Picture this for a moment. You are driving on your usual route home. Your mind is probably far away, thinking about what to cook for dinner, or whether your partner picked the kids up from school. All of the sudden, you are hit by a car. You’ve been involved in an accident. You’re in shock. What do you do first? Here are some tips for what you should do first when you have been in an accident.
Safety First
Your first step needs to be to assess your safety. Take a look around you. Can you get out of your car? Is your engine smoking? Are there live wires down on your car? Is your car out in the middle of the road or interstate? If you are in your car, and you’re safe, you can stay in your car until emergency responders come. While you’re waiting, take a look at your injuries. How much pain are you in? Where is the pain coming from? Are you bleeding? The more you notice about your injuries, the more information you can give first responders.
Contact a Lawyer
After you make sure that you are safe, one of your next steps should be to contact an attorney. Whether you are the innocent driver or the at-fault driver, contacting an attorney ensures that your rights are protected. In fact, lawyers like the Barnes Firm attorneys want their clients to contact them immediately after a wreck. When you contact a lawyer, he or she can ensure that all of the crucial information, such as photographs, police reports, and even camera footage, is preserved. The sooner you call a lawyer, the better your outcome after the wreck may be.
Get The Other Driver’s Information
If you are only lightly injured, you will want to go ahead and get the other driver’s information. This can be accomplished so easily by taking a picture of the other person’s driver’s license and insurance information. That way, you’ll be able to give your insurance company, as well as your attorney, important information about the driver of the car that hit you. While police officers try to write down exact information on police reports, it is always better to have picture proof of what the other driver presented you.
Get Medical Attention Immediately
Immediately after you get hit in a car accident, or if you hit another car, you need to get medical attention. You may feel fine at the time of the wreck, but you need to get evaluated for your injuries. After an accident, adrenaline is released into your body. That chemical minimizes pain because your body is preparing you to fight or run. It can take several hours for the adrenaline to leave your body. If you have ever heard people talk about the worst pain after a car accident is the second day, it’s because of the adrenaline rush.
Of course, you need to get evaluated if you are seriously hurt immediately. You also need to get evaluated if you think you are slightly injured. Soft tissue injuries, such as muscle tears and sprains, may take a while to fully develop. Bruising can also take a few days to surface. Fractures may also seem insignificant until a couple of days after the accident. The sooner you get checked out, the easier it will be to get your injuries documented and treated.
Also, some states have a time limit on when an injury can be attributed to an accident. If you suddenly develop back pain a month after a car accident, and you haven’t documented your injuries, it may be too late to attribute your injuries to the accident.
Have Your Car Evaluated At A Body Shop
After you get your injuries taken care of, you’ll want to have your car looked at. Don’t just take your car to the mechanic. Instead, take your car to an authorized body shop or your car dealership. You will want to make sure that the body shop uses car parts that are made by the original automaker because those are more likely to be a perfect fit for your car. Also, a body shop will take a good look at your car from every angle because some damage is difficult to see at first glance. You’ll want your car to be primed, painted and perfect--so that it looks the way your car did before the wreck.
No matter who’s at fault, you need to take care of yourself and your vehicle. By calling an attorney as soon as possible, you can make sure that your rights are protected, and that someone else will be looking out for your best interests.
