If you have been injured in a boat crash, you can file a personal injury claim. To prove your personal injury claim, you need to provide adequate evidence. If you were hurt in a boat crash, it is important to preserve evidence until your claim has been settled.
Go Back to the Scene
You should return to the accident scene so you can gather evidence. You should look for any contributing factors that might have played a role in the accident. Here are some examples:
- Debris in the water
- Waters that are too shallow
- Signs that indicate boaters should take precautions
Each of these things should be carefully photographed and documented. Every factor that you can thoroughly document will help support your claim and prove that you aren’t to blame for your injuries. Proving liability is extremely important when it comes to winning your personal injury claim.
Get Visual Evidence
You need to get photos of the accident scene. Since you were in a boat crash, you should try to return to the same location on the same day of the week and at the same time of day so you can recreate the setting.
This will show where the sun was located, the general traffic in the area and what the view would be in the vicinity.
This should show any impeded views, how clearly boaters could see one another, and where each boat was located. This will help determine liability as well.
Protect the Physical Evidence
Any physical evidence that you can gather is needed to help prove who is at fault for the accident and determine the liability for damages. While photos help preserve physical evidence, especially if they are taken shortly after an accident before the site has been changed, other physical evidence is needed as well.
Since you were hurt in a boating accident, you want pictures of the damage to the boats that were involved. If your clothing was torn or blood stained, you should keep it as well. These photos will show the severity of the impact as well as the angle and the speed at the time of the crash.
Your initial injuries should also be photographed. Keep doctors’ appointments and maintain detailed medical records, including medical bills.
You need to make sure your personal injury attorney has access to the records from all the doctors who treated you for injuries following the crash.
Locate Witnesses
Witnesses can be very important in your personal injury case. If you don’t have the names and contact information of the witnesses, your attorney might be able to help. Personal injury lawyers are skilled in tracking down witnesses.
The Role of a Personal Injury Attorney
Your personal injury attorney can make sure all documentation is put in order and that your evidence is properly filed so support your claim. Your personal injury attorney can improve your odds of being awarded compensation.
