What to Do after an Amazon Truck Accident Injury

Being involved in an Amazon truck accident can put you in a tough spot in more ways than one. In all likelihood, you are not walking out of that incident unscathed. On top of that, you also need to worry about potentially securing compensation from one of the largest companies in the world.

It is easy to get overwhelmed if you ever find yourself in that kind of scenario. However, you cannot afford to give up your fight for compensation.

Here in this article by local truck accident lawyer John Leppler’s injury law firm, we have detailed the steps you must take if you ever end up injured in an Amazon truck accident. Keep them in mind so you can avoid making potentially costly mistakes.

How Common Are Truck Accidents?

Instinctively, you may downplay the possibility that you will ever be involved in a truck accident. After all, you are always careful on the road. As long as you maintain your good habits while sharing the road with trucks, you should be fine.

Of course, that kind of perspective fails to account for the circumstances of the people around you.

The Amazon truck driver in the next lane may be rushing to make a delivery. To meet their deadline, they may have cut their sleep short, so they are tired. Even one momentary lapse of concentration from them can be the cause of a disastrous collision.

If you pull back a little, you may find that large truck accidents are not as uncommon as you may have assumed. According to the National Safety Council, around 107,000 large trucks were involved in accidents that caused an injury back in 2020.

The odds that you could be involved in an Amazon truck accident or a similar incident with a different large vehicle are not zero. That should be reason enough for you to educate yourself following a truck accident, and we can help with that.

The Steps to Take Following an Amazon Truck Accident

The actions you take immediately following any vehicular accident can determine whether or not you will receive compensation. It is important to be fully aware of what you are doing because the consequences of your actions could be massive.

Detailed below are the steps you absolutely must take following the truck accident.

Call 911

In these kinds of chaotic situations, your priority should always be your safety. You need to act quickly, or else the injuries you sustained after colliding with the Amazon truck could get worse.

The best thing you can do at that moment is to call 911. Speak to the dispatcher and ask them to send emergency assistance as quickly as possible. Depending on the severity of your injury, you may also need an ambulance to head to the scene.

Although your injuries may be relatively minor, your passengers may not be as fortunate. They may need an ambulance even if you do not. Check on them before you call 911 to determine what kind of help you need.

While you are on the phone with the dispatcher, you should also ask them to send police to your area. You will need the police to document and investigate the accident. Without their help, the driver of the Amazon truck may also refuse to cooperate.

Make sure there are police officers at the scene because the assistance they provide will be critical.

Exchange Information with the Amazon Truck Driver

To secure compensation for the injuries you sustained from the accident, you need to speak with the other driver. More specifically, you will need important bits of information from them so you can proceed with your lawsuit.

If you are well enough to move around, you can go to the truck driver and ask for the information yourself. Ask for their name, contact details, and insurance information, do not forget to write down the plate number of the truck as well.

You should also ask the driver if they were working when they hit your vehicle. That could be an important factor later, so take note of it now.

The driver of the Amazon truck may also ask for your information. You will not get in trouble for sharing the same details with them, so feel free to do so.

Ask one of your passengers to collect information from the other driver if you are too injured to leave your vehicle.

End Your Conversation with the Driver

While in the middle of exchanging information with the Amazon truck driver, they may start to talk to you about the accident. They may mention something to the effect of owning up to the accident, but they could also throw some additional details in there.

For example, they could suggest that you are partially responsible for what happened.

It would be a big win for them if they get you or your Baltimore truck wreck lawyer to accept a small portion of the blame. Remember, the state of Maryland follows the principle of contributory negligence when it comes to settling personal injury lawsuits.

With the contributory negligence rule in effect, the plaintiff becomes ineligible to receive compensation if they are even 1% responsible for the accident. It does not matter how much blame the other party shoulders as long as they can push at least 1% of it onto you.

You must be aware of how the contributory negligence rule works before speaking with the other party. End the conversation with them as soon as you get the information you need. Tell them that they can speak to your attorney if they have any matters they want to discuss.

If you are asking one of your passengers to speak to the other driver, remind them not to discuss the accident as well.

Obtain the Other Party’s Contact Details from Their Truck

Ideally, the other party will speak to you following the accident and provide all the details you need. That would be ideal, but we all know that things do not often turn out that way. The Amazon truck driver may avoid talking to you, and they may even drive away from the scene.

