What do I do after an Car or Automobile Accident?
Important steps to take if you are involved in a car accident:
1. Assess Your Physical Condition: If you are involved in a car accident, the first thing you must do is assess your physical condition. Before getting out of your car, take a moment to determine whether you are injured. If you are injured, it may be best to stay put in your car until help arrives.
2. Gather the Other Driver’s Information: It is essential that you obtain the other driver’s license and insurance information. This includes the driver’s full name, address, license number, auto insurance company, policy number, and license plate number, make, model and color of the vehicle. This information will be important in the future, for example, if you have to file a claim with your own insurance company.
3. Contact the Police: It is important to contact the police after an accident, and have the officer prepare an accident report. If you fail to contact the police, and you depart from the location of the accident, you could face certain consequences such as traffic tickets for leaving the scene and/or failure to report an accident. These tickets carry serious consequences. If you have been issued tickets for leaving the scene or failure to report an accident, contact the lawyers at Broscious, Fischer & Zaiter for help.
4. Get Medical Attention: If you feel you may be injured, go immediately to the emergency room at the hospital or to some other medical treatment provider for an examination. When you are meeting with the doctor, be sure to explain all of your symptoms and areas of injury or pain. Injuries from auto accidents may develop over time and it is important to make an accurate record of exactly how you are feeling.
5. Use Your Auto Insurance Information for Medical Treatment: Anytime you sustain an injury related to a motor vehicle you should present your auto insurance at the hospital or doctor’s office. Your auto insurance covers medical treatment for injuries sustained in any accident involving a motor vehicle. Even if you are a passenger in another person’s vehicle, or a pedestrian ht by a car, the automobile insurance owned by you, your spouse, or a member of your household is the correct insurance to present.
6. Contact a Lawyer: An injury from a car accident can significantly impair your day-to-day life, and can lead to chronic pain, disability, unemployment and depression. You may be entitled to compensation for lost wages, reimbursement of medical expenses, and more. If you are struggling with life after an injury, you may want to consider your legal options. You have two years from the time of the accident to bring a lawsuit.
Interested in learning more?
Broscious, Fischer & Zaiter is a multi-service law firm in Washington, NJ, serving clients in Warren, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, and Sussex Counties in New Jersey and in Hackettstown, NJ, as well as Easton, Allentown, Northampton, Lehigh and many other communities in Eastern Pennsylvania.