What To Do After A Motorcycle Accident

What to do After a Motorcycle Accident

Motorcycle accidents can leave victims in the hospital, out of work and feeling like they’re out of options. If you don’t know what to do after a car accident, don’t worry. Your first priority needs to be your health. Whether you were airlifted, transported or taken to the doctor after the accident, you need to get your immediate medical needs addressed first. In addition to medical needs, there are a variety of other things you can and should do after a motorcycle accident.

Get Your Immediate Medical Needs Taken Care of

Motorcycle riders can become severely and catastrophically injured in accidents. In many cases, you might not be able to do anything at the scene of the crash, especially if you have been transported to the hospital. That’s okay. Your health and safety always come first. If you felt okay after the accident, it’s still important to see a doctor. With adrenaline running high, you might not feel the effects of an injury immediately after a crash, so make an appointment to get checked out anyway.

Move to a Safe Area

If you’re still on the scene, move yourself and any other people involved in the crash to a safe area, if it is safe to do so. Get out of the roadway and onto the shoulder or somewhere safer. Check to see if anybody is injured and lookout for additional traffic.

Call 911

Next, you need to call 911 or the local police department. Let them know if you need medical assistance or just a police officer to make a report. Follow the operator’s directions and wait for assistance in a safe location.

Gather Information

After a motorcycle accident, it’s essential to gather information. You need the identity’s and contact information for the other drivers or riders involved. Be sure to get their insurance information too. If possible, take a picture of their insurance card with your smart phone. This is also a good time to get the names and numbers of any witnesses around the area. Witnesses might not be interested in sticking around very long, so the sooner you get their names and numbers, the better.

Take Notes and Pictures

Taking details notes is an important part of post-accident protocol. Write down the facts of what happened, as you know them. Write down what time everything happened and the names of the other people involved. This is also a good time to take pictures. Most people have high-quality cameras in their cell phones now, so use what you have. Take as many accident photos as you can of vehicles and the crash scene.

Making Statements

When the authorities arrive on the scene, they’re going to want to get statements from everybody involved. It’s absolutely essential to stick to the facts of the case. Don’t make any assumptions or say anything that could possible be misconstrued as liability. Seemingly innocuous statements could be used against you by your insurance agency, so just let the authorities know the facts of the crash, and let them do their jobs investigating to determine what happened. The police officers will also appreciate it if you stick to the basic facts of what happens. They don’t need to sort out a bunch of opinions from either side.

Contacting Your Insurance Company

Next, you need to contact your insurance agency and let them know what happened. It’s also important to give them basic and factual details too. Make sure to let them know who was involved and the other person’s insurance information. Remember, they’re looking out for their bottom line. They don’t care that you’ve been faithfully paying your premiums for years. They’re concerned with paying out as little as possible, no matter how legitimate a claim is. This is also a good reason to have a lawyer helping you during this time. He or she can deal with a pushy insurance company as you recover from your injuries.

Working With a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

After any type of accident, it’s a great idea to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney. Even if you think your insurance agency is going to be working with you, and you don’t suspect any friction or difficulty with your claim, it’s a good idea to at least have a consult with an attorney so you know what to expect during the process. It can take months or longer to get compensated for injuries, so the sooner you speak with an attorney, the better.

If you have been injured or if you have lost a loved one in a motorcycle accident in Jackson or the surrounding communities, contact Coxwell & Associates, PLLC at (601) 265-7766 for an immediate free consultation.

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