If you have been injured in a car accident, there are two urgent things you need to do: call 911 and get medical treatment.

A car accident is a traumatic and life changing event.  Whether you are seriously injured or only have damage to your vehicle, the events that will follow the accident will be difficult, expensive, and frustrating.
 

If YOU get in a Car Accident

 
When it’s possible, and I say only when it’s possible and it does not compromise your safety, do the following:

(1) Call for help. This is by far the most important thing to do following a car accident;

(2) Make sure you are in a safe location while you wait for help to arrive.  Unless your car is upside down or on fire, often times the safest place is inside your car;

(3) Take pictures of the damage to your vehicle and the other vehicle(s) before they are towed and get the business card for the tow truck driver;

(4) If you happen to speak with anyone who witnessed the accident, take down their names and contact information;

(5) Get the name of the officer, the police department that s/he is with, and any report numbers; and

(6) Unless you were parked and have absolutely no scenario where you might be found liable, just tell the officer you were in an accident and are in need of medical treatment and that you will follow up with a statement as to what happened.  Once you consult an attorney and had time to process the sequence of events that led to your collision, you will be able to more comfortably tell the officer what happened (or not, as the case may be).

 
Following your accident, you may feel new symptoms every day.  It is important that you continue to obtain medical treatment to address your injuries and to document the chronology of your pain.

Florida has “no fault” policies which means the auto-insurance policy has mandatory coverage provisions that require a certain dollar-amount of medical expenses to be covered through your auto policy.  This coverage is known at Personal Injury Protection or “PIP”.  When you seek treatment, give the hospital or provider your auto insurance information.

You will likely face many daunting tasks in dealing with your insurance company (and other driver’s insurance companies) to obtain a rental vehicle, get your damage assessed and to get paid if your car is a total loss.

Contact the compassionate attorneys at the Coleman Law Group, to help you through this situation.

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