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Tips For Gathering Witness Information After A Car Accident

3 March 2016 by Louise Boyd

If you are involved in a car accident, collecting information from witnesses can prove highly beneficial for your case. If you end up suing the other party, having as much evidence as possible is important.

Your first priority after an accident should be to seek medical attention (if needed), but if you aren't hurt badly and are able to talk to witnesses without injuring yourself further, following these tips can help.

Even Short Statements Can Be Beneficial Don't assume that you should only talk to witnesses who saw the whole thing. A witness who saw the other driver driving erratically before the accident occurred could be helpful, for example. Someone who saw the position of the vehicles before they were moved could be helpful as well. Consider gathering a quick statement from every other driver, pedestrian, worker or anyone else who might have seen something. All of these accounts put together can help tell the story of what really happened, even if all of the witnesses didn't see everything. 

Get the Statements as Quickly as Possible The sooner that you can get a statement from each witness, the better. Then, you can get the information while it's still fresh in each witness' mind.

Get The Statements However You Can Don't assume that everything has to be written on a formal piece of paper. You can take down the statement however you can, even if you have to write it down on an old receipt or a napkin from your glove compartment. Another idea is to use your smartphone to record the witness talking, as long as you have his or her permission. If the statement is written down, you should have the witness sign it, but know that it does not have to be notarized.

Gather Contact Information from Each Witness After taking down the statement from each witness, ask for his or her first and last name and any contact information that you or your attorney can use later to get in contact. Email addresses, phone numbers, work numbers and home addresses are all good things to have. Then, if your lawyer has any other questions or if he or she needs to ask the witness to appear in court, the information will be on hand.

Taking down witness statements and information can be important for your case. Then, it's a good idea to hire acar accident attorney to help you with the rest of the steps of your case. 

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