Texas law requires you to immediately report a crash to the police if it causes death or significant injury to anyone, or if it causes disabling damage to a vehicle. The officers dispatched to investigate car accidents will do so and produce a report that summarizes their findings.
That report often contains information vital to a car accident lawyer to prepare an insurance claim or lawsuit. At Anderson Injury Lawyers, we build our clients’ injury cases with information from the report to help obtain fair compensation for accident-related losses. Thus, it is essential to know what to do when the police crash report is wrong in Fort Worth, TX.
If you’ve been in a wreck and your accident report includes incorrect information, call our personal injury lawyers at (817) 294-1900 to find out how we can help. We offer free consultations.
How Anderson Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Car Accident in Fort Worth, TX
Anderson Injury Lawyers was founded nearly two decades ago to represent accident victims throughout Fort Worth, Texas, as they pursue financial compensation. Our Fort Worth personal injury attorneys have decades of experience fighting for the rights of injured people by standing up to at-fault drivers and their insurers.
Following a car accident caused by another driver’s negligence that injures you, our team will offer the following forms of assistance:
- Listening to you describe your accident and injuries
- Building your case using the crash report, medical files, and other evidence
- Filing an insurance claim and discussing your settlement options with the insurer
- Pursuing a lawsuit against the other driver if the settlement discussions fail
You are entitled to seek compensation for crash injuries resulting from someone else’s unreasonable carelessness, so do not hesitate to contact us and schedule a free consultation with a Fort Worth car accident attorney as soon as possible.
Contents of an Accident Report
A crash report contains the following identifying information so the parties involved in the accident can file insurance claims or lawsuits:
- Names and addresses of drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and property owners involved
- Vehicle descriptions
- License plate numbers
- Vehicle insurance policy information
The crash report will also include the following information about the accident itself:
- Date and time
- Location
- Fatalities, injuries, and property damage caused
- Name of the investigating officer
A crash report ends with a diagram of the crash scene and a description of the collision. An officer may also include the names and addresses of any eyewitnesses.
How Are Crash Reports Used in Car Accident Cases?
Crash reports are typically used in car accident cases in two ways:
They Provide a More Objective View of What Happened
First, they give insurance companies an objective view of the accident. The parties may be biased about what occurred, but the investigating officer is supposed to talk to everyone involved, including any witnesses who saw the accident, blending their testimony and evidence to determine what occurred without any predisposition.
The insurance claims adjuster can use the crash report to determine what most likely happened. They will also talk to the insured driver to get their side of the story and may try to schedule a recorded statement with you.
You should strongly consider speaking to a lawyer before you make that appointment, as adjusters can easily twist your words. Your lawyer will likely recommend letting the adjuster rely on the written records, such as the crash report and your medical records, to process the claim, as opposed to hearing from you directly.
They Help Your Attorney Collect Evidence
The second way a crash report can be used is to give your lawyer valuable leads in gathering evidence for your case. The crash report itself may be inadmissible as hearsay evidence. However, your lawyer can still use it to identify witnesses and ask questions to get the testimony necessary to prove your case.
For example, after a rear-end crash, your lawyer might notice that the accident report included an eyewitness statement that the driver was looking down before the collision. The lawyer can then use that information to ask the at-fault driver whether they were texting before the crash.
Correcting a Police Crash Report
Texas law defines who can correct a police report and how they may do so.
Specifically, a police accident report can be changed in the following ways:
- The police officer who prepared the original report can alter a material fact
- Anyone else can add a signed report supplement
By reading between the lines, you will find that anyone can likely make an immaterial change. Thus, another officer can change the car color listed in the report if you submit a photo or a copy of the registration with a change request.
Similarly, typographical errors are corrected differently depending on whether they are material or immaterial. If they are material, such as the address of the crash site or a driver’s name, only the investigating officer can change the original report, even if the error is obvious. Anyone else will need to correct it by adding a signed supplemental page.
Contact Our Fort Worth Car Accident Lawyers for a Free Consultation
A police report can provide essential information for assembling your case, so ensuring everything is correct is crucial. Contact Anderson Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss how our Fort Worth car accident attorneys can use an accurate police accident report to prepare your claim and fight for a fair insurance settlement.