Collecting Information from St. Louis Car Accident Witnesses

Eye witnesses can provide extremely valuable information to prove a St. Louis car accident claim.

In the event of a St. Louis car accident, it is important to exchange insurance information and some other key details that may be helpful in filing a claim. However, some cases are more complicated and you may need more information. While they may seem quite straightforward to you, there may be questions about fault and liability. When collecting a settlement for the damages, you may have to provide enough evidence to prove that the other driver was at fault, and in doing so, witnesses can play a crucial role. In some cases, your ability to recover damages may depend entirely on what the witnesses say.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you may find it difficult to approach witnesses, and you may not know what questions to ask from them. In this post, our attorneys will highlight the important information you should collect from witnesses.

Gathering important information from the eye witnesses

Collecting information or testimony from witnesses is one of the most important steps after a car accident. Any piece of information to collect from the witness should offer important details of the car accident from a point view that is not available to you or to the other parties involved. Although each car accident is different, when you collect information from the witnesses, you should ask the following questions:

• Where was the witness at the time of the accident?
• What were they doing at the time of the crash or where were they going to or coming from?
• How much time did the witness spend at the accident scene?
• At what point did they notice the crash (before, during or after it happened)?
• How far away were they in relation to the accident?
• Did they have a clear view of the accident?
• Ask them for a description of the accident

You should seek some other information from the witnesses as well, depending on the nature of the accident. Apart from the information mentioned above, you should get the contact information of the witnesses. Do not rely on your memory, take notes on what they say.

Additional Questions

Additional questions witnesses may be asked include:

• Where the vehicles came from, time during the accident, the position of the vehicles before and after the accident, and how the crash occurred?
• Whether the weather seemed to be a contributing factor, such as glare or slippery roads
• What distance the cars were from each other before and after the crash?
• Specific details about the accident scene such as street light, presence of other witnesses. Get them to draw a diagram if you can.