The budgets at police departments in the Las Vegas area, as is the case with many other places, are stretched extremely thin these days. As a result, law enforcement officials were forced to look at how their resources were used and make some difficult decisions. One of those decisions involves no longer having police officers report to the scenes of car accidents where there are no injuries. According to police statistics, nearly 14,000 of the 23,000 car accidents in the area last year did not result in injuries. Not having police spend time on those crashes will apparently save money. This new approach to local car accidents is set to begin on March 3. As of that day, the police will not report to the scenes of car accidents unless someone is injured. Those who are involved in these crashes are expected to handle things themselves. They are supposed to exchange contact and insurance information and go about filing their claims and handling the legal aftermaths without a police report. While on some levels this makes sense, there are certain problems that could arise with regards to these situations. First and foremost is that many people who are badly injured in car accidents may not fully realize it at the time. They may be dazed because of a head injury or they may have suffered a brain or spinal cord injury that does not manifest itself overtly immediately after the crash. If that person ultimately suffers immense harm, it could be difficult to prove his or her case in the future if there is no police report. That could make recovering compensation from the other driver or from an involved insurance company much more difficult. At our law firm, we have been serving the public as Las Vegas accident lawyers for 30 years, and we have handled many cases where the evidence was lacking initially. We understand what is required to gather evidence and to prove these cases, but it's still a good idea to keep a few things in mind if you are involved in a crash and you're not sure what to do:
- If you feel any pain whatsoever after a crash, contact the police and report an injury.
- If you suffer any type of blow to the head, make sure the police report to the scene.
- If the other driver does not cooperate in providing his or her information, contact the police who have stated they would report to these types of scenes.
- Obtain a full medical evaluation if you or any of your passengers suffer what seem like even the most minor injuries.