Being in a motor vehicle accident is no small thing. It’s easy to become disoriented and forget to do some important things in order to ensure that everything is taken care of correctly. Here is a quick checklist of things to do after a car accident, all the way from making sure you’re safe to getting a hold of a great car accident lawyer like https://wynperlelaw.ca/car-accident-lawyers-hamilton/.
First Steps
There’s no arguing that being in a car crash is a stressful situation. You’re likely worried about yourself, your passengers, the passengers of the other car as well as the car itself. Here is a little procedure you can follow once you’ve been in a car crash to make sure you cover all the essentials.
1. Get to Safety
The most important thing to do right after an accident is to ensure that you, your passengers, and anyone else involved is safe. If anyone is injured, immediately call the police and ask for assistance from medical professionals. In fact, it’s good practice to call the police after an accident whether or not any injuries occurred. That way if insurance companies have any questions in regard to the accident, there will be a police report to back up the claims. Once you’ve secured that everyone involved is safe, you can move to the next step.
2. Get Information
Here is a list of important questions you should ask to make sure you have all the information you need to talk to your insurance agency or contract the help of a great car accident lawyer:
- Make notes about what happened during the accident. Who did what, when? What was the weather like? How many vehicles were damaged? Who was injured?
- Get information from the other driver or people involved in the accident. This includes their contact information (name, address, phone number) as well as their insurance information. Also, get information about the other vehicles such as make, model, color and license plate number.
- Did anyone admit the accident was their fault? If so, you’ll want to have record of this in case it’s important later.
- When the police officers come, make sure to get their names and badge numbers in case you need to follow up.
3. Take Pictures
If you have a smartphone, take pictures of the accident scene and damages done to the car as well as any people there. Anything else you can think of that may be related to why the accident occurred would also be in your best interest to photograph.