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Most people aren’t aware of what they need to do if they get into an accident. Depending on the person’s flight or fight response, they might behave in any number of ways on instinct. While very few handle things rationally, most people are not aware of the legal aspects relating to an accident.
Knowing how to react in such a situation will not only help you get better medical care but also avoid financial difficulties following the accident with the help of an experienced injury law firm.
If you ever do get into an accident that leads to a personal injury, you should consider doing the following things to be safe medically and financially.
Source: https://autoportal.com/articles/infographic-what-to-do-after-a-car-accident-2970.html
Contents
Avoid Going Away From The Scene
Some people feel like running or driving away from the scene after getting into an accident. It doesn’t necessarily mean they caused the accident, but it’s not seen in a good light.
Unless the reason is a medical emergency, you should stay at the scene. Even for medical reasons, you should contact an ambulance instead of going away.
It could weaken your insurance if you leave and your insurance company might try to give you the lowest possible settlement.
Protect and Record The Scene
At the scene of the accident, many clues might not be visible to inexperienced eyes. These might really help your case. That is why, try your best to protect the scene of the accident as well as you can.
If you’re on the road, you can set up flares, keep your indicators on, or use some traffic cones, depending on what you have with you at the time.
Then, you should try to record as much of the scene as you can. If you’re in good shape, you can try to take pictures of everything around you. Photograph your injuries, any damage to your vehicle, the positioning of your car after the accident, and anything else around you.
If it involves a collision with another vehicle, you should take pictures of the other vehicle as well and try to capture the damage to all the vehicles involved in the accident.
Exchange Information In Accidents
In the case of an accident, you should normally avoid any contact with the driver or passengers of the other vehicle. Generally, someone might be angry or upset and the situation can get worse if the tensions rise.
However, you should try to exchange information with the drivers of the other vehicles involved in the accident. By having the contact information, full name, and full address of the drivers and passengers involved in the accident, you can have a good record of the situation.
Report To The Authorities
When you’re in a car accident, you should always consider contacting the police and asking them to come down to the scene of the accident. It doesn’t matter whether anyone has sustained any serious injuries or not.
The police report can help you make a better claim with your insurance company, a case against the other driver, or another route that your lawyer decides to take. Having a police report makes the accident official.
After calling the police, try to make sure that the cars involved don’t move at all. Any movements could lead the police to different conclusions than what actually happened.
Assess Your Injuries
Undoubtedly, you might get hurt in an accident. It can be anything from neck strain or damage from the airbags to a number of serious injuries that need immediate attention. Therefore, you should assess your injuries as soon as possible before taking any action.
If you feel that you’re good, you should still look at yourself because you might not feel any pain at the moment from all the adrenaline pumping through your body.
After yourself, you should check around to make sure your passengers are doing fine. If they are, you can get out of the car to check if any bystanders got hurt or assess the injuries of the driver or passengers in the other vehicle.
Seek Medical Attention
If you or anyone else needs medical care, you should call an ambulance instantly without hesitation. It’s not a good idea to drive anyone to the hospital, or get a cab.
With an ambulance, you can get the right level of care from the instant that the ambulance arrives. They can properly assess the extent of your injuries and take you to a hospital if it is necessary. Otherwise, they can patch you up and recommend you see a doctor later.
Whether you go to the emergency room or not, follow up by going to the doctor later because some things might come up after the fact. Try to give as much detail to the doctor as possible. This will help them give you the best medical care and give them better insight into your injuries.
Also, you should keep a detailed account of the injuries you and your passengers sustained in the accident.
Avoid Giving Information To The Insurance Adjuster
After your insurance provider gets wind of the situation or if you tell them you have been involved in an accident, an insurance adjuster will reach out to get the details of the accident from you.
Now it may seem like they are being helpful and just trying to get down the details of what happened so they can help you better and faster, steer clear of them. Avoid giving any information to your insurance adjuster. Instead, tell them that your lawyer will be in touch.
Reach Out To A Personal Injury Attorney
Before you get into any accident, it would be great to find a good personal injury lawyer in the city. If you know someone before the situation, you can call your lawyer when the accident happens and they help you by giving instructions, calling the police, or even getting you an ambulance.
More importantly, the personal injury lawyer will help you after the fact by making sure you get compensated for your hospital bills, car repair costs, and any other amount due to you.