Car accidents can be extremely stressful and might even ruin your day or week. Not only will you have to miss work and scheduled appointments, you also have to deal with the stress of damage to your vehicle, liability, possible traffic citations, and maybe even injury.
Below, the experienced personal injury attorneys at Murphy & Garner, LLC, give you with 5 things you should never do following a car accident:
1. Don’t Leave the Accident Scene.
If you leave the scene of an accident, you can be guilt of committing a crime – commonly referred to as a hit-and-run. If you are convicted of committing a hit-and-run you may face serious penalties that include heavy fines and jail time. For this reason, you must stay at the accident scene until you have informed the police of the collision and been given permission to leave, offered assistance to others who may have been injured in the crash, and exchanged driver and insurance information with the other drivers involved in the accident.
2. Don’t Forget To Call the Police and/or Emergency Responders.
All too often, drivers fail to report a minor accident, especially if no one was injured in the collision. However, even if you do not think you (or your passengers) were injured immediately following the accident, it is not uncommon to have pain later. Even if there does not appear to be much damage to your vehicle or you believe no one has been physically injured, you should always call the police and have a police report generated in case you later have a dispute with an insurance company or the other driver, or if you are forced to litigate a personal injury case.
3. Don’t Lose Your Cool.
It is very common that following a car accident, emotions begin to run high, and you may blame the other driver(s) for the accident which caused damage and possibly even injuries. But you must keep your composure and never lose your cool. When you are speaking with other drivers and passengers who were involved in the crash, see if everyone is okay. Never start screaming at or blaming others. You want to take deep breaths and stay calm so that you can better assess and react to the situation at hand.
4. Don’t Forget Adequate Documentation of the Crash.
Never forget to properly document your car accident, and always be sure to write down the insurance information from all other drivers who were involved in the collision. You will also need to provide police and insurance carriers with a consistent story of what occurred before, during and after the crash.
Record all other drivers’ names, telephone numbers, addresses and insurance information, if possible.
Use your cellphone camera to snap pictures of the accident, the cars involved, the surroundings, etc. if possible.
Record the make, model, color and license plate number(s) of all other vehicles that were a part of the accident.
Also, never forget to record the names and telephone numbers of any third party witnesses who observed the accident. This evidence can be critical if you need to litigate your claim.
5. Don’t Forget To Get Medical Treatment.
If you were injured or think that you could have possibly been injured in the car accident, make sure to seek medical treatment immediately. Adequate and proper documentation of your injuries from doctors and other medical professionals will be critical to your personal injury case. Delays in obtaining medical care can cause real problems in pursuing a personal injury case. Even if you don’t have insurance to pay for the medical care, you should be evaluated at the emergency room, an urgent care facility or your family doctor. An experienced personal injury attorney will usually know medical providers who are willing to provide treatment on a lien basis until your case is resolved.
You should always hire a personal injury attorney that knows the law in your jurisdiction to handle your car accident case – those at the Murphy & Garner, LLC. Our skilled lawyers have years of experience representing injured victims and we are here to fight for your rights.
Call us today for a free consultation at 678-563-1584, or visit us online.
