First Vital Steps to Take After a Car Accident – Guest Post

There’s nothing quite like the freedom of the open road. Many people spend hours every week driving between work, home, and other obligations. Unfortunately, accidents happen, even when you do everything right. If you’ve been in a car accident, here are some vital steps to take in the immediate aftermath.

Get to a Safe Place

If you can, get yourself and your passengers to a safe place away from oncoming traffic. You don’t want to become another statistic. If you can’t move your vehicle, turn on your hazard lights to warn other drivers. And if you’re seriously injured, stay in your vehicle until help arrives. The last thing you want to do is make your injuries worse by attempting to walk away from the accident site.

Check for Injuries

After any kind of accident, it’s important to check yourself for injuries. This includes obvious physical injuries as well as more subtle ones like concussions or whiplash. If you are hurt, it’s important to get medical attention right away – even if you don’t think the injuries are serious. Internal bleeding, for example, may not be immediately apparent but can be fatal if left untreated. And some injuries – like concussions – may not show symptoms until hours or days after the accident occurred. Be attentive to your symptoms and seek medical care if anything is out of the ordinary. Additionally, you’ll want to work with personal injury lawyers if you are hurt in the accident. These professionals can help you make the best of a bad situation.

Call the Police

Even if there doesn’t seem to be any damage, it’s always best to err on the side of caution and call the police so they can file an accident report. This will come in handy later if there is any sort of legal dispute about who was at fault for the accident. Be sure to exchange information with the other driver involved in the accident including names, contact information, insurance carrier, and policy numbers. It’s also a good idea to get the name and badge number of any responding officers in case you need to follow up with them later.

Notify Your Insurance Company

You should notify your insurance company as soon as possible after an accident, even if you don’t plan on filing a claim. Some insurance policies require that you notify them within 24 hours after an accident or else they may not cover you. Many people make the mistake of thinking that their insurance rates won’t go up if they don’t file a claim but that is simply not true. Your rates could increase even if you weren’t at fault for the accident simply because you were involved in one. So again, it’s always best to err on the side of caution and notify your insurer right away after an accident occurs.

Conclusion

Car accidents are never fun but unfortunately, they happen—even to the most careful drivers. If you find yourself involved in one, use these steps as a guide to get through it as smoothly as possible. And remember, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to car accidents. It could save you a lot of money (and headaches) later down the line.