Why determining fault after an auto accident matters Similarly, consider investing in a dash camera for your own vehicle to help protect yourself in the event of a dishonest driver. If a nearby witness vehicle has one, ask them to wait and show the footage to the responding officer.Īlso, take note of any public transportation vehicles, like buses, that were nearby at the time of the accident as the officer or an attorney might be able to request the footage. If any of the involved vehicles have one installed, be sure the responding officer knows and reviews the footage. In a recent case managed by our Atlanta accident attorneys at Scholle Law, the officer not only cited the at-fault driver for running a red light but for violating Georgia’s Hands-Free Law as well because the inward-facing camera in the company vehicle showed the driver handling their phone at the time of the accident.ĭash cameras can be critical in determining fault. Check the dash camerasĪlthough not common to every vehicle, dash cameras have been increasing in popularity in recent years - especially for company vehicles and for people who earn a living by driving around all day (delivery persons, rideshare drivers, etc.). While this isn’t as important in a rear-end collision where it’s obviously clear that the front of one vehicle hit the rear of another, it can become an issue in other types of accidents when moving the vehicles will make it unclear exactly what happened. If it’s safe to leave the vehicles, try to wait until the responding officer arrives and sees the damage before they’re moved. While it can be important to move the vehicles out of a dangerous roadway, try to safely take pictures of the vehicles as they were positioned immediately after the impact. Avoid moving the vehicles (if possible)ĭamage to the vehicles, as discussed above, is a helpful aid in determining fault. For instance, look for skid marks on the ground or debris left at the point of impact or anything else that might coincide with the truth of what actually happened. But anything else that can possibly demonstrate to the police officer that the other driver is lying should be considered as well. If there are no witnesses to the accident, the biggest key factors that will help the police officer investigate fault are the damage to all vehicles involved and, occasionally, dash cameras. Once the officer has investigated the accident and made a determination of fault, they will normally issue a citation to the at-fault driver for some traffic violation, whether that be following too closely (the most common citation for rear-end collisions), failure to obey a traffic control device, failure to yield to oncoming traffic, or any number of other potential violations of the driving rules. The officer should also talk to any witnesses who were passengers in the involved vehicles or other eyewitnesses who saw the accident and remain at the scene to give a statement. The investigating officer should talk to all the parties involved in the accident separately to try to determine what happened and who was at fault based on their observations of the accident scene and on each driver’s statements. The starting point for answering this question rests upon what the responding police officer does. We’ll walk you through this question below, and give you some important information about what to do next. What do you do, though, when the other party lies about what happened and misinforms the police officer about who caused the accident to try to get out of a ticket? Everyone knows who ran into whom - especially with rear-end accidents, which compromise a sizable portion (if not a majority) of the accidents which occur in the Atlanta metro area. Even though the parties involved may be shaken up, injured, or angry at the scene of the accident, there usually is no major disagreement as to who caused the accident. Most motor vehicle accidents are, perhaps surprisingly, relatively undisputed incidents. What you can do if the other driver didn’t tell the truth about what happened in a car accident
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