The Crash Is Over. The Evidence Clock Has Already Started.
The first hours and days after a traffic accident can shape the medical record, the available evidence, and the insurance claim. Emery Wilkerson Law provides a practical action plan and reviews time-sensitive crash claims.
Take care of your health. Preserve what already exists. Avoid guessing. Get a legal review before critical evidence disappears or a deadline passes.
A clear, non-sensational checklist for the first 72 hours.
Identify records, photographs, witnesses, vehicles, and electronic data before they are lost.
A legal team reviews the facts, insurance issues, and potentially responsible parties.
Your 10-Minute Crash Response Plan
A steady sequence to protect health, evidence, and the record — without guessing.
- 01Step 1
Address urgent medical and safety needs first. Call 911 or seek immediate care when needed.
- 02Step 2
Report the crash accurately. Obtain the report or incident number when available.
- 03Step 3
Photograph the vehicles, roadway, traffic controls, weather, debris, visible injuries, and damaged personal property when it is safe and lawful to do so.
- 04Step 4
Save names and contact information for drivers, passengers, witnesses, responding agencies, tow companies, and medical providers.
- 05Step 5
Preserve dash-camera files, vehicle-app data, rideshare receipts, delivery records, text messages, call logs, and any available video. Do not alter or delete evidence.
- 06Step 6
Notify the appropriate insurer accurately and within applicable policy requirements. Do not speculate about speed, distance, fault, diagnosis, or prognosis.
- 07Step 7
Keep every estimate, receipt, medical instruction, work note, claim number, letter, email, and text message in one place.
- 08Step 8
Request a legal review before signing a broad release, providing unrestricted medical authorization, or accepting a settlement intended to resolve the injury claim.
Evidence that can disappear quickly.
- Surveillance video from businesses, homes, traffic systems, parking facilities, and public vehicles.
- Commercial-vehicle camera, telematics, electronic logging, dispatch, inspection, and maintenance data.
- Vehicle event data, connected-car information, app records, and mobile-device evidence.
- Roadway conditions, construction configuration, debris, skid marks, damaged barriers, and traffic-control timing.
- Independent witness memories and contact information.
- The condition of the vehicles, tires, lights, safety systems, child restraints, and damaged property before repair or disposal.
Seven mistakes that can complicate a claim.
A single early decision can influence months of medical, insurance, and legal work.
- 01
Ignoring significant symptoms or failing to obtain appropriate medical care.
- 02
Guessing or exaggerating when speaking with police, medical providers, insurers, or witnesses.
- 03
Posting new crash, travel, activity, or medical content that can be taken out of context.
- 04
Deleting existing social-media, message, photograph, or video evidence.
- 05
Repairing, selling, or disposing of a vehicle before important evidence is documented.
- 06
Signing a broad release or unrestricted authorization without understanding it.
- 07
Assuming that a police notation, traffic ticket, apology, or property-damage decision conclusively determines civil liability.
Types of collisions the firm considers.
- Car, SUV, van, pickup, and multi-vehicle collisions.
- Commercial truck, delivery fleet, work vehicle, and company-driver crashes.
- Motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, and hit-and-run incidents.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist issues.
- Roadway, construction-zone, defective-vehicle, and potentially responsible third-party claims.
- Government and public-vehicle incidents that may involve special notice procedures.
- Catastrophic injury and fatal collision matters brought by a legally authorized person.
What the legal review examines.
- Who may be legally responsible — not merely who received a citation.
- Which insurance policies, employers, vehicle owners, commercial entities, or other parties may be involved.
- What evidence exists, who controls it, and whether preservation action may be necessary.
- The medical record, symptom timeline, diagnosis, functional limitations, prognosis, and prior conditions.
- Lost income, diminished capacity, out-of-pocket expenses, household impact, and future needs.
- Recorded statements, authorizations, payments, liens, subrogation, releases, and coverage disputes.
- The governing jurisdiction, deadlines, notice requirements, and procedural risks.
Deliberate, private, and case specific.
- 01
Stabilize and Preserve
Address medical needs and preserve the records, images, contacts, and items already available to you.
- 02
Submit the Secure Review
Provide the date, location, crash type, injuries, insurer contact, and available documents through a secure intake process.
- 03
Receive a Case-Specific Assessment
The firm determines whether additional investigation is appropriate and whether representation may be offered through a written agreement.
Continue in the encrypted intake — voluntary and conditional.
A longer, conditional-logic intake covers conflict names, contact preferences, crash facts, parties and companies, police and report data, witnesses and evidence, commercial/work/rideshare/delivery/government/roadway/product involvement, injuries and care timeline, insurance and coverage, work and income impact, existing counsel, and urgent routing flags. Uploads (PDF, JPG, PNG, HEIC) use encrypted private storage, file validation, malware scanning, signed access, and retention controls. Do not upload Social Security numbers, complete medical files, account numbers, or documents you are not authorized to possess.
Urgent routing flags include catastrophic injury, fatality, surgery or hospitalization, commercial truck, public or government entity, minor, estate, multiple claimants, deadline within fourteen days, vehicle scheduled for destruction or repair, signed release, pending lawsuit, existing counsel, or hearing.
Answers before the first phone call.
What if I did not take photographs at the scene?
A claim does not automatically fail because photographs are unavailable. Police materials, vehicle images, witness accounts, nearby cameras, tow records, electronic data, medical records, and other evidence may still matter.
What if I did not feel injured immediately?
Some symptoms arise later. Seek appropriate medical care when symptoms develop and describe them accurately. Delayed symptoms may be disputed, so the medical and factual timeline matters.
Should I move or repair the vehicle?
Safety, storage costs, insurer requirements, and evidence needs can conflict. Photograph the vehicle thoroughly and request prompt advice if a serious injury, commercial vehicle, product issue, or liability dispute may make the vehicle important evidence.
Does downloading the action plan create representation?
No. The resource is general information. Representation begins only after a conflicts review and a written engagement agreement signed by the firm and client.
How much time do I have?
Deadlines vary by state, defendant, insurance policy, and claim type. Government, public-vehicle, minor, estate, wrongful-death, and insurance claims may involve special or shorter procedures. The web form does not stop any deadline.
The Best Time to Preserve Evidence Is Before It Disappears.
Use the crash action plan now, then request a confidential review of the collision, injuries, insurance, and next steps.
Submission does not create an attorney-client relationship or stop any deadline. Preview the confirmation page.