What you do right after a car crash will determine what rights you have later. You won’t want to spend time researching what to do at the scene of the crash, so you need to know the necessary steps to take before a wreck ever occurs.
What do you need to do to protect yourself after a collision occurs?
Documents the scene if you can
One of the most important ways to protect yourself in a crash caused by another driver is to accurately capture the scene of the crash before you move the vehicle. If the other party later tries to blame you for the collision, those early images could help prove your version of events. Additionally, you could capture footage of the other vehicle in case they try to leave the scene of the crash.
Call for emergency services
This may be the first thing you do if someone in your vehicle has significant injuries. Otherwise, you may wait until after you check your vehicle for damage and capture images of the scene of the crash. Even if you don’t need emergency medical care, you will need a police officer to write a report so that you can file an insurance claim.
Trade information with the other driver
Mobile phones make the process of sharing insurance and identifying information faster than it was in the past. You can take a picture of someone’s insurance card and ID instead of needing to write everything out by hand, which can be difficult given the way your body responds to the excitement of a crash.
Seek medical care
If you have any signs of injury after a crash, you will need to see a doctor. If you don’t get medical care, you will have a hard time proving that the injury is the result of the car crash. In the case of internal bleeding or a traumatic brain injury, the condition could also get worse if you delay treatment.
Evaluate your claim before you settle it
After you have left the scene of the crash and received medical treatment, you can start to think about your insurance claim. You need to know how much coverage the other driver has and if your own policy will help with any of the costs. You also need to look over the bills from the wreck to determine if Insurance can cover all of those costs or not.
