With the growing number of vehicles on the road, the rates of traffic accidents have steadily risen over the past few decades. Car crashes account for a vast majority of deaths resulting from accident-related injury and can result in significant physical, emotional, and financial harm to a surviving victim and their family. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, nearly 40,000 people lost their lives to fatal car crashes in the first three quarters of 2022 alone, a number that is projected to increase in the current year. If you got injured in a car accident due to another driver’s negligence, you can pursue legal action against them to obtain compensation for your damages. Hiring a competent car accident attorney is one of the most important steps to ensure that you will receive justice in your car crash claim. Keep reading to find out how you can prove negligence after a car accident.
What is Negligence?
Negligence is a legal term that refers to the failure of an individual or entity to exercise sufficient care, which might result in harm to another individual. According to personal injury law, all individuals are responsible for maintaining a reasonable standard of care on the road and ensuring that they follow all traffic regulations. Any failure to follow traffic laws or behave in an unsafe manner might result in a car accident, for which they can be held responsible in a court of law. It is the normal standard when you are driving to make sure that you are not being reckless. Failure to do so can lead to some serious consequences.
How Can You Prove Negligence?
Proving negligence requires that you establish that the other driver owed you and everyone on the road a duty of care to follow all traffic regulations. Through their reckless conduct, such as using a cell phone, failing to stop at a red light or stop sign, speeding, or driving under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs, the driver violated their duty of care. It is also important to establish causation by proving that the breach in duty of care directly resulted in the car crash and your damages, including physical injury, emotional trauma, and financial losses. Finally, you must prove that you incurred the aforementioned damages as a result of the car crash.
Importance of Physical Evidence
Determining negligence in car accident cases can be quite complicated and require sufficient physical evidence to prove your version of events. Having evidence can keep you covered and help move your case long. It’s important to keep track of these details to help you build a solid claim. Some of the most important forms of physical evidence required to prove negligence include:
Photos and Videos
Photos and videos of your physical injury, property damage, accident location, and weather conditions at the time of the incident can prove invaluable in determining fault in a car accident claim. This evidence is important for any type of case but especially this one. Having pictures of the accident and the damage sustained can help determine who was at fault. It will also be good to show to your insurance so they can determine how much you are owed.
Eyewitness and Expert Testimonies
Brief accounts of eyewitnesses who saw the incident can help support the veracity of your claim. These witnesses are not directly involved in the accident so they can honestly speak about the situation. Similarly, expert testimonies can help form an objective analysis of the incident, such as a head-on collision accident, which can significantly raise your chances of proving negligence successfully. Having these testimonies will help get to the bottom of how the accident started in the first place.
Medical and Police Records
Medical records demonstrating your physical injuries and treatment and police reports related to the incident can be crucial to proving the damages you sustained in a car accident. It is important to obtain a copy of the official police report to supplement your legal claim. These details will help you in the long run so it’s best to keep track of them. That way when you reach out to a legal professional they will be able to go through the case quickly. This information can especially determine who caused the accident.
Conclusion
Proving negligence is one of the most important components of a car accident lawsuit. By establishing the liability of the offending driver with the help of an expert car crash lawyer, you can obtain fair financial compensation for your car accident claim. It’s best to reach out to a professional as soon as possible. You don’t want to miss out on anything from this accident, especially if it wasn’t your fault. Make sure you can acquire evidence to help build your case.