Witnesses are the best source of information about the occurrence of an auto accident, and injuries that may occur. Most non-professionals consider talking to witnesses about how the auto accident occurred. But an auto accident witness can provide so much more to a competent personal injury attorney. See our link Interviewing an Auto Accident Witness, on all the information our office, as your personal injury attorney, will solicit from a witness to support a winning auto accident case in Los Angeles or Orange County and throughout California. 

Auto accident witnesses can give a statement about the details of how the cars in the auto accident moved, how hard the auto accident collision was, the speeds and movement of objects and passengers within the car when the auto accident occurred, and the injuries, and collision damage seen after the auto accident.

It is very important, when an auto accident occurs to consider getting the witness information at the scene. Get their business card or identifying information, or even a phone number.

If the accident already occurred, contacting the witness after the auto accident is very important. However, it should be done by a professional, for reasons more fully explained in our link, Keeping a Witness from Ruining Your Case.

If you contact an auto accident witness and irritate that person after the auto accident, or if the witness does not want to cooperate because of a fear about "getting involved", you can damage the usefulness of that witness in later proceedings. Therefore, hiring an attorney that specializes in personal injury early in your Auto accident case, is always helpful. If you are interested in hiring an attorney within Los Angeles or Orange County California, that specializes in auto accident cases, please contact us.

If is also important to contact the witness only after you know the viewpoint of that witness. Make sure that the witness does not speculate or give wrong testimony because of a perception of how the accident occurred. Many witnesses are wrong in their observations about speed and distances, and if they give bad testimony from the beginning, it will destroy their credibility later. 

Also take care, when talking to an auto accident witness, that you do not try to persuade the witness to support your version of events as you saw them, without being absolutely sure that your version is accurate. Many clients think they know what happened during an accident sequence.  Unfortunately, because they are under the stress of the accident at the time it is occurring, their version may be physically impossible. An example of such a case is the estimate of speed that a victim reports after being involved in a rear end auto accident collision. While the violence of the accident can be perceived as huge, the collision speed may be less that 15 MPH. Many clients will think the collision occurred because the approaching vehicle "must have been going 50 MPH." Convincing a witness to say the same thing may impeach your credibility and that of the witness, interfering with the settlement of your auto accident claim. Therefore, after an auto accident, it is important that you always let the professional evaluate your case, and speak to the witnesses after your version has been examined.

If you have had an accident in Orange County or Los Angeles County California and are looking for a personal injury attorney that specializes in auto accident recovery, please Contact Us, or call for a free consultation at 1-888-752-7474.