What to Do After a Car Accident in Alpharetta, Georgia: A Guide for Victims

Being involved in a car accident can be a traumatic experience, and it can be difficult to know what to do in the aftermath. If you have been in a car accident in Alpharetta, Georgia, it is important to take certain steps to protect your rights and ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve. Here is a guide from our Alpharetta car accident lawyer for what what you should do after a car accident in Alpharetta:

At the scene of an Alpharetta car accident, you should first check for injuries

The first thing you should do after a car accident is to check yourself and any passengers for injuries. If anyone is injured, call 911 immediately to get medical help. Even if you don’t think you are injured, it is a good idea to get checked out by a doctor as soon as possible.  Apart from ensuring that you are treated to relieve your pain and make sure that you have not sustained any injuries that could turn fatal, the importance of seeking medical care is to ensure that there is documentation of your injuries.  Sometimes if an accident victim does not timely seek treatment after a car accident, they will try to deny that you were truly hurt and refuse to compensate you for your medical bills.

Call the Police

You should also call the police to report the auto accident, even if it seems like a minor one. (Often times injured victims do not develop symptoms of pain from a low speed impact until a day or two after the collision.).  Not calling the police can be damaging to your ability to later make a personal injury claim because there would not be any official documentation of the incident.  Whether it is the Alpharetta Police Department or Georgia State Patrol, they will create an official report of the accident, which will be important if you need to file an insurance claim or a lawsuit. When the police arrive, be sure to provide them with accurate and complete information about what happened.  The police will document what road rule has been violated by the at-fault driver who failed to adhere to Georgia law, and consequently, highway safety norms.

Exchange Information and Document the Motor Vehicle Accident

Exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver(s) involved in the accident. Be sure to get their names, phone numbers, and addresses, as well as their insurance information. You should also take photos of the damage to both vehicles, as well as the accident scene.  When taking photographs of car accidents, it is best to take a large number of photographs.  At the scene of the traffic accident, you may feel hesitant to walk over to the at-fault driver’s car and begin taking photographs, but rest assured there is no reason to feel this way.  There is no Georgia law nor Alpharetta law that prohibits you from taking photographs of property damage at the scene of the automobile collision.  It is important though to make sure you are adhering to highway safety and not putting yourself in any danger of other motorists when taking photographs.

The photographs you take of the damage to the vehicles, as well as the scene of the traffic accident scene will likely be used by your Alpharetta car accident attorney to demonstrate what exactly happened, how negligence occurred, and what damage you sustained.  It is best to take photographs from a distance, up close, and at different angles.  We suggest (if possible) that you also take photographs of the underside of your automobile.  Sometimes the frame of your vehicle will have bent or dented due to the impact.  In a Georgia car accident, personal injury lawyers can often show the significance of the impact was not minor by demonstrating to a jury or insurance company the photographs of the bent car frame.

Document Your Injury

Additionally, as the injured victim you should take photographs of your injuries whenever possible.  If your car accident injury is visible in any way, it is important to document it.  Even though doctors will document your injuries in medical records, capturing the injuries in photographs and videos will provide highly useful evidence that your personal injury attorney can use.  In a personal injury context like an Alpharetta car accident, your lawyer will at some point try to present a settlement demand package to the insurance companies involved in the case.  The more supporting evidence there is (such as photographs and video) with the demand package, the more likely an insurance company is to pay maximum value to the car accident victims.  

Talk to Witnesses

If there were any witnesses to the accident, get their names and contact information. They may be able to provide valuable testimony if you need to pursue legal action.  Obtaining witness statements may help your attorney obtain a greater amount of financial compensation for you.  If they saw that the at-fault driver was using his mobile phone at the time of the collision, make sure you take note of the distracted driving so that you can relay the information to your lawyer.

Consult with a Personal Injury Lawyer

As soon as possible, it is important to consult with a qualified Alpharetta personal injury lawyer  like Justin Wolfe if you have been in a car accident. A lawyer can help you understand your legal options and rights, and can assist you in pursuing compensation for your injuries, economic damages such as lost wages, and possibly punitive damages.  At Wolfe Law Group, our personal injury knows what it takes to build a strong car accident case to get fair compensation for our clients.

Don’t Agree to a Recorded Statement

Do not agree to any recorded statement without first consulting a qualified Alpharetta personal injury lawyer like our attorney, Justin Wolfe. Your insurance company may need to investigate the accident and may request additional information from you.  After you hire Wolfe Law Group, our law office will communicate directly with your insurance company on your behalf regarding your personal injury claims.  Communicating with an insurance company on your own behalf can be damaging to your personal injury case and sometimes unnecessarily create doubt about the negligence of the at-fault driver, or about the degree of damages that you have suffered.  Insurance companies often times purposefully take recorded statements in a manner that they know will hurt your case.  They will sometimes use these recorded statements later in the course of a personal injury lawsuit to try to undermine your claim.  The bottom line-do not communicate with insurance companies until first speaking to our attorney.

My loved one was killed in an Alpharetta car accident, what should I do?

It is a tragic reality that car accidents can sometimes have fatal consequences.  If your loved one died as a result of an Alpharetta car accident, you may have a wrongful death claim.  Any car accident or truck accident that results in a fatality presents a situation where an Alpharetta personal injury attorney may be able to bring a wrongful death claim against the at-fault parties.  If you find yourself in this situation, it is extremely important that you consult with a lawyer as soon as possible.  The attorney will have valuable legal advice to give you in this situation.

Contact Wolfe Law Group now for a free consultation with our Alpharetta car accident lawyer

In conclusion, if you have been involved in a car accident in Alpharetta, Georgia, it is important to take certain steps to protect your rights and ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve. By following the above steps, you can protect yourself and your interests after a car accident.

If you have been injured in an Alpharetta car crash, call Wolfe Law Group now for a free personal injury case consultation with our car accident lawyer.  (404) 348-0884

Other Alpharetta Personal Injury Resources

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