Auto accidents are extremely traumatic to go through due to the resultant physical injuries and emotional fallout, as well as the financial consequences. This experience can be made even worse if said accident was not your fault. Auto accidents may see you lose out on work, social connections, and support, and without legal assistance, you may be looking at bankruptcy due to the endless medical bills that may come your way. However, auto accidents where the other driver flees the scene can be particularly distressing and leave you with more questions as you try to recover compensation from an individual who may be next to impossible to pin down. Hit-and-run accidents, as they are otherwise known, involve the accident perpetrator or guilty party leaving the scene of the accident after causing injury with their vehicle at high speed, ostensibly done to escape blame, responsibility, and legal liability. Hit-and-run accidents present unique challenges when it comes to collecting compensation because the perpetrator will not come out of hiding on their own. That said, just because someone fled the scene of the accident doesn’t mean you cannot recover compensation for your injuries. Read on to discover how we can help you with this unique case thanks to our vast experience in handling auto accident claims in general.

Are you looking for a skilled hit-and-run auto accident attorney? Please call us NOW at 312-444-0214 to learn more about your legal options for justice and compensation. The experienced auto accident lawyers at McCready Law bring to the table over 50 years of combined legal expertise, and having been in operation for 25 years as a law firm, we’ve been able to recover hundreds of millions of dollars for past clients in both litigation and settlement negotiations. What sets us apart making us the natural, go-to law firm for hit-and-run accident cases is the fact that we are not afraid to litigate cases in a court of law which is not something most law firms would be interested in doing. Litigation can be costly, time-consuming and emotionally taxing, but the reality is that clients who have suffered catastrophic injuries may need to undergo extensive medical treatment over a number of months or years and won’t be able to work for a very long time, meaning recovering maximum compensation for these individuals is the best course of action, with settlement negotiations taking the back seat in favor of litigation due to the latter being more favorable to substantial payouts. We run a bilingual office (hablamos Espanol), and we take all cases on contingency fee basis, meaning there are ZERO UPFRONT FEES for the duration of the processing of your claim as we only levy our fees at the end of the suit, and only if we’ve successfully won your case for you. Regardless of where you are in the country, please call us NOW at 312-444-0214 to receive your 100% FREE legal consultation with one of our best hit-and-run accident attorneys – our intake team is standing by.

The Psychological Consequences of Hit-and-Run Accidents to the Victim

Hit-and-run accidents can happen in any number of accident scenarios, from small fender benders to crashes which leave the other party with injuries or fatalities. Individuals who flee the scene of the crime do so for a number of reasons such as a sudden panic, the fear of the legal consequences, not being in the right frame of mind due to inebriation or intoxication, and even lack of insurance. The psychological toll of a hit-and-run incident can leave you with more questions than answers, causing a barrage of emotions such as anger, anxiety, confusion and helplessness. In addition, it may make you afraid of driving again, due to the fact that you may have an unreasonable amount of anxiety owing to the fact that you believe, however irrationally, that the same thing will occur once again in the future, a classic sign of PTSD. Anxiety, depression and a vicious cycle of despair, hopelessness and cynicism follow soon after as you try to make sense of it all. Therapy and support groups here become very instrumental when it comes to helping you process your thoughts so you can achieve closure after such as heinous act.

How Insurance May Help in Hit-and-Run Accidents

Thankfully, all is not lost if you were involved in a hit-and-run accident; various avenues exist to help you recover compensation for the same, with the first one being uninsured motors coverage, or UM coverage. This is a type of insurance which was created to protect drivers in cases where the other driver cannot be identified or is uninsured. Uninsured motorist coverage is an optional policy which pays out should you sustain bodily injury, property damages, and other accident related losses. What’s great about this policy is that the other party doesn’t have to be found in order for you to qualify.

The second option you have available is to file a claim with your own insurance. Experienced or long-standing drivers may have personal injury protection insurance which is available in some states and typically covers things like lost wages and medical expenses as you wait to file a claim or seek other avenues for compensation. Additionally, collision coverage may pay out for things like vehicle or property damage, as well as car repair costs or if your vehicle is totaled, the cost or the actual cash value of your vehicle.

Filing a Police Report is Essential After a Hit-and-Run Accident

Despite the fact that the individual who caused your accident may have fled the scene, you’re still required to file a report with the police. This is a vital step that can help in unmasking the perpetrator in a number of ways. You’re required to call the police at once and provide them with all the information you have and can recall, such as the color, make, model of the vehicle that speeded off, as well as their plate number if you can remember it. Once the police arrive at the scene, file a report with them so they have an official copy of what happened, but make sure to request a copy of the same for your records. Doing so will help the police initiate an investigation which will help you unearth clues which may go a long way in helping you unmask the hit-and-run perpetrator and bring them to justice.

Evidence Can Help Resolve a Hit-and-Run Accident

Last, but certainly not least, is the appreciation of the importance of evidence in these cases. Evidence can blow a case wide open and help not only corroborate your claims, but also add to the damages you seek as well as ensuring the perpetrator has their day in court and is punished by having their license suspended or canceled so they don’t repeat something similar on our roads in the future. At the scene of the accident, take photos and video if you can, or ask someone else to do it, while focusing on your injuries as well as damage to your vehicle. If there were any witnesses who stopped to try and assist, ensure to gather their contact information as well as written or recorded statements with their consent. These statements may help reveal more information about the perpetrator, such as their appearance, license plate and so on. Lastly, look for any surveillance cameras in nearby residences and businesses which may have captured the accident as this kind of evidence may be difficult to shoot down or question should the hit-and-run accident go to trial.

Best, Countrywide Hit-and-Run Accident Lawyers – Call Us Today!

If you were involved in an auto accident, we’d like to ask that you do not attempt to go it alone as this may jeopardize your chances of ever recovering compensation. Instead, reach out to us NOW at 312-444-0214 so we can not only guide you the process, but also expedite it thanks to our expertise and negotiation skills garnered over the years. In addition, we can assess your case and identify all the damages you can recover so you’re able to increase your settlement or judgment amount as much as the law will allow. Remember, our legal consultation is 100% FREE, and we take on hit-and-run cases countrywide. Thanks for choosing McCready Law, and we look forward to helping you.