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What to Do If You Have Been a Victim of a Distracted Driving Accident
Between 2016 and 2018, there were over 900,000 crashes caused by distracted drivers in the US alone. Around the world, people often find themselves the victims of a distracted driving accident through no fault of their own.
If this has happened to you, you might be feeling scared and vulnerable, not knowing where to turn. Read on for definitive information on what your next steps should be.
What Is Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is defined as any activity that takes the driver’s attention away from driving. This could be texting while driving, eating or drinking behind the wheel, or adjusting the navigation or stereo system within the car.
Texting is often the most dangerous distraction. Sending or reading a text will take the driver’s eyes off the road for about five seconds. This may not seem like much but, when traveling at 55mph, that can take a car the length of a football field.
When drivers are distracted, they are clearly more likely to get into accidents, endangering not just the lives of themselves and their passengers, but also the lives of those in other cars or on the sidewalk. In 2018 alone, distracted driving killed 2,841 people.
What to Do After a Distracted Driving Accident
If you’ve been the victim of an accident from a distracted driver, it’s obviously an incredibly stressful time. The first thing you need to do is make sure that you are physically taken care of. Go to a hospital and seek medical treatment for any injuries you might have sustained.
The next step after having a crash with a distracted driver is to get a copy of the police report. Someone at the scene will likely have called the police. From the report, you can see if there were any witnesses and request their contact information.
The next step is to find a personal injury lawyer. Make sure that they make the prosecutor in charge of your case is aware of any of your injuries. This will help to stop the defense lawyer of the distracted driver from negotiating the case down to something less serious.
When it comes to the aftermath of a distracted driving accident, you will also likely be dealing with an insurance company. Discuss your options with your lawyer to see what would be most beneficial to your case. Don’t agree to anything with your insurance company until you’ve had a second opinion, because it can affect how the law case plays out.
Even well after the accident has occurred, feel free to seek professional help from a therapist at any time. You’ve been through a lot and it may have had a lasting impact on your mental health. It’s always best to seek professional support, rather than trying to tough it out on your own.
Keen to Learn More?
Being involved in a distracted driving accident is a turbulent time for anyone. No one should have to go through something like that, but it’s reassuring to have a guide of what to do if the worst should happen. Remember there are those out there to help you through every step of the process, from legal support to medical and mental health aid.
If this information on what to do after a distracted driving accident was helpful, you might benefit from some of our lifestyle articles. Browse through them for tips on everything from relationships to home and garden.
What you should do if you get into a car accident
BAM! You didn’t see them coming, or maybe they did something at the last second that you weren’t expecting, but you just had an encounter with an event that everyone dreads … a car accident. Most are fender benders where nobody gets physically hurt, but if you handle the aftermath improperly, you could end up getting hurt very badly from a legal and/or financial standpoint.
As such, there are things that you must always remember to do when this scary but routine situation happens. Follow along below, and while we hope that such a headache doesn’t happen to you, it always helps to be prepared in the event that it does…
1) Calm yourself
Car accidents are always a stressful situation … the crash itself gets the adrenaline pumping, you’re likely shaken up, and maybe the anger of what that idiot did is already welling up in you. Nothing good can come from being nervous, violently angry, or mentally out of sorts. Take several deep breaths, be grateful that you are still alive, and remember the party on the other end is likely as freaked out as you are … they are human too.
2) Check yourself for injuries
If the accident was in any way severe, you will likely have injuries of some kind. Your task in this event is to sort out where, and how badly. It helps to have basic first aid training in this scenario to ensure fellow occupants or the passengers in the other car are not severely hurt, and if they are, to take steps to stabilize their condition until medical help arrives.
If you are hurt significantly, allow other first responders to administer care to you, as you might aggravate your injuries if you attempt to move. Even if the accident was a minor fender bender, it is very prudent to get checked out by a doctor ASAP, as hidden injuries need to be quantified immediately in order for successful car accident injury claims to be filed. If you wait too long, your claim may be denied due to potential other causes not related to the accident itself.
3) Call the police
Even if you are involved in a standard crash, calling the police is essential to ensure the safe flow of traffic around the site of the incident. Police reports will need to be filled out, and witness statements taken.
4) Get the info of the other driver (and give them yours)
You’ll need to gather the particulars of the other driver’s insurance company, as well as giving them the same info for their purposes. Note the make/model and license plate number of the car when the accident happens, should they attempt to hit and run.
Accidents are scary, but they happen everyday
You may dread having this event happen to you, but every day in your city or town, motor vehicle accidents happen. There is an established protocol that everybody follows to ensure that this unpleasant event slips past as efficiently as possible. The better you understand your role, the smoother this process will go for you.
