What To Do the First 7 Days After a Truck Accident in Chicago

The moments immediately following a collision with a semi-truck are often a blur. That’s not surprising given that a fully loaded tractor-trailer is about 40 tons of metal and rubber, about 15 to 20 times heavier than a regular passenger car. A tractor trailer traveling 65 miles an hour needs the length of two football fields to come to a complete stop. It’s not surprising to know that passengers involved in truck accidents usually sustain serious physical and sometimes fatal injuries.

For families involved in a Truck Accident in Chicago, this is compounded by the sheer density of traffic on arteries like the Kennedy, the Dan Ryan, or the Eisenhower and then there is the frequent road construction that Chicagoans know all too well. If it is the winter, road conditions, plowing and visibility will also play a major role.

If you have been in a collision with a truck, the first 7 days is the most critical period for your recovery and your potential legal case. Decisions made in even in the first 7 days can define the outcome of the next few years of your life and families. This guide provided by Vinkler Law details exactly what Chicago families need to do to protect your health and your rights the first 7 days after a truck accident.

Upon Impact In A Truck Accident in Chicago

You just got hit by a truck. Stay Calm. Easy to say, difficult to do. If your family is with you. Remind everyone not to text or post anything about what has just happened. It is important to remember to post nothing on social media about the accident. If it is determined that there was wrongdoing on the part of the driver or that the truck was faulty in some way it is imperative, you and your family remain off social media about the accident throughout the entire time the case is investigated and legally pursued. Insurance companies and their lawyers will scour social media for how you or your family comment or report on what has happened. Any social content you or your family post about the incident may be used against you or a claim you may rightfully be asserting.

Call 911 to request police and an ambulance. This is important, even if you do not think you are hurt, you want yourself and anyone in the car with you examined to have an unbiased report. The trucking company will most likely send its own analyst to the scene. You also want the police to arrive because you want a documented police report that will be the foundational formal record for any claim that may be filed in Chicago. Before you leave the scene ask the police officer for the formal report number. You will need this number to get the formal report the next day.

Photographs of the Truck Accident in Chicago

Have a phone that takes pictures? Remember to take as many images as possible of everything relevant to the collision from various angles. If you did not do this when the collision happened, remember to do this before your vehicle is repaired or salvaged. Capture the damage from multiple angles. If you or anyone in the car you were driving sustained visible injuries, take pictures of the injuries too and as injuries darken or swell, continue to document the changes in the bruising.

Witnesses

Did anyone stop? Did you get a phone number? Call them now about your truck accident in Chicago, while their memory is fresh. Ask them what they saw and write it down. Chicago is a busy city; witnesses move or change numbers frequently. Securing their account early is vital.

Walking Away Feeling Fine Does Not Mean You Are Fine

Often times people walk away from a truck accident having been through a preliminary checkup feeling fine and do nothing else. If you have been in a collision with a truck, get a medical evaluation. It is rarely the case that you walk away from a collision with a 40-ton tractor trailer without sustaining injuries. Often times these injuries will not present for days. If you wait three-to-four days to get examined, the insurance company representing the trucking company will use this against you and argue that whatever injury is discovered was in fact caused by something else and in no way is correlated to the collision. Do not wait to get the necessary imaging tests and thorough medical exam to determine if you have sustained any of the common hidden injuries associated with truck collisions. Once you leave the Emergency room, be sure to keep all the documentation any prescriptions you have been given, discharge summary and imaging scans.

Some of the common “hidden” injuries are below and can cause ongoing medical issues.

• Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs): Concussions may just feel like a headache initially.
• Internal Bleeding: Seatbelts save lives but can cause internal trauma during high-speed stops.
• Spinal Damage: Herniated discs or soft tissue damage may manifest as stiffness before turning into debilitating pain.

Days 1-through-3: If you Don’t have Evidence Then You Can’t Prove it

Every car and truck accident is issued a full report and given a report number. You will not get the report the day of the accident. But you have the report number you asked for the day of the accident.

Once you get the report, Vinkler Law recommends you review it carefully. As with any written documentation, mistakes can happen. Check for accuracy regarding the time, location, weather conditions, and the truck driver’s recount of what happened. If the report says you were in the left lane and you were in the right lane you need to know now, not six months from now. This is something you want to review with Vinkler Law, and they will handle how to rectify this. Yet another reason to have an expert legal team represent you.

During the first two days you want to contact Vinkler Law to be sure the trucking company preserves the evidence and to ensure this happens a legal team has to issue a “spoliation letter.”

You Need a Lawyer to Ensure Critical Trucking Evidence is Preserved

You can secure your evidence by getting the police report but in a truck crash, the evidence is inside the truck or the company’s servers. It is remarkable how much data is actually collected about the driver’s driving habits. Trucking companies are legally allowed to delete or overwrite this data after a certain period of time unless they are formally told to stop. This is why contacting an attorney within the first 48 hours is so important. A lawyer can send a “Spoliation Letter” requiring the trucking company to immediately freeze the data on the truck that hit you. This allows your attorney to get experts to analyze the data which is precisely what you want to have happen.

If this letter is not received, then all the data that may be evidence to support your rightful claim for injuries you sustained will disappear and with that any support for expenses you are incurring including time lost from work, medical bills, physical therapy and rental car.

Day 2–5: Handling the Insurance Strategy

By now the phone starts to ring. You should notify your auto insurance company of what happened, where it happened; when it happened; the truck that was involved and indicate that you are seeking medical treatment. Avoid unnecessary chatter or speculation about how you think the accident may have happened or how you are feeling. You are not the expert who is analyzing the accident, and you are not the medical expert charged with assessing your current medical state. When interacting with your insurance company at this stage stick to the basic facts and let Vinkler Law handle the rest.

The Trucking Company’s Insurer

Chances are you will be contacted by someone from the trucking company who sounds very solicitous and sympathetic. They will ask if they can record the phone call, the answer is a polite, NO. They will offer to pay for a rental car and cut a check now for your troubles. Your response to these offers is to decline them. They will ask you to sign a release of your medical records. Again, you should politely decline.

These are trained paid professionals hired by the trucking company to get you to settle now, avoid lawyers and the compensation you rightfully are owed. They are hired to keep costs down and cases out of court and away from lawyers.

Day 3–7: Understanding the Legal Landscape

The trauma of surviving a collision with an 80-ton tractor trailer was enough trauma. By now it should have set in as you miss work, your car repairs will take at months, and the doctor bills are piling up that calling Vinkler Law Day #2 to ensure the trucking preserved the evidence was the right thing to do.

Now you have Chicago’s expert, personal injury legal team on your side ensuring that you will get the settlement you deserve for the collision. With a 95% success rate with clients just like you, you have the peace of mind knowing that you have the best and most expert team representing your interests. The sooner you call Vinkler Law, the better your chances of getting justice. If you’ve been in a collision with a truck, don’t hesitate. You want the data that may have the evidence you need preserved. Call Vinkler Law today, the consultation is no charge, you have nothing to lose and so much more to gain.

Contact Vinkler Law Today

Call Vinkler Law today, the consultation is no charge, you have nothing to lose and so much more to gain.