Protecting Your Rights By Staying Engaged - Questions For Your Pedestrian Accident Attorney
If you're ever involved in a traffic accident as a pedestrian, you can find your day turning from uneventful to potentially tragic in a hurry. Even if the injuries you suffer seem initially to be minor, the exposure that comes with being struck by a vehicle can leave you open to compounding problems that you might struggle to tame.
Rather than feeling like you're alone in that struggle, it's important that you do what you can to reach out and seize the rights that you deserve. Below, you'll find a guide to some questions you should be sure to ask your pedestrian accident attorney that should put you in a position to better protect yourself and guarantee that you don't feel confused or cut off.
Ask About Surveillance
The driver responsible for hitting you is likely to take every step possible to avoid responsibility and assert that you were acting unlawfully when the accident occurred. While it may have some other negatives, one positive of living in a culture obsessed with security is that there may be video of almost every incident.
Be sure to ask your lawyer if he or she has spoken to surrounding businesses or even the local government about any potential footage of the accident. It's important to act quickly on this front, as many places erase and re-use storage media after a somewhat limited time.
Ask About Additional Medical Opinions
Fundamentally, your case is likely to come down to an examination of your injuries. As such, it's important to have them fully documented and to have an opinion from a doctor which validates that their existence didn't precede the accident.
Your attorney will be able to help you find a doctor with the right experience and speciality to verify the severity of your injuries. This is likely to be a new doctor, as your regular physician might not have the necessary diagnostic experience and may be dogged in court by questions of bias.
Ask About Settlement Offers
In many cases, drivers who are clearly in the wrong following a pedestrian accident will have a definite interest to come to a settlement. It's important to be kept in the loop when these offers come in so you can have confidence that you're being fully included in important decision making. Set up a communications plan with your lawyer that will allow you to have full access to information when you need it, guaranteeing a positive working relationship with minimal frustrations.
Contact a legal office such as Law Office of Daniel E Goodman, LLC for more information.