Steps to Take After a Motorcycle Accident

Enjoying the open road is one of the biggest reasons that people love to ride their motorcycle. The wind in their hair and the freedom of the highway are just too good to miss out on. Unfortunately, riding a motorcycle tends to put you at a higher risk for injury than driving a vehicle. If you find yourself involved in a motorcycle accident, here are the necessary steps that you should take.

Check For Injuries

The first step you must take is checking yourself and your passenger for injuries. Realize that you may have an injury that you just don’t feel the pain from due to the adrenaline that gets released in your body after a life-threatening event. Check over your entire body for blood and any indications of injury. Once you’ve checked yourself and your passenger, if you have one, then you should check the other party involved to see if they have any injuries. If there are any severe injuries, contact emergency medical help immediately.

Call The Police

You’ll need to get an accident report to turn into the insurance company for the claims process. This accident report is generated by a police officer