What to Do If You Are in a Motor Vehicle Accident

If a person is involved in an automobile accident, there are many steps that he or she must remember. There are nine stages or steps to remember if a person is in an automobile accident. Many people do not know what to do if they are in a motor vehicle accident. These steps will also make sure the persons involved are safe, and unnecessary risks are not taken.

Step 1. The first thing to do is to stay calm. Getting upset or anxious will not help the situation and will only make the situation more complicated. If possible, get out of the vehicle, and get to a safe place. If someone is injured, Do Not move them. If a person is injured, moving them could make their injuries worse. The only exception to this is IF there is potentially more danger to the injured person by maintaining the person inside of the vehicle. (Example: Gasoline is leaking all over the ground and could ignite and explode at any minute. Leaving the person in the vehicle is potentially more dangerous than the possibility of making the injuries sustained in the accident worse.) Try to keep any persons who are injured calm and still. If an injured person seems to be drifting out of consciousness, keep the person talking. Do not allow the person to go to sleep, if the person has a severe head injury, this is common and could cause the injured person to slip into a coma.

Step 2. Contact the authorities. Call the police and if necessary, other rescue agencies. Be sure to give the address, road and mile marker number or other relevant information to the authorities. This information will enable the police and rescue vehicles to locate the accident quickly. Give all possible details. Report any information of anyone who is injured or there is a risk of fire or gasoline leaking, any power lines which are down, if hydrants are spraying and any other important information.

Step 3. If injured, go to the hospital. Even if an injured person feels better after a bit, the person still may have injuries that only a hospital or other medical professional can diagnose. Do Not allow the person to attempt to get up or walk around. Any further steps will wait until medical care is given.

Step 4. Never apologize. An apology implies guilt or fault for the accident. Never admit fault or express guilt for the accident. Even if a person suspects they are at fault, the person should not apologize. An accident can seem like it is one driver's fault, when in actuality, it is the other driver's fault. Until a police officer or accident specialist assesses the accident site, the vehicle's, fault can not be determined.

Step 5. Speak to any witnesses. Ask people who have arrived at the accident scene quickly after the accident if they had witnessed the accident. Ask them to please stay until the authorities have a chance to speak with them. Take down any potential witnesses names, addresses and phone numbers in case these are needed for the insurance company's use. Give this contact information about any possible witnesses to the insurance company.

Step 6. Be sure to provide the insurance information, name, address and phone number to the police. In addition, provide contact information to any other persons involved in the accident. Be sure to collect contact and insurance information for any other drivers involved in the accident as well. The insurance company will need this information to help process any claims made to the policy.

Step 7. Write down any facts about the accident as soon as possible. A person's memory fades as time passes. Something that may be remembered 10 minutes after the accident, could be forgotten in as little as 30 minutes. Write down as many details as can possibly be remembered. Write everything down, even if it seems insignificant. Something that may seem insignificant to the driver, may actually be important. Do not try to determine what is important and what is not, let the insurance company and or police determine this.

Step 8. Contact the insurance company. When calling the insurance company, be sure to have all of the collected information accessible. Be sure to relate all information to the insurance company. Relate all collected contact and insurance information for other individuals involved in the accident. Give the contact information collected about all witnesses to the insurance company, as well. Relate all of the facts written down about the accident to the insurance company. What may not seem important or relevant, may actually be very relevant and important to the motor vehicle accident. The insurance company has experts to deal with sorting out what is important and what is not relevant about the motor vehicle accident details. A driver should not concern themselves with figuring this out, and should just relate the information as it is written in it's entirety.

Step 9. Be sure to contact an attorney. Even though it may not be necessary, it is better to let the attorney know the details of the accident when it happens. Make sure to have all contact information for all other drivers and passengers who were involved in the motor vehicle accident. If there are injuries sustained, contacting an attorney is very important. Some situations need to be addressed immediately. An attorney knows which issues need to be taken care of immediately, and which items can wait until a later date to be acted upon. It is better to contact the attorney very early in the process, rather than contact the attorney only after there is a major problem or reason to contact the attorney. There may have been injuries sustained in the accident, which were not apparent at the accident scene. Only after a short period of time can these injuries become apparent.

Carrying a copy of these steps in the motor vehicle may help a driver to remember them. During an accident a person may forget them, because of being in a stressful situation. Using these steps will help a driver to remember what is necessary immediately after an automobile accident.