What to do Following an Accident

Bad Luck, you’ve just been in an accident. The whole thing took place in just a few second. You just know what you have been hit. Your adrenaline is pumping high and you are still shaking. You check yourself to see if there are any injuries and you breathe a sigh of relief as you realize that you seem to be OK, maybe just a bit shaken up. On average there are 12 million accidents annually in the US that involve over 20 million vehicles. A person dies from a motor vehicle accident every 12 minutes and someone is injured every 11 seconds. These figures show how common the problem is and also how deadly it is. Here is a checklist of steps you should take should be unfortunate enough to be in an accident.

1). Secure the vehicle as soon as possible. By secure I mean bring it to stop and try to avoid any other traffic that might be there at the time. Try to stop as close to the accident as possible. Don’t stop one mile away from the accident area.

2). Even if you have been hit, try to move the vehicle to a safe position that is out of the flow of traffic. Some people think that they have to wait for the police to come but in most cases it is unnecessary. You don’t want your accident to cause another accident where you might be liable again. Move to the side of the road. Some countries have different laws and will punish those that move their cars from where the car came to a stop after an accident. You have to find out which jurisdiction applies to you.

3). Be sure that every party that is involved in the accident is safe. This means that they are away from the damaged cars, ignition is all OFF and you are away from the flow of traffic.

4). After everything is secured, you have to access the seriousness of injuries that you have sustained and also the injuries that other parties have sustained. If the injuries are not too serious then get a medical kit and attempt to care for some wounds.

5). Call the police and the medical emergency department. For most countries this is either “999” or “911” to get an operator. If it isn’t a dire emergency then the 911 operator can give you the number of the local enforcement agency who can better serve you in the accident.

6). Try to get witness statements. Try to get by-standers to write a witness statement that is signed by them. Naturally most witnesses would rather police to do the statements however it is very possible that some witnesses will willingly come forth. This is especially important if the only witness that you have cannot stay until the police arrive. Try to get their signed confession or at least get their phone number so the authorities can contact them later.

7). You must then exchange personal details with the driver of the other cars in the accident. If you have the information of your insurer please also provide it. The personal details that are required will be the name, the telephone number, address, drivers license number, identity card number. If you can get even more information, the more the merrier. It will only serve to help you at a later stage.

8). Most people have mobile phones with cameras these days. If you are ok you should continue to document the accident scene. Important shots that you should be of the whole accident scene, the traffic and weather conditions at the time. The signage on the street and also the damage sustained to your car and anybody else’s. It would also be highly beneficial to draw a diagram of the road intersection and how the accident took place. Look for anything out of place like an oil slick or a traffic light that was indicating wrongly and document that.

9). Always be cooperative with the law enforcement officer when they arrive. You should be forthcoming with whatever information the officer asks for. After the officer has done his job of documenting the accident scene and questioning the people around you should ask the officer for his details too. This would be his name, his badge number, address and phone number.

10). Once you are done with the accident scene, you should then proceed to informing your insurance company of what has happened. The insurance company will give you a standard accident report for where they will tell what to do and what information they will need to process it and issue a claim should it be necessary.