First Things To Do After a Car Accident in Virginia
Being involved in a car accident in Virginia can be a very jarring and stressful experience. There are many factors to consider, including your well-being and the well-being of others involved in the accident, whether you should call the police, and how to best protect yourself from potential legal ramifications. Below, a Virginia car accident lawyer discusses the first steps someone should take after he or she has been in a car accident.
#1 Call 911 And Make Sure Everyone is Okay
The most important thing to do after the accident is to stop, call 911, stay calm, make sure that everyone in your car is okay. Once you have done these things, you can start worrying about getting in touch with the other drivers.
#2 Turn On Your Headlights and Hazard Lights
You want to have your headlights on if it’s in the evening, and turn on your hazard lights so that everybody on the road knows that your vehicle has stopped.
#3 Call the Police (if you didn’t call 911 earlier)
You want to have put in a call to the police as soon as you can, and lot of the time you can take care two birds with one stone by calling 911. If you know that you have been injured, you can request that the dispatcher send an ambulance and they can also send police to the scene.
#4 Take Note of Everything You Can About the Accident and the Conditions
After you’ve done that, depending on your injuries, make sure to be observant, take note of what the weather is like, how heavy was the traffic, how many vehicles involved, any potential witnesses, if there’s clear visibility, if it’s cloudy, dark, raining, that sort of thing. If you had a purse with you or glasses on your head, take note of whether these were thrown about in the vehicle.
If there are other people in the car, it’s smart to have them note what they saw also. You want to have as much information as you can to provide to your attorney so that they can piece together what happened.
#5 Take Pictures If You Can Do So Safely
You don’t want to admit fault. You want to have notes that are as clear as possible. If possible, taking pictures of the scene at the time is very helpful, but safety is the underlying concern here and the caveat to any of this is what could be safely done.
#6 Get the Insurance and Identifying Information of the Other Person
When it comes to obtaining the other driver’s insurance information, it’s important to go one step further. In most cases, people just exchange insurance and don’t ask for identification. What you will find is that oftentimes, the driver is not the same person as the insured person, and it’s useful to know the relationship.
A lot of the time, teenagers borrow each other’s cars, and if you can figure out the relationship between the driver and the owner or insured party, that can help an attorney detect potential coverage issues at an early stage. If the name on the insurance doesn’t match the name on their license, for instance, try to figure out the relationship. You know, those things can just be hugely helpful down the road and it only takes a second to do.