Driving is considered to be one of the riskiest regular activities that most of us do every day. Regardless of your driving skills or how careful you are, accidents are pretty much unavoidable. Car crashes are daunting on so many levels, from the emotional distress and possibly serious injuries to the financial loss that comes with car repairs and medical bills.
Being in turmoil shouldn’t stop you from attempting to minimize the damage. You can still try as much as you can to save the day with some calculated steps. Being overwhelmed, aggravated, and confused without any certainty on what to do is completely reasonable, yet these feelings can be avoided. Understanding how you should behave to ameliorate the situation is essential.
This is why we have put a brief guide together on the necessary steps that you should take after an auto accident.
Health Assessment Before Police Reports
Before you start worrying about your car, insurance policy, or even removing yourself to a safer place, you should make sure that you are not suffering from any serious injuries. Serious injuries aren’t always recognized immediately, so it’s vital that you limit your movement until you have made sure that you and all the other passengers are safe. After assessing your injuries, if you find that you or someone you were driving with is injured, then you should call the emergency services for help.
Some states make it mandatory to report any accident, regardless of how minor they are. Even if you don’t live in these states, legal accident reports are still essential to protect you if you had to take your personal injury case to court.
Attend to Injuries
Seeking medical attention even if there is seemingly nothing wrong with you is critical. The majority of serious injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries or internal bleeding don’t present themselves immediately. One thing that you should consider is requesting your doctor to bill your insurance company. Some doctors and clinics have signed contracts with different insurance companies at lower rates than what they normally charge. This is why most doctors prefer to wait for your settlement to send you medical bills instead of billing your insurance company. However, you shouldn’t waste this chance. After the financial loss you have gone through, it’s better to let your doctor bill your insurance company so you will receive this difference in rates instead.
Collect Evidence
Documenting the accident should be your top priority after you have ensured your physical well-being; be sure to note down the date, time, your state, and the condition of your car. It’s also important to write down a clear description of how the accident happened because you might forget some details over time. Some people even prefer accident scene photos to document the damage. Make sure to also collect the statements of any witnesses along with their names, addresses, and contact information.
Gather All Necessary Information
Even though exchanging information with other drivers who were involved in the accident is beneficial, it’s still better to limit your interaction with them to avoid any sense of guilt or, even worse, admitting any fault. You should only focus on collecting the other driver’s name, insurance company name, and policy number, contact info, and a detailed description of their car including the make, model, year, license plate number, and registration information.
File a Claim and Get Professional Help
Accidents, nowadays, happen more frequently than we would like to believe, and some places have more crashes than others. For instance, some areas in Kentucky, and especially Lexington, have witnessed a spike in their accident rate due to reckless driving. Make sure that you look after yourself if you were involved in a car accident in Lexington by getting the legal help you need to receive a settlement. This will compensate you for the physical and mental damages you have gone through and take care of your medical bills and any financial losses that might have occurred. Regardless of how minor you think the impact of the accident is, you should always attempt to get the appropriate compensation. Insurance providers are always trying to minimize their losses by offering smaller compensation than what the situation actually deserves.
Car crashes happen in the blink of an eye. Thinking clearly in the middle of an accident isn’t an easy task. This is why we should always be prepared for these situations with all the necessary information and knowledge to be able to act in a well-organized manner. How well you deal with the accident’s aftermath will determine how well you will recover from the financial, mental, and physical damages that were caused by the crash.
