Who are the Three People That You Need to Talk to After a Car Accident?

Motor vehicle accidents are unfortunately quite common in North Carolina. Did you know that there were nearly 275,067 collisions on the roadways of North Carolina in 2017? This was an increase of approximately 9000 from 2016 and about 40,000 more than from 2012 to 2016.

Statistics also showed that out of 275,067 accidents in 2017, 29.7 percent resulted in injuries to drivers and passengers. As accidents are common state-wide, two of the most dangerous roads in North Carolina declared by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality analysis report are Interstate 40 and North Carolina’s highway US 129.

Also known as the ‘tail of the dragon,’ North Carolina’s highway US 129 is one of North Carolina’s and the US’s dangerous roads. The 11 mile stretch of US 129 features 318 winding curves, making it difficult for drivers to accelerate at a regular speed. Both accelerating and braking on this highway indeed require constant attention and reactions.

Likewise, Interstate 40 is also a dangerous highway in North Carolina. Between 2015 and 2017, there were nearly 61 fatalities reported.

If you or a loved one has been in a car accident, then it is crucial to know who to talk to after it. Many victims go straight to their social media platforms in today’s era to update everyone they know about the accident, but that’s not the right way to go. This is because what you say or do can be used against you by the insurance company and can negatively impact your claim.

Therefore, to protect your rights, here are the three people that you should talk to:

Law Enforcement Officer

It is advisable to talk to a police officer/law enforcement officer if you have been injured severely or are facing a difficult time dealing with the driver at fault or if your vehicle is extensively damaged.

Talking and reporting to a law enforcement officer after the accident can benefit you greatly, such as:

  • It will help you detail the accident scene and introductory statements in the accident report, which can later be used as a solid piece of evidence to prove your claim and get the compensation you deserve.
  • It will help you rely on facts instead of he-said and she-said when your lawyer is pursuing your compensation claim.

Medical Professional

As soon as you get injured, you must seek medical attention—call 911 for an ambulance. The ambulance service will take you to the hospital for medical assistance. Even if you’re slightly sore, we’d advise you to talk to the medical professional and get a proper evaluation done to determine the injuries’ types and severity.

It’s crucial to discuss your condition with the doctor and get a full-body diagnosis because some injuries have latency periods, worsening over time.

Additionally, by discussing your case with a doctor, you can benefit in two more ways. Firstly, after a thorough check-up and understanding the pain that you might be going through, the doctor will determine the right course of treatment in your case. From surgeries to rehab, physiotherapy, and hospital treatment, they will be able to offer you the proper treatment helping you get back on the road to recovery.

Besides this, when you seek continuous medical treatment from the day of the accident, you’ll have complete medical records and reports. This will further help you pursue compensation with sheer confidence as you’ll have evidence and proof to justify the amount you incurred on treatment that you had to seek because of the car accident caused by someone else’s negligence.

Personal Injury Lawyer

The third and perhaps the most crucial is the assistance of a motor vehicle accident attorney. After the accident, once you start your medical treatment, it is best to contact a seasoned personal injury lawyer with experience in motor vehicle accidents.

A lawyer can review your case and determine options for legal action in your situation. Also, once you have a personal injury lawyer by your side, you can focus on your recovery while managing and handling all aspects of the case.

Furthermore, your injury lawyer can carry out an in-depth investigation of the accident scene to find crucial evidence that can help you prove and justify your claim. Also, soon after the accident, you will be contacted by the defendant’s insurance company with a mission to get answers from you, which could be used to limit the liability claim. However, suppose you have a lawyer for case representation. In that case, you can ask the insurance company to discuss it with your lawyer instead of dealing with the insurance adjuster on your own. All this will help you protect your legal rights and pursue the compensation that you are entitled to.

Contact us today

When you’re already going through the pain, suffering, and stress of how you will pay for the medical expenses, and when you will resume work, it may be too overwhelming and frustrating to find the right legal service that works in your best interest. The last thing that you want is to incur additional expenses in the form of a costly legal service fee before you could move forward with pursuing compensation. But with us, you don’t have to worry about all that as we are committed to protecting our clients’ legal rights and, more importantly, offer services on a contingency basis. Rest assured, we won’t charge you a dime unless you get compensated.

Our motor vehicle accident attorney will work with you relentlessly for the fair and total compensation that we believe you rightfully deserve. At the Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor PC, we go above and beyond for justice and fight to ensure that you get compensated fully, helping you get back on track with financial independence. Call us now to discuss your case.

