Traffic accidents in Indiana are increasing, including those in Indianapolis and the surrounding area. From 2012 through 2016, the number of motor vehicle accidents in Indiana has increased from 189,183 collisions in 2012 to 223,734 collisions in 2016. Marion County had the highest number of traffic collisions in 2016 with 37,447 collisions that year. Passenger vehicles, including cars, pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, and vans, reported the highest number of collisions each year during the 5-year period.
Thousands of people suffer from car accident injuries, and hundreds are killed in car accidents while driving on Indiana roadways every year. Poynter & Bucheri, accident attorneys fight for the victims of car accidents. Our Indianapolis car accident lawyers believe that each victim and his or her family deserve to be compensated fully for injuries, losses, property damages, and wrongful death caused by negligent and reckless parties.
You Can Talk to Someone Right Now About Your Case!
If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, we want to hear your story. Call 1-800-265-9881 or (317) 780-8000 now to speak with a PBAR representative. You can also chat with a representative 24/7 on our website to get the help you need now!
Common Causes of Car Accidents in Indianapolis
Car accidents are very rarely “accidents.” In almost every car crash, someone is responsible for causing the collision through negligence, recklessness, or carelessness. Some of the most common causes of car wrecks in Indianapolis include:
- Driver Error — Driver error is the most common cause of traffic accidents. When drivers are reckless or negligent, crashes occur. Common examples of driver error include distracted driving, DUI accidents, drowsy driving, speeding, drugged driving, following too closely, and violations of other traffic laws.
- Defective Products — Defective car parts and defective systems can lead to crashes. If the brakes are defective or a tire is defective, the driver may lose control of the vehicle. When a defective product is a factor in a crash, the manufacturer may be held liable for damages.
- Poor Weather Conditions — Fog, wind, rain, sleet, snow, and other weather conditions can be a factor in a car accident. However, drivers are also at fault when they fail to reduce their speed or take other measures to reduce the risk of a car accident.
- Hazardous or Dangerous Road Conditions — In some crashes, road conditions may be a contributing factor to the cause of the crash. Missing or malfunction traffic signals, defectively designed roads, missing guardrails, inadequate signage, overgrown foliage, and improper road maintenance can be factors in a crash. A government entity, contractor, or another party may be liable for damages for car crashes caused by road conditions.
Proving Fault in a Car Accident Case
It is important for our PBAR car accident attorneys to determine the cause of the crash because Indiana is a fault insurance state for car accident claims. In other words, you must prove that the other party was “at fault” for the crash to recover maximum compensation for your injuries and damages. In some Indianapolis car accidents, it is easy to determine fault. For instance, a driver turns left in front of another vehicle or a driver runs a red light. In these cases, it should be clear that the driver who violated traffic laws was at fault for the crash.
However, insurance providers do not enjoy paying large settlement claims for car accidents. Therefore, insurance adjusters may initially deny valid claims by disputing fault. Our Indianapolis car accident lawyers work quickly to obtain evidence that proves the other driver or another party was at fault for the crash. Our goal is to quash any claim the insurance company may try to make that prevents you from recovering full compensation for all damages.
Some of the evidence we collect to establish fault for a car crash include:
- Evidence from the accident scene, including photographs, videos, and physical evidence
- Physical evidence from the vehicles involved in the crash
- Copies of your medical records, doctor’s statements and medical bills
- Statements from eyewitnesses
- Copies of the police accident report
In complex cases in which fault may be disputed, our team of car accident attorneys in Indianapolis may retain experts, including accident reconstructionists or engineers, to help establish the cause of the collision and identify the responsible party.
If you are injured in a car crash, seek immediate medical attention and then call our office to consult with one of our Indianapolis car accident lawyers. Visit our contact page to request a free case review or call 1-800-265-9881 or (317) 780-8000 to speak with a representative.
How Much Money is My Car Accident Claim Worth?
The value of a car accident claim depends on several factors, including the type and severity of your injuries and the financial losses incurred because of the crash. Damages in a car accident claim include economic damages and non-economic damages.
Examples of economic damages that you may recover compensation for include damage to property, cost of medical treatment, lost wages, travel expenses, medical equipment, physical therapy, medications, and other out-of-pocket costs. In addition to the total of economic losses, an accident victim is also entitled to pain and suffering or non-economic damages.
Non-economic damages are intended to compensate a victim for the pain and suffering caused by the accident. Your physical pain, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional stress, permanent impairments, and mental anguish are included in this category of damages. It can be very difficult to place a value on a person’s pain and suffering. Because Indiana’s personal injury laws do not contain a formula for calculating pain and suffering damages, you need an experienced Indianapolis car accident attorney to establish the value of your claim.
The accident attorneys of Poynter & Bucheri, LLC understand how to use the evidence in a case to arrive at a fair and just amount for pain and suffering damages. We use the evidence and your statements to justify the maximum amount of compensation for non-economic damages.
Call 1-800-265-9881 or (317) 780-8000 now to discuss the value of your car accident claim with one of our Indianapolis car accident lawyers.
PBAR Specializes in Helping Car Accident Victims Like You!
Call our law firm at 1-800-265-9881 or (317) 780-8000 to request your free consultation with an Indianapolis car accident attorney. Your free case review includes an explanation of your legal rights, a discussion of your options, and our legal opinion of your claim based on our years of experience handling car accident claims in Indianapolis.
Do not hesitate to call!
You need an aggressive personal injury lawyer to fight for your rights. The insurance adjuster does not represent your best interests. Let Poynter & Bucheri Law Office protect you and your family from insurance companies seeking to undervalue and deny your valid insurance claim.
Video Transcript
Hi, I'm Rich Bucheri from Poynter & Bucheri. And today, I want to talk about how to make an auto accident insurance claim. So the first thing that I would say is if you're involved in an accident, it's very important that you exchange insurance information with the person that hits you, and try to get that information at the scene of the accident. Sometimes they make you wait until the police report comes out, but that can take days or I've even seen weeks in order to do that. And you really want to try to get these auto claims set up right away, especially if your car had to be towed and is incurring storage charges or you're incurring rental car charges. You want to make sure that this process gets going as quickly as possible.
Now, I would say caveat, consider contacting an attorney to do all this for you because when you are setting up your claim, you're going to be asked questions and things of that nature. And you may want to make sure that you're getting all this information correct because you don't want to say anything during the time that you're setting up your case that's later going to compromise your case. But when you are setting this up yourself, you need to make sure that you get their insurance company and get your insurance company information together. Make sure that you're going to be contacting the claims department of each of the insurance companies. Sometimes you're going to be on hold for 20, 30, 40 minutes or so. But you need to make sure that you can do that. Sometimes, insurance companies have online portals where you can set up the claims online. And so you can take advantage of that.
When you do finally get ahold of somebody, make sure that you have all the facts ready. They're going to be looking for the date, the time, the location. And they're going to want to know all the details about your vehicle. I would be hesitant to give a formal recorded statement about how the accident actually happened or the nature and extent of your injuries until you've had time to prepare for that. And again, I would ask that you consider contacting an attorney because it's always a good idea to have an attorney prepare you before you're giving a formal statement about what happened in an accident.