It’s early in the morning and you’re driving down the road on your way to work. You look both ways at the four-way stop before proceeding and then BLAM! Your car’s wrapped around a telephone pole after someone was mindlessly driving through the intersection and slammed into you.
At this point, it’s understandable that you might be disoriented, confused, and even scared. You’ve just gotten out of a serious car accident, and it feels like there’s a million things you have to make sure to do before it’s too late. To make things easier for you, we have listed out some of these important things for you. This way, you can internalize this knowledge before you ever need it. You can also screenshot or save this on your phone for later reference.
Step 1: Keep Calm and Call 911
At this point, you might feel perfectly fine. More often than not, this is your body’s way of deceiving you through all the adrenaline currently running through your veins. It is entirely possible that you have sustained injuries that you won’t realize you have yet, which makes it all the more important to get emergency services to the scene as soon as possible. Law enforcement will also appear to complete a crash report, which can help you parse out the details of the accident later.
Step 2: Identify the responsible vehicle and try to obtain contact and insurance information
If you feel comfortable getting out of your vehicle and moving, your next step would be to locate the car that hit you and make face-to-face contact with the person who was driving. Obtaining their contact information and insurance details now is important because you might not have the opportunity to later. It is not uncommon for drivers to flee or give false information in order to get out of paying. That’s why you will also want to get a picture of or write down their license plate and vehicle make and model. This can help track down the driver in the future if their contact information ends up being incorrect or falsified.
Step 3: Identify potential witnesses and try to obtain contact information
If your collision happened on a public road, there were most likely at least a few witnesses to the accident. Determining what they saw and how to contact them can be crucial for your claim later, especially if they have dash camera footage of what happened. Crash reports can include witness contact information, but you should not completely rely on that. The best information is what you can obtain yourself.
Step 4: Document the scene
By a certain point, the damaged vehicles will have to be removed from the road in some way, whether they are towed or driven away. This means that you only have so much time to take photos of the crash scene in its original state. You will want to try to get as many clear photos as possible of the following:
- Each side of your own vehicle
- Each side of the responsible party’s vehicle
- The intersection and any details crucial to understanding what happened (i.e., the traffic signal, road signs, etc.)
- The road and any details crucial to understanding what happened (i.e., tread marks, vehicular debris, etc.)
Remember to make sure that these photos are not blurry. Having one quality photo is better than ten blurry ones. If your injuries make it difficult to take photos, ask someone nearby for assistance.
Step 5: Seek medical attention
If you were taken away in an ambulance or helicopter, it is likely you were taken to an emergency room (ER). The ER is good for initial treatment; however, it is unfortunately common for ERs to underdiagnose patients involved in car accidents. You might be treated for minor injuries and declared ready for discharge, only to find out a week later that you can’t raise your arm above your head. Thus, it is important to seek further treatment from a licensed physician, chiropractor, or other medical practitioner. You only have 14 days to do so or else your PIP benefits will not fully cover your injuries. If you are uncertain about who to be treated by, this leads us to step 6.
Step 6: Contact and consult an attorney
Before communicating with any insurance companies, it is important to consult a personal injury attorney. Personal injury attorneys often operate on contingency, meaning that they will be paid a percentage of the eventual settlement, and you won’t have to pay anything upfront. To decide who you would like to work on your case, feel free to read our “Choosing a Specialized Attorney” blog for advice on various factors to look for. A good personal injury attorney will not only speak to the insurance companies on your behalf but can also refer you to a wide variety of medical practitioners according to your needs.
Step 7: Take a deep breath and focus on recovery
If you’ve gotten to this point in your case, take a moment to breathe. A lot has happened in such a short amount of time, and you need to give yourself a second to decompress. By now, you’ve obtained an attorney and begun treatment. While your attorney takes on the legal side of your case (being witness interviews, evidence gathering, communicating with insurance, and more), you need to focus on maintaining consistent treatment. If you require physical therapy or similar treatment, it may be frustrating at times since the results can come at a slow pace. However, it is important not only for your personal well-being but also your case to pursue treatment as far as you possibly can. Only by reaching near-to-full recovery can the value of your case be determined, which gives your attorney something solid to stand on during insurance settlement negotiations. Some days may be difficult and hard, but you have to keep your eye on the end goal.
Hopefully, you will never need to put these steps into practice. If there is ever a time that you find yourself in an accident in which you are injured, however, call the personal injury attorneys at Hendry & Parker, P.A., in Dunedin, at (727) 205-5555 for a free consultation.