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Notice of Data Security Event
Updated March 28, 2025

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor is providing notice of an event that may affect certain individuals’ information. Although we have no indication of identity theft or fraud in relation to this event, we are providing information about the event, our response, and additional measures individuals can take to help protect their information, should they feel it appropriate to do so.

What Happened? On October 28, 2024, The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor identified suspicious activity related to our email system. We quickly took steps to investigate and determined that an unknown actor may have accessed certain emails within our email system between August 7 and November 7, 2024. We then conducted a comprehensive review of the potentially affected emails and attachments to determine what information was contained therein and to whom the information related, which was completed on February 25, 2025. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify the addresses of certain affected individuals, so we are providing this notice to ensure potentially affected individuals receive information about the event.

What Information Was Involved? The information affected may include individuals’ Social Security number, driver’s license and state ID information, financial account number, and health information.

What We Are Doing. We are notifying individuals about this matter and providing guidance about free resources that are available to assist with monitoring relevant accounts, credit reports, and how to place a fraud alert or security freeze on one’s credit file. Further, as with our typical security practices, we will continue to evaluate our policies, procedures, staff training, and technical security measures to reduce the likelihood of an event like this reoccurring.

What Individuals Can Do. We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. We also recommend you review the below “Steps Individuals Can Take To Help Protect Personal Information”.

For More Information. If individuals have questions about this matter, we have a dedicated assistance line with agents ready to answer their questions. Please contact our toll-free dedicated assistance line at 1-800-939-4170, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 9 p.m., excluding holidays. You may also write to us at The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, Attn: Compliance, P.O. Box 2688, Hickory, NC 28603.

Sincerely,

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor

STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

Monitor Your Accounts

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order a free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Consumers may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of their credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended “fraud alert” on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer’s credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer’s credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer’s identity before extending new credit. If consumers are the victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should consumers wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s name without consent. However, consumers should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in their credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application they make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, consumers cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on their credit report. To request a credit freeze, individuals may need to provide some or all of the following information:

1. Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.);
2. Social Security number;
3. Date of birth;
4. Addresses for the prior two to five years;
5. Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
6. A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver’s license or ID card, etc.); and
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if they are a victim of identity theft.

Should consumers wish to place a credit freeze or fraud alert, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/

https://www.transunion.com/credit-help
1-888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016
Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

Additional Information

Consumers may further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps they can take to protect their personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or their state attorney general. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Consumers can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. Consumers have the right to file a police report if they ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, consumers will likely need to provide some proof that they have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state attorney general. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For District of Columbia residents, the District of Columbia Attorney General may be contacted at: 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; 1-202-442-9828; and oag.dc.gov.

For Maryland residents, the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-576-6300 or 1-888-743-0023; and https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/.

For New Mexico residents, consumers have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in their credit file has been used against them, the right to know what is in their credit file, the right to ask for their credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to consumers’ files is limited; consumers must give consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; consumers may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance based on information in their credit report; and consumers may seek damages from violators. Consumers may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active-duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage consumers to review their rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580.

For New York residents, the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov.

For North Carolina residents, the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.

For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; 1-401-274-4400; and www.riag.ri.gov. Under Rhode Island law, individuals have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this event.
STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT A MINOR DEPENDENT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION

Typically, credit reporting agencies do not have a credit report in a minor’s name. To find out if a minor has a credit report or to request a manual search for a minor’s Social Security number each credit bureau has its own process. To learn more about these processes or request these services, consumers may contact the credit bureaus by phone, writing, or online:
Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/article-list/-/h/a/request-child-credit-report/
https://www.experian.com/help/minor-request.html
https://www.transunion.com/fraud-victim-resources/child-identity-theft

1-800-685-1111 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013 P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

To request information about the existence of a credit file in a minor’s name, search for a minor’s Social Security number, place a security freeze or fraud alert on a minor’s credit report (if one exists), or request a copy of a minor’s credit report consumers may be required to provide the following information:
● A copy of their driver’s license or another government issued identification card, such as a state identification card, etc.;
● Proof of address, such as a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement, etc.;
● A copy of the minor’s birth certificate;
● A copy of the minor’s Social Security card;
● The minor’s full name, including middle initial and generation, such as JR, SR, II, III, etc.;
● The minor’s date of birth; and
● The minor’s previous addresses for the past two years.

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