Establishing fault after a T-bone accident is a critical step toward a successful insurance claim or lawsuit, allowing victims to recover compensation for all the consequences of the accident.
Lawyers play a crucial role in this process by gathering and analyzing all available evidence to construct a comprehensive picture of what happened, such as:
Police report: A police report details the first-hand observations of the officers who went to the scene, any citations they issued for traffic law violations, statements from the parties involved, and witnesses' accounts. In some cases, these reports may contain an initial assessment of fault, which can significantly contribute to the fault determination process.
Physical evidence: Damage to vehicles, skid marks, vehicle debris, or any other physical evidence at the crash scene can offer clues about how the accident transpired.
Crash footage: It is relatively common for nearby security cameras and dash cams to capture footage of a T-bone accident, which provides critical visual evidence and a real-time account of the incident.
Eyewitness reports: Statements from people who witnessed the accident can provide a valuable and objective account of what happened, especially when the drivers' stories conflict.
Consulting With Reconstruction Specialists
In more serious crashes, where the injuries are severe and fault remains unclear, lawyers may bring in car accident reconstruction specialists. These specialists use scientific methods to analyze the crash.
They may review physical evidence, study crash footage, and use computer programs to recreate the accident. They can analyze the data for vehicles with a black box or event data recorder to determine factors that led up to the collision, such as speed, braking, and steering input.