CONTROLLING THE INVESTIGATION
As a result, they are aggressive. Very aggressive. They put great emphasis on getting to the scene "while the wheels are still spinning" -- not to help you, or your loved ones, but -- to start building their defense against your claim!
The principle is simple and well known to large truck lines and the big insurance companies that insure them: HE WHO GETS TO THE SCENE FIRST CONTROLS THE INVESTIGATION AND THE RESULTS THAT WILL BE PRODUCED.
From my years as a personal injury attorney, and as a former claims adjuster, I have long known how important it is for them to get to the accident scene as quickly as possible
-- in order to make sure that their driver receives on-the-scene legal advise and assistance so that he does not say, or do, anything that may prove costly to the company;
-- so that they can gather, and preserve, whatever evidence there may be that is helpful to them and potentially harmful to you;
-- so that they can obtain statements from witnesses that will help them defeat or, at least, diminish your claim;
-- so that they can "cooperate" with the police, tell their story, put the correct "spin" on the evidence, and "share" their expertise with the authorities who, all too often, may view them as "experts" and eagerly accept their version, and interpretation, of the facts.
But even I was startled to learn, at a recent truck accident seminar I attended, about one truck line that purportedly has a corporate jet standing by to fly its Safety Director, or Director of Risk Management, to the scene of its latest accident, anywhere in the United States, and arranges to have a local insurance company lawyer meet them at the scene, even at 2:00 a.m., in order to "get the jump" on the injured person and to "control" the investigation of the accident. That's aggressive!