Diagram Your North Carolina Car Accident as Quickly as Possible after the Crash

February 19, 2013, by Michael A. DeMayo

On this North Carolina car accident law blog, we talk almost incessantly about the need for victims to write down their concerns and document evidence from injury crashes.

Documentation is essential. Why? Because it provides an objective (or quasi-objective) perspective on the events that led to your injury and other damages. This evidence can be a powerful legal weapon. The sooner you document the crash, the better, since human memory tends to fade and do other funny things over time, and the court system knows this. So a witness statement taken minutes after the crash will carry more weight than will a witness recollection taken two weeks after a crash.

What we haven’t talked about yet is the need to document the accident from as many possible angles as you can. Write down your own account in a journal or diary. If you are too sick or injured, create a voice recording on your cell phone — or on someone else’s cell phone — describing exactly what happened, in what order, and how you felt, and so forth.

Just remember: The fresher the better.

(One caveat: Your need for medical addition should trump everything else.)

In addition to writing down what happened — and what witnesses saw — use pictorial evidence. If you have a cell phone camera — or if someone else at the scene has a cell phone camera — start taking pictures. Take pictures of the vehicles, the road, the intersection where the crash happened, the people involved, everything. Really go to town and get that pictorial evidence!

Also: sketch out how the accident happened as a drawing. Programs online can help you diagram the accident. Get as detailed as you can — without making stuff up or adding extraneous details.

All this documentation may not mean anything to you in the moment, but it all can ultimately help your North Carolina car accident law firm investigate, build a better case, and help you achieve compensation and closure.

For more important and counterintuitive tips about what to do after your Charlotte accident, call the DeMayo Law team at (877) 529-1222 for a complementary case consultation.