Things to do after a car crash
1. First of all, try to not panic. In that type of a situation, cooler
heads prevail, and the more you're able to deal with the situation, I
think the better off you'll be.
2. Secondly, ensure the safety of yourself and others. In California, if
you're driving down the freeway, there are signs there that say if
you're involved in a minor fender-bender, please move to the side of the
freeway. And that's good advice. It it's situation where your vehicle
is drivable, if you can move it, I would move it out of harm's way. In
other words, if you're staying in the middle of the freeway, you're out
of a vehicle, cars are going by, there's a high likelihood, a distinct
chance that something else might happen, an another vehicle may hit you.
So by ensuring the safety of yourself and others, if you can, move the
vehicle out of any harm's way.
3. Photographs are a good idea, if you get a chance before moving your
vehicle, take photographs. All of us have phones now that you can pull
out and take photos of pretty much anything, high quality photos. Take a
photo of the damage to the vehicle, take a photo of the positions of
the vehicle, take photo of the damage to your vehicle, all of these will
help in the event there's a dispute to what actually happened.
4. Calling the police is a good idea, CHP a lot of times in the event
there is no major injury they won't come out, they won't take a report.
So you want to exchange all information with the other party. Most
significantly, if there is somebody that saw the accident, comes up to
you and says 'it's a horrible thing, it's not your fault', get that
person's information. It's crucial. A lot of the times people walk into
my office and they take it for granted that the police are going to find
that witness, they're going to get the witnesses information and take a
statement, a lot of time that doesn't happen. If you have a witness,
get their name, get their phone number, get that address, you want to
follow up with them in the even there's some dispute as how it actually
happened. Other than that, you've done all you can at the scene, if
you're injured, go get yourself proper medical care, and if necessary
contact personal injury attorney in Sacramento like myself at the Law
Office of Fred Sette a Auto Accident Attorney in Sacramento. I can be
reached at 916-710-8555 or fill out the contact form on our website.