What to Do After a Serious Truck Accident

The hours and days after a serious truck crash are chaotic — and they are also when the most important decisions get made, often without families realizing it. This is plain-language guidance, not a substitute for advice about your specific situation.

First: medical care, without exception. Get evaluated even if you feel functional; serious injuries — including brain injuries — can present hours or days later and prompt treatment creates the medical record every claim rests on.

Preserve what you can. Photographs of vehicles, the scene, road conditions and visible injuries. Names and numbers of witnesses. The police report number and responding agency. The truck's carrier name, USDOT number and license plates if visible.

Do not give the trucking company's insurer a recorded statement. Their representatives may call quickly and sound helpful; their job is to limit what the carrier pays. You are not required to give a recorded statement before speaking with your own counsel.

Get counsel involved early. Electronic logging data, engine downloads, dashcam video and dispatch records can be overwritten or lost within days. A board certified truck accident attorney sends formal preservation demands immediately — before the evidence a case needs disappears.

Joshua Leizerman, Esq. reviews every serious truck crash inquiry personally, at no cost, any time: (419) 260-0377. You can call from the hospital, from home or on behalf of a family member.