Six Things A Police Report Tells You After a Car Accident in IL – Chicago Lawyer Advice

1)        Who was involved in the IL auto accident.

The crash report tells you who owned and operated the vehicles. Generally, the vehicle owner could be partially responsible. Cullotta Law Offices in Glenview Illinois can help you understand why partial liability in Illinois could be the difference between recovery and no recovery.  By calling Cullotta Law Offices, you will learn why it is important to be certain of the identity of who hit you and what to do if that person was driving someone else’s vehicle. 

Police reports will also contain information about any witnesses at the scene.  Witnesses may be occurrence witnesses or before and after the occurrence witnesses.  Witnesses listed on the police report will include any passengers in each vehicle involved in the auto accident. Other information about the passengers included in the officer’s report is who was in what vehicle, where they were seated, their names, addresses, and date of births. 

Police reports also identify insurance companies. The IL police report also helps you identify the insured and insurance company. A Personal Injury Lawyer Cullotta can usually give you an idea of how much the at-fault-drivers auto insurance policy limits are based on who the insurance carrier is.  Lack of auto insurance on a police report doesn’t necessarily mean you still can’t recover money damages from someone. Contact Cullotta Law Offices, to learn how recovery for injuries due to an at-fault drive may still be viable even though no they were uninsured at the time of the crash. At-fault driver’s lack of insurance doesn’t necessarily eliminate all possible means of recovery.

2)        What Were Driving Conditions

Driving too fast for conditions is a reason an at-fault driver could be found negligent in an IL auto accident case. A police report tells you if the roads wet immediately after the crash.  

3)     Where each person was seated in the vehicles and if they sustained any visible injuries

The IL police report tells you where each person was seated at the time of the Glenview IL automobile accident.   Injuries that an officer can see at the scene are given a code on the crash. Police officers will note in their report the extent of the injury, according to the police officer, as well as the time, date, and location of the scene.

4)      Traffic Court Date

If you do not show up for the traffic court date. Generally, the tickets issued on the day of the accident will be dismissed if both parties do not appear on the court date set on the police report. Without this report, you will not show up for that court date.

5)        Why Accident Occurred

An accident report has many codes along the edge of the report.  Illinois police reports have codes to help identify how the vehicles were moving just before, during, and after the accident.  The codes will also identify how many lanes, the weather conditions, and the maneuvering of the vehicles.  A knowledgeable and experienced IL personal injury attorney will know how to decipher police report codes.

6)        How Crash Happened          

A police officer’s photos of the vehicles and scene can be attached to the police report 

A diagram of the crash and the scene can help understand how the crash occurred. A diagram will usually identify where the vehicles were before, during, and after the crash. The drawing can is on page 2 of the Illinois Crash Report, right above the narrative. 

A narrative is a summary of how each witness claims the accident occurred. The narrative can be found underneath the police officer’s police report diagram of the scene and crash.

When you call Attorney Cullotta, she will give you an initial evaluation of your potential claim within minutes.