If you’ve ever been in an auto accident, you know how disorienting it can be. It only takes a second for an auto accident to happen, and things go from calm to chaotic. Amid all the commotion, it can be tough to regain enough composure to focus on figuring out what to do next. Most importantly, you must make sure everyone is safe. Experienced personal injury attorneys know how important photos can be when fighting for maximum compensation. At Growney, McKeown & Barber, P.A., our personal injury attorneys have over 35 years of experience assisting auto accident victims receive the compensation they deserve. To help maximize your chances of receiving the largest settlement possible, one of the most important things you can do in the short time frame immediately following an auto accident is to take as many photos as you can.
Why It’s Important to Take Photos After an Auto Accident
When it’s time to file your insurance claim, having photos of the accident can be tremendously helpful to your case. Photos help document the scene. Often, photos are a critical factor in whether a claim is successful or unsuccessful. Your personal injury attorney can maximize your chances of a substantial settlement if photos are available. Detailed photos can expose the cause of the accident or contributing factors that played a role. It’s not uncommon for an auto accident victim to forget potentially important details shortly after the accident or even to have missed them entirely. Such details are often revealed upon examination of photos and can be of immense value to your personal injury attorney when preparing your case.
Tips for Taking Photos After an Auto Accident
Our personal injury attorneys offer the following suggestions to help you make the most of the limited time available to take photos after an accident:
Take Pictures of any visible injuries.
- Capture multiple shots of the interior and exterior of the vehicles involved.
- Snap a photo of any damage to surrounding objects or buildings from multiple angles.
- Take some wide shots of the entire scene, including street signs and traffic lights. Try to capture the scene from all different directions.
- Look for any evidence such as skid marks or debris to photograph.
- Take pictures of the people at the scene, including the other driver (or drivers), passengers, police officers, and any witnesses.
- Take photos of any surrounding businesses. Most businesses today have security cameras, and one may have captured the accident. Photos will help you remember to contact these businesses in the days following the accident.
- It’s best to take more photos than you think you’ll need. In the aftermath of an auto accident, most people aren’t thinking clearly, and it’s easy to miss pertinent details. A photo may capture something of importance that you missed at the time. While an experienced personal injury attorney will tell you that it is always preferable to take photos at the scene immediately after the accident if you cannot do so because of an injury or another reason, ask a family member or friend to return to the scene to take photos for you as soon as possible. Some injuries progress as time passes. For example, bruises may not appear for a day or two after the accident. Make sure you take photo documentation of your injuries as they progress so that your personal injury attorney will have them available to help your case.
The importance of taking photos after an auto accident cannot be overstated, so please try your best to do so if at all possible.
Personal Injury Attorneys in St. Petersburg, Florida
If you’ve been in an auto accident and would like to discuss representation by a personal injury attorney who can offer a more personalized level of service than a larger St. Petersburg firm, consider Growney, McKeown & Barber, P.A. Our personal injury attorneys have decades of experience helping people navigate the steps to maximum compensation. Contact us today at 727-384-3800 to arrange a consultation. We’ll help make sure you get the settlement you deserve.
