What you do after a car accident can have a major impact on your ability to recover damages for your injuries and damaged property. Always check on the other driver and any pedestrians or others who may have been hurt, and call 911 right away.
Steps To Take After An Accident
There are some important things that you can do after a car accident to help you limit your liability and to obey the law. There are some steps that you need to do immediately after your car accident that is required by law in most states. The attorneys at Bovo Law, LLC recommend:
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Stopping and checking the other driver, passengers, or anyone else that may have been involved.
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Exchanging the following information with the other driver and witnesses: name, address, phone number, email address, and car insurance information
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In some states, if the other driver asks to see your driver's license, then you are legally obligated to show it to them. If this is not a rule in your state, then be sure to look it up before taking any long road trips through other states, as a precaution in case you get into an accident somewhere else.
Seek Medical Treatment
One of the things that personal injury victims don't think about after an accident is how a jury is going to view their actions. At the moment you are only thinking about yourself and your safety. But a personal injury attorney has years of experience and knows what to anticipate. When you delay in seeking medical treatment, then it makes the defense team more likely to question your injuries and the validity of your claims. They are going to argue that if your injuries were serious then you would not have waited so long to get treatment and relief.
Some injuries don't show symptoms for several hours due to physiological reasons. Your glands began pumping out adrenaline after the accident because the body is designed to keep pushing on in order to survive. But that's also the reason why you may feel fine right after an accident yet very sore hours later. One such extreme example is stomach bleeding, which cannot be felt at first but is excruciating hours later.
Call A Personal Injury Lawyer Where The Accident Happened
Sometimes people think of their case as cut-and-dried, but an experienced attorney knows that cases that seem straightforward may not be. When the insurance company sees that you are representing yourself, then they will know that they can take advantage of your lack of legal knowledge and save themselves money by giving you a lower settlement. But they will think twice before doing that to an attorney with an excellent track record. Another reason why you should hire a personal injury attorney to represent you is that there are different state and municipal laws that may apply to different cases. The average person does not know that much information about their local or state traffic laws. The attorneys for the other side know this and are more likely to give you a lower sum than you deserve because they know you won't fight back. A better option is to hire someone that will challenge them and get you the best settlement.