Even if you cannot get the necessary details directly from the driver, you may still obtain them from Amazon or the third-party company they partnered with. Look at their truck and see if there are any phone numbers or email addresses there. Write down those contact details if you see them and use them to get more information about the driver.

You can also use those details to report the accident directly to Amazon or the company. Once again, you should avoid accepting any amount of blame for the accident while speaking to Amazon or their third-party partner.

Collect Evidence at the Scene of the Accident

Now that you have the information you need from the other party, you can start working on your next task. That next task involves collecting evidence.

You cannot expect the other party to admit that they are the one who caused the accident. If you want to prove their guilt definitively, you will need proof.

Inspect the scene and start taking pictures of it using your phone. Snap some pictures of the road to take note of tire tracks because those could be instrumental in determining guilt. You should also take pictures of the vehicles involved because the police can use them to piece together what happened.

There are other pieces of evidence you can collect at the scene.

While you are outside of the vehicle, you can also start talking to witnesses. Ask them about what they saw and record their accounts using your phone if they agree. Witness testimony can prove valuable in cases like these, so do not hesitate to talk to witnesses if there are any nearby.

Do not forget to also ask for the contact details of the witnesses you spoke to. You can use those details to contact them in the future.

Talk to the Police Officers

Next, you will need to speak to the police officers who come to the scene. The police officers will create a report about the accident, and you will need that when the time comes for you to file your lawsuit.

During your conversation with the police officers, make sure you share your account of what happened. After that, you can also share the evidence you gathered. If you recorded some witness accounts, share those with the police officers.

Ask for the police officer’s contact details before you leave the scene. Make sure you contact them in the future because their assistance will be vital in pushing your case forward.

Head to the Doctor

Truck accidents can cause all kinds of injuries. They can lead to lacerations, soft tissue injuries, broken bones, and even injuries that affect your brain.

Many of the injuries people sustain from vehicular accidents can have long-lasting effects. If you broke a leg or your shoulder during the accident, you could deal with the side effects for the rest of your life. The injured part of your body may never fully recover, and your quality of life may be adversely affected as a result.

Traumatic brain injuries are especially troubling.

According to the CDC, individuals diagnosed with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries may end up dealing with those ailments for a long time. Also, 57% of individuals with those injuries who are still alive five years or more after they were originally injured end up becoming moderately or severely disabled.

Half of those individuals return to the hospital at least one more time, and 33% start relying on others to perform daily tasks.

Visiting the doctor after your involvement in the accident allows you to learn more about your condition. Doing so also gives an insight into what kind of care you will need moving forward.

Avoid Speaking to Insurers or Amazon’s Lawyers

The truck driver probably is not keen on giving you compensation without a fight. Before your lawsuit ever gets to court, representatives of the other driver’s insurance company may contact you. They may also reach out to get you to accept some level of responsibility for what happened.

As we discussed earlier, accepting any amount of blame for the accident can automatically bar you from recovering damages. If you make that mistake, you might as well bid farewell to any hopes you have of receiving compensation.

Do not even bother furthering the discussion with the other party’s insurers. Tell them to talk to your attorney because you will not be commenting on the manner any further. You will not say something that could compromise your case if you refuse to talk.

Aside from the insurers, lawyers representing Amazon may also contact you to discuss a potential settlement. It is up to you to decide if you want to settle, but those offers are almost always lower than what you could receive if you win your case.

Also, you may not be fully aware of what kind of medical care you need at that point. The settlement you accept may not be enough to cover your medical expenses.

Once again, the best course of action is to refer Amazon’s lawyers to your representatives.

Hire a Truck Accident Lawyer

The assistance provided by a Baltimore truck accident lawyer is critical if you were recently involved in an Amazon truck accident. They can contact the police to ask for the accident report, gather additional evidence, and speak to the other party’s legal representatives.

Most importantly, a good personal injury lawyer can handle your case while you focus on your recovery.

Work with us at Leppler Injury Law if you are currently dealing with the aftermath of a truck accident. We can handle every aspect of your case, so you can rest easy. Contact us today if you are eager to learn about the different ways we can help!