Each year, thousands of people are involved in car accidents during the Memorial Day Weekend. If you are one of these unfortunate people, here are some tips on what to do after the car accident:
1. Safety first – When no serious injuries are involved, move your vehicle out of the roadway to help prevent a secondary collision. If potential serious injuries are involved, do not move until professional emgergency responders arrive to asses the injured person’s condition and how to best remove the person from the car.
2. Exhange Information – Obtain the other diver’s name, insurance information including name of insurer and policy number, address, license plate number, and driver’s license number. If a police officer responds to the accident, he will obatin and document this information for you. If you believe that you are injured, make sure you tell the responding police officer that you are injured.
3. Photographs – Take photographs of the damage to your vehicle.
4. Immediate Medical Attention – Seek immediate medical attention for your injuries. In some cases especially where neck and back strains or sprains are involved, the injuries will not become symptomatic for 24 hours. Once you experience symptoms, go seek medial attention. Delay in medical treatment creates two potential problems. Problem number one, your injuries may become worse due to a delay in treatment. Problem number two, the insurance company for the negligent driver will argue that the delay in medical treatment suggests that you were not injured or that your injuries were caused by something other than the car accident.
5. Contact a Personal Injury Attorney – If you have been injured in a car accident due to the negligence of another driver, contact an attorney. By contacting a personal injury lawyer sooner rather than later, your lawyer can ensure that all your legal rights are protected and that every legal claim you may have is being properly pursued. An attorney should be retained even in cases where the injured person believes that the injuries will go away. In certain cases, injuries that appear to be going away due not fully resolve themselves leaving the injured person with a permanent partial impairment or disability.
