It can happen quickly: a rear-end collision, a failed right of way, and a traffic accident occurs in which one of the parties involved is injured. At the accident scene, people often complain about neck pain, which later leads to a veritable cervical spine distortion, a whiplash injury. And a few weeks after the traffic accident, there is a hearing form or a summons in the mail as the police accused of assault in traffic.
Contacting a personal injury attorney immediately is always the right move in this case. Orange County personal injury lawyers can always come to your aid if you find yourself in such a situation. In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about road traffic injuries, how to behave, and the penalties.
What happens in the event of negligent bodily injury in road traffic?
The procedure for road traffic injuries is as follows:
If a driver has been injured by you as a result of an accident and the police record the accident, in most cases, they will already initiate investigations into road traffic injuries against you. Alternatively, the injured driver can go to the police after the traffic accident and file a criminal complaint against you. From that point on, you are the suspect. This gives them special rights to defend themselves against the allegations. The report is then forwarded to the police and then the public prosecutor.
What should I do if I am responsible for an accident?
Silence is golden!
The most important behavioral tip, which cannot be stressed enough, is to remain silent. As a suspect, you have the right not to provide any information about the facts. Use this opportunity! In a constitutional state, an accused person does not have to incriminate himself, regardless of whether he is guilty or not. While the police may try to suggest this when they remain silent, under no circumstances can this be taken as an admission of guilt. The decisive authority, the public prosecutor’s office, in which fully qualified lawyers decide on their case, also knows this and takes it into account.
Don’t respond to all summons
Under no circumstances should you comply with a police summon, which should be taken as an invitation. Even if a letter from the police is often intimidating and the term “summons” suggests an official and obligatory character, as a suspect, you are under no obligation to appear when the police summons you. They should therefore not appear, since, as they have just learned, they do not in any way get involved in the facts!
The danger of complying with the subpoena and still giving evidence to the police is not only that you incriminate yourself.
Hire a lawyer to defend you against allegations of bodily harm
Contact a lawyer as soon as you receive the letter from the police regarding the motor vehicle assault. This should be a personal injury lawyer or even a criminal lawyer to defend you in the best possible way from a professional point of view.
For your defense, please do not turn to a “general lawyer” or even to a lawyer who specializes in completely different areas of law. Personal injury law requires dedicated knowledge of the special features of law and a feeling and experience for practice to be able to achieve the best possible result for you.
Therefore, you should also avoid hiring a lawyer friend who has handled all of your legal matters in the past. Personal injury law is about much more than money between two parties. To put it bluntly, in this type of law, you have the entire rule of law against you, while you have to defend yourself against the allegations.Visit Links Builds for writing services.