Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
i was rear ended causing me to bump the car in front of me. all cars were off the road and no one spoke english so i gave the lady i bumped my insurance information and showed her the car at fault. i then left without collecting information from them. what should i do now? no one has contacted me.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Congratulations on your sudden ability to speak English. Don't speak or give statements to anyone about the accident except to your own insurer. It was questionable judgment on your part not to get the information from the driver behind you, or at least write down the car's license plate and VIN numbers. If you are lucky, the driver in front of you will have collected this information.
You could check to see if any police report was prepared, although if you left the scene of an accident before everyone was done meeting with you [normally is speaking with you] you have violated the law. Your insurance company will not pay under uninsured motorist coverage because yo do not know that the other driver was uninsured. There is very little you can unless the DMV lists accidents by street location. Speak to the traffic Engineer of the public entity where the accident happened as they try to keep track of accident rates and might have information on some of the drivers.