If you can hold a phone, take these before the scene is cleared. If you cannot, ask a rider who stopped.
- All vehicles, from four corners, including plates.
- The point of impact on the car — bumper height matters in a motorcycle case.
- Lane lines, the signal, sight obstructions, and where you were when you first saw the car.
- Your bike as it lies, then the damage once it is upright.
- Helmet, jacket, boots, and gloves, including the outside scuffs.
- Your injuries, that day and over the next two weeks.
- The other driver’s insurance card, if it is handed to you.
Do not narrate fault into a video. Photograph. The argument can wait until someone who tries cases has seen the frames.
Written for riders in California as general information from the Bike911 practice of A.G. Assanti & Associates, P.C. It is not advice about your facts, and it is not a substitute for counsel. Deadlines can be shorter than you think.
Related
- After a motorcycle accident, what should I do first?
- Should I talk to the insurance company before a lawyer?
- What happens if I was partially at fault?
- How does a lawyer decide what a case is worth?
- What evidence disappears quickly after an accident?
- Can I still claim if I did not go to the hospital?
- When does an insurance company become unreasonable?
- What is the difference between settling and going to trial?
- What actually happens after a case goes to trial?
- Is lane splitting legal, and does it sink a claim?
- Does California helmet law affect a claim?