The U.S.A. sees over six million car accidents every year. Fortunately, most of these accidents involve only asset damage as opposed to occupants. However, almost 2 million accidents involve personal injury to the passenger or the driver, and out that number, one-fourth of the accidents are fatal or cause severe injury.
If you are involved in a car crash, there are particular things that you can perform to protect yourself as well as your interest. Apart from consulting a car accident attorney, you should do these ten things.
1. Stop
Even if it a minor accident, never drive away from the accident scene.
2. Protect The Scene
You can avoid further accidents by keeping your flashers on or setting up flares. In case it is dark and your car lights do not work, you should have a flashlight to make you safe while you wait by the side of the road or in your disabled car.
3. Call The Police
Even if the accident is small and there are no injuries involved, you should consider calling the police. You might require a police report to make a claim with your insurance company, even if you just want to file a claim for your damaged vehicle. The cars involved in the accident should not be moved unless they interfere with traffic.
4. Make An Accurate Record
When the police come, you must tell the investigating officers about the exact details. You should not guess, misstate, or speculate any of the information and only tell the facts. If you are asked about any injury caused to you, say that you do not know instead of saying a no. This is because injuries and pain from such accidents become apparent a few hours after the collision.
5. Take Pictures
You should consider taking pictures from your mobile phone or camera if there is visible damage. You should photograph your prominent injuries as well. The photographs serve as proof.
6. Exchange Information
Usually, an investigating police officer acquires all the information. However, you must obtain the name, telephone number, and address of people involved in the accident, if the police do not attend to the accident. If there is huge damage caused to you, you should take personal information from the witnesses as well. You might want to contact them in the future.
7. Report The Accident
You should report to your insurance company as soon as possible to obtain medical benefits that come with your insurance coverage in case of a severe accident.
8. Seek Medical Attention
Injuries caused by a car crash are not immediately apparent in most cases. People have reposted feeling pain several hours after the accident. Unless you are sure, you must get yourself checked up, especially if you lost consciousness even for a few seconds. This way, you can avoid severe complications
9. Keep A File
You should keep all of the documents related to the accident together in a file. This should consist of a claim number, the names and phone numbers of all contacts, expenses incurred due to the accident, etc. This will make the process of getting your claim easier.
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