanic’s notes may also contain useful information about the condition of the vehicle.
If the insurer wants to inspect the car, keep a record of when the inspection happened and who performed it.
Your insurance policy is evidence too.
Keep copies of:
After a conversation with an insurance representative, write down the date, the person’s name, and a short description of what was discussed.
Memory gets messy when a claim lasts for weeks or months.
A written record is much easier to check later.
Modern vehicles can contain electronic information about a crash.
Some vehicles have an Event Data Recorder, commonly called an EDR. Depending on the vehicle and system, it can record certain information from shortly before, during, and after a collision.
That information can include things such as vehicle speed, braking, acceleration, and restraint-system status.
EDR information is not a magic answer to every accident dispute. It also needs to be considered alongside other evidence.
If the condition of the vehicle or its electronic data could matter to the case, avoid allowing important evidence to disappear before it can be properly examined.
When distracted driving is suspected, the driver’s phone may become relevant.
A person’s phone activity is not something you should try to obtain through improper access. Relevant records may instead be requested through the appropriate insurance, legal, or court process.
Potential evidence can include call records, text-message information, or other records that help establish whether a driver was using a phone around the time of the crash.
The exact records available will depend on the situation and the applicable legal process.
Road conditions can become important when the cause of a crash is disputed.
Take photographs if you can safely do so.
Look for:
Weather information can also be preserved through official weather records.
Do not assume that a road condition was obvious to everyone. A photograph taken at the scene can provide something much more useful than a later description such as “the road was slippery.”
Your memory of the accident will change.
That does not mean you are making things up. It is simply difficult to remember a stressful event with perfect accuracy after several weeks.
Write down what you remember as soon as you reasonably can.
Include:
Do not fill gaps with guesses.
If you do not remember something, write that you do not remember it.
A contemporaneous account can be more useful than trying to reconstruct the entire accident months later.
Some evidence deserves attention quickly because you may not get another chance to collect it.
The list often includes:
This is why evidence collection is not something to leave until the insurance company asks for it.
By then, part of the evidence may already be gone.
This is one of the reasons a detailed evidence file can matter.
Imagine the other driver says you changed lanes into them. You remember staying in your lane.
A single statement may not settle the dispute.
Photos could show the location of the vehicles. A witness might have seen the lane change. Dashcam footage could show the seconds before impact. Vehicle damage might provide additional information. A traffic camera could show the intersection.
Each piece has its own limits.
Put together, they may provide a much clearer picture of what happened.
Not necessarily without thinking about what you are sending and why.
An insurer will usually want information related to the claim. You should cooperate with legitimate requests under your policy and applicable law.
At the same time, keep copies of everything you provide.
Do not alter original photographs or documents just to make them look cleaner. Keep the originals and make working copies when needed.
If the claim involves serious injuries, disputed liability, a death, or a significant financial loss, getting legal advice before making major decisions about the claim may be useful.
You do not need a lawyer for every minor accident.
A car accident lawyer consultation may make more sense when the facts are disputed, injuries are serious, the insurance company questions liability, the other driver has little or no insurance, or the financial losses are substantial.
Bring your evidence file if you speak with a lawyer.
That can include photographs, videos, witness details, medical records, police documents, repair estimates, insurance correspondence, and records of lost income.
The more organized the information is, the easier it is to understand what happened and what still needs to be obtained.
Good evidence does not have to be complicated.
Sometimes it is a clear photograph of a damaged traffic sign. Sometimes it is a witness’s phone number. Sometimes it is a dashcam file that captured ten seconds before impact.
The bigger issue is timing.
Collect what you can while the scene is still fresh. Save digital files before they disappear. Keep your records together. Write down what you remember before the details start getting fuzzy.
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