You’re having a normal day when suddenly you feel a huge crash. It feels like time stops, and you’re not sure what to do or how to react. It wasn’t even your fault—someone else caused the collision while you were practicing safe driving habits.
Being involved in a car accident can be very scary, regardless of the severity. Not knowing what happened and what damage was caused (both to those in the car and the car itself) is anxiety-inducing. When your mind is all over the place and/or you’re injured, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the situation at hand.
But don’t panic. It’s important to know what do to in case this ever happens to you. The following steps will help you take care of those involved in the accident, cover all your bases with insurance and determine what happens afterwards.
Check For Injuries
Of course, the most important thing is your health (in this case, your physical being, which will require immediate treatment if the injury is severe). Assess for areas of your body that are sore, any bleeding wounds or mental fog/confusion. The most common physical injuries include scrapes and cuts, back injuries, bruising and broken or fractured bones.
If you have passengers in the vehicle and you can look around, check to see if everyone else is okay. You will need to gather everyone and move away from the motor vehicle.
Get To Safety
If you can exit the motor vehicle and your injuries are not preventing you from getting away from the immediate area, safely do so. For instance, if your car accident happened in the middle of the road, move to the side so that you are not in the dangerous path of moving cars or anything else that could cause you additional harm.
Make sure everyone involved is away from the car accident crash site without entirely leaving the scene. You will have to wait for help and take care of a few housekeeping insurance-related issues.
Wait For Help
If you, your passengers or people from the other motor vehicle appear hurt, call for emergency services to arrive at the scene and determine treatment steps (e.g., trip to the emergency room if necessary).
You need to call police if the accident occurred on a public road or in a commonly used place like a parking lot and resulted in one or more of the following: bodily harm to a person, property damage exceeding $3,000 or the owner of the damaged property is not present.
Notify Insurance Company
If you are well enough to do so, it is important to collect insurance information to ensure that resulting claims are dealt with quickly and properly. Western Australian law requires drivers involved in a crash to stop and supply their names and addresses.
Additionally, when someone is injured in a car accident, you need to report the crash to the Insurance Commission of WA. Should this occur, Car Accident Lawyers Perth can help you achieve the best possible outcome for your car accident injury claim.
Car accident-related injuries can create tricky legal situations, so you should seek help when necessary.
Please buckle up, drive safely and stay safe on the road.
