Under the Hood of Your North Carolina Car Accident
What do you think happened during your North Carolina car accident? And what’s the difference between your interpretation of what occurred versus what actually happened?
Assuming that there is a difference – that there were aspects of the accident you didn’t understand and don’t currently understand – how do you fill that gap to maximize your potential case’s value, ensure justice is done, and speed up the resolution of your matter?
Interesting questions, aren’t they!
The “Voltage” Problem
It’s important to remember that in almost all accident cases, there is a gap between the perception of the North Carolina car accident and the objective “reality” of that accident, assuming that you could measure and codify everything that happened or went wrong.
For instance, let’s take a very commonplace problem. You stop at a red light. A driver coasts in behind you and bangs your bumper, giving you a mild case of whiplash. The cause (to you) is cut and dry. The driver behind you just wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he or she was chatting on a cell phone or something. But the cause and effect is pretty clear.
And, indeed, it might be. But maybe the person who bumped you tried at the last minute to hit the brakes, but the brakes did not respond effectively. In that case, the accident would have a kind of “hidden cause” that contributed to the damage. Had the person’s brakes functioned at their optimum, then the accident might not have occurred.
That’s a very simple case, but you might be surprised by the diversity and prevalence of “hidden causes.”
In more complicated accidents, the “real objective truth” of the accident may be even harder to discern. For instance: say a trucker hit you on Interstate 95. Consider the unknowns. How well was that trucker trained? Did the trucking company institute appropriate policies for vetting their potential employees? Did the trucker have any history of drug or alcohol use? You have no way of knowing the answers simply from reading the facts of the accident in a police report.
The Danger of Making Too Many Assumptions
If you assume too much about your accident, you run the risk of pursuing the wrong leads, settling for far too little, and allowing potentially liable parties to escape judgment. This much is obvious. But you might be surprised at how often the plaintiff’s insistence (“I know who did it and why!”) impedes progresses in cases.
How to Get All the Facts
To make the most appropriate decisions, you may find it worth your while to talk to a competent and highly experienced North Carolina car accident law firm. A good firm will use powerful investigative techniques, talk to witnesses, and probe under the surface to make sure that you get as close to the “objective truth” about your crash as modern science and forensics will allow.
More Web Resources:
How our perceptions warp our ability to maneuver properly
Hidden causes of accidents
