Motor vehicle accidents can be very damaging, and leaving aside fatalities it can leave you shaken, confused, and disoriented. Depending on the severity of the accident, the victims go through considerable trauma, and it takes time to get back to their senses to understand what kind of injuries they have suffered. The sooner you can be yourself despite being hurt better it is because this is the time to gather all the information about what has happened. Staying prepared for such situations by keeping a checklist in the glove box containing phone numbers to call after an accident and questions to ask as well as your insurance information should make the task easy Weston Car accident attorney.
Stay calm after the accident and do not panic. Keeping cool will help you to make the right decisions by maintaining clarity of thought that gives you the ability to think straight. That would help prevent conflicts and save you from unnecessary quarrels with other parties involved in the accident. Instead, you can talk to other people accompanying you to chalk out the future course of action. That is especially important if you intend to file a personal injury claim that would require proper documentation of the events and its aftermath.
What should be the course of action after an accident should become clear on going through this article.
Ensure safety
The moment you discover that the accident caused injuries, you must immediately seek medical help. All injuries might not be visible but can be severe enough and might even lead to fatality. Call the police immediately for help and tell them that you need medical assistance. When the police arrive, explain your position to them clearly by describing how the accident happened and who you feel should be responsible for it. If you think that the other driver was under the influence of drug or alcohol, mention that to the police.
Calling the police after an accident helps you to establish proper record about the incident that becomes the most crucial document for filing claim for compensation. Therefore, regardless of injuries or not, calling the police always helps. Insurance companies always ask for a police report about the accident before accepting any claim. Once you ensure that everyone is safe, you can think about taking the next step.
Gather information, ask questions
Gathering information about the persons present at the accident site should be your primary task because insurance settlers would ask about the details. Collect names, addresses, and telephone numbers of everyone involved in the accident, including the driver of the other car as well as pedestrians and any other persons who witness to the incident. Take stock of the situation to understand who are injured and what kind of injuries they have, including yours. Take notes of the accident including the time and place of occurrence, what was the weather like, and how much was the visibility, the damage that happened to the vehicles involved in the accident, etc. Was the damage pre-existing on the vehicle, or did it happen due to the accident?
Gather all details about the other vehicle involved in the accident like make, model, license plate number, and if the car belongs to an individual or company. Collect all insurance details about the other vehicle as well as the persons involved to understand the status of insurance. Sometimes, drivers may not have any insurance at all. Besides, note down the names and badge numbers of police officers who responded to your call and try to understand if any other party took responsibility for the accident.
Contact a personal injury lawyer
After analyzing the information that you gather and understanding the nature of injuries, its seriousness and possible after effects, you can decide about filing a claim for personal injury. To file the claim, you must first engage a personal injury lawyer whom you can search through referrals of your friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family or by browsing the internet. You can contact a lawyer by logging on to https://dennishernandez.com. Simultaneously, you must contact your insurance company at the soonest because often there are stipulations about how quickly you must contact them after an accident. Delay in informing the insurance company might result in denial of your claim.
As soon as the lawyer takes up your case, you must not interact with people without the guidance of the lawyer or at best the lawyer would do the talking on your behalf. Never indulge in stray discussions about the accident with anyone and keep away from fielding questions from the insurance company of the other driver who you feel is responsible for the accident. Acting only under legal advice should be the way of dealing with anyone who has even the slightest connection to the accident. Do not antagonize people but at the same time do not oblige them either.
Seek medical help
Visible injuries are easier to handle as it becomes evident that you would have to go to the hospital emergency to ascertain how serious the injuries are. But even if you get injured without visible marks of injury, you must not take it lightly but seek proper medical care. Many injuries in vehicle accidents like whiplash do not show up immediately. If you experience some effects of the accident, call for medical care immediately. Latent injuries can show up after one or two days, and it is always good to have a medical checkup after a car accident to detect injuries early.
If you experience any unfamiliar symptom, even if there is no noticeable injury, do not neglect it. Your personal injury lawyer can arrange for your medical treatment. Once you recover from injuries and reach the stage of maximum medical improvement or MMI, the lawyer would get ready to file the claim for personal injury. But before that, the lawyer will calculate the financial value of the losses, damages and pain and sufferings undergone together with economic and other losses to work out the compensation amount that could be right for you. Going forward, the lawyer will make a demand and seek a settlement with insurance adjusters failing, which will file a lawsuit.