The following is part of an interview I did on WAVE Listens about The Schafer Law Office Glove Box Accident Guide and what to do at athe scene of a car accident.

We are talking today about specifically this little publication that Mike has created.  It’s called the Glove Box Accident Guide and this is actually a, a publication that you can keep, literally, in your glove box just in case you’re involved in a car accident, and it gives you some very important information that you need to keep in mind in case you’re involved in an accident.  One, No. 1 is to stay calm.

You don’t want to put yourself in further danger, you don’t want to move anybody that is hurt, you want to make sure that the police are called but you don’t want to put yourself in further danger. The best way to do that is to stay calm and to evaluate the situation and see what you need to do next.

At the time that you’re in the accident, you don’t know that law.

You don’t know the circumstances of how the law is going to treat the case.  So if you go up to the person that hit you and say, I’m so sorry for this accident, the insurance company or the insurance company’s lawyers are going to use that as an admission of fault down the road.  The accident may not have been your fault.  You may have made a U?turn which you think you shouldn’t have made but is perfectly legal in Kentucky if there’s not a “No U-Turn” sign.

So you can, it’s best to talk to the individual, make sure everything is okay.

Okay, all right, and then the aforementioned No. 3 is contact the police, call 911.

Always call the police and have them out there.  One, so that they can secure the area, they can document what has happened in the accident and they can get an ambulance there and take care of anybody that’s hurt, uh, if that is needed.

No. 4 is to find witnesses.

This is probably one of the most important items in there because witnesses to accidents are really a key to the success of a personal injury case if you’re injured and if you have to go forward on that case.

I’ll give you an example.  Almost every week people that come into my office as clients will say, “There are witnesses to the accident”.  I say, well, great, did you get their names.  They respond, “no, but the police talked to them”.  Well, 95 percent of the time the police may talk to the witness but they’re not going to write that name down and write that information down unless it’s a very serious accident case.  Police are very busy and sometimes they just do not document this so it’s important for you to make sure that you get the names or a card or phone number of anybody that did see the accident that you see around, if you’re able.

Never put yourself in danger of getting hit by a car or if you’re on the expressway or a busy roadway.

If you’re hurt the No. 1 thing is to take care of your health. If you are able, getting the contact information of witnesses can make the difference.  I have several cases where we would not have been able to collect for significant injuries if that good Samaritan hadn’t stopped and given their name and number to the person that was injured.

Okay.  The other things, uh, perhaps you might consider is taking photographs.  A lot easier now with everybody with smart phones and all of that sort of thing.

An old trite saying but a picture’s worth 1,000 words.

My grandmother wouldn’t allow pictures because she says pictures don’t lie so I don’t want to see them. That’s the same thing in accident cases.  Pictures don’t lie, they tell the story much better than what  you can and if you say my car is totaled, that says one thing, but if you see the entire front end smashed in to the, the steering wheel. That creates a whole different image, and the only time you can take the pictures of the car that hit you is at the scene, and once again, this is all tempered by if you’re able and if you’re, can get around without hurting yourself further and putting yourself in danger.

Gathering information is also critical when you’re involved in an accident.

If you do not get the insurance information at the time of the accident, I can go on for a long time on this one.  Insurance information, you want to get your car fixed after the accident.

And in Jefferson County it takes about ten days to get an accident report so you’re not going to get the at-fault driver’s insurance information until that ten days runs. If you don’t exchange insurance information with the other driver, it’s going to be ten days. It’s going to be ten days before you can get a car, contact the at-fault car insurance company for a rental car.

And if your car is not drivable, this can be a really, really bad situation for you.

You want to document where the cars came to rest, if there’s any skid marks, anything that can show where the cars were, how long it took the car to stop, anything like that.

That is the only time you’re ever going to have a chance to do that.

And you need to do it immediately at that time.  Once again, if you are able and don’t put yourself in further danger, you need to take those pictures, you need to document, document, document, this goes through the entire case, but you need to do this at the scene if you’re able to.

Okay.  All of this information and more in the handy little Glove Box Accident Guide provided by Mike Schafer from his law office, it’s The Schafer Law Office.