Being involved in a car accident can be incredibly frightening and stressful, especially when you don’t know what to do.
Keep reading to learn what to do immediately after a car accident, and consider speaking with a Weslaco car accident attorney before contacting your insurance company.
1. Stay Calm
The most important thing you can do in the aftermath of a Weslaco car accident is to stay calm. Staying calm will help you make better judgments to keep yourself safe. When you’re panicking, you’re more likely to make a sudden decision that could put you in harm’s way.
2. Stay In Your Vehicle
Believe it or not, the safest place for you to be after a car accident is inside your vehicle. This is because passing traffic and roadside hazards like steep drops can pose a serious danger to your safety. Unless your car is flooding or on fire, you should stay inside your vehicle.
3. Check for Injuries
Check both yourself and any passengers for emergency injuries. For any bleeding wounds, firmly apply direct pressure. Avoid moving injured passengers if possible. Seek emergency medical attention for any injuries.
4. Call 911
As soon as you can safely do so, call for emergency assistance. If you can’t call 911 yourself, ask a bystander or another driver to call for you. After every accident, no matter how minor, you will need assistance from the police to get a report.
5. Move to Safety
If you can, move your vehicle out of the immediate path of traffic. Once you’re sure there isn’t any traffic passing, you can exit your vehicle. Be sure to continue to watch for unexpected vehicles and hazards. Move as far away from traffic as possible.
6. Wait for Authorities To Arrive
Rather than attempting to interact with other drivers involved, wait until authorities arrive. Tempers can run hot after a car accident, and a police presence can help prevent road rage issues from escalating.
7. Seek Medical Attention
If you are injured in any way, seek medical attention as soon as possible. This will help in two big ways: first and most importantly, it will help protect your life and your health. Next, it can help ensure that any compensation you may be owed is also protected. If you need to seek emergency medical attention, you can ask someone else to help you with the steps below.
8. Exchange Personal Information
Once authorities have arrived on the scene, you can start the process of exchanging personal information with all other parties involved. Get names, addresses, and phone numbers for all drivers and passengers, and get insurance information from all drivers. You’ll also want to record the make, model, and license plate numbers of other vehicles involved.
9. Gather Evidence
The last thing you need to do at the scene of the crash is gather evidence. This includes things like taking pictures of any relevant damages and environmental factors and getting contact information from any potential witnesses.
10 .Speak to a Weslaco Car Accident Lawyer
Finally, if your car accident involved any injuries or semi-trucks, you should get in touch with a personal injury attorney for help protecting your rights to financial relief. A personal injury attorney can determine who was at fault, how much you may be owed, and how to go about getting compensation for your injuries.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident caused by someone else, don’t face the process of seeking compensation on your own. Get help from the capable Weslaco car accident injury lawyers at The Lopez Law Group.
