The investigating police officer is the most important person at the accident scene. The officer will write an accident report. That report becomes the definitive description of how the accident occurred.
The first thing the adjustor will want for the at fault driver will be the police report. If the officer puts in the report we were speeding, this hurts our case. It does not matter that in fact we were not speeding. As far as the adjustor is concerned, if the report says we were speeding, we were speeding.
When we talk to the officer, we have to make it clear, we were not speeding. It is important we treat the officer with respect. If we are rude, the officer will not like us and that may affect what he writes. If the witnesses tell the officer you were speeding and you tell the officer you were not speeding, the officer must make a judgment call as to whom he/she should believe. Your attitude may have an impact on his decision.
To summarize my previous blogs, at the accident scene, we must behave ourselves. Sometimes this is not easy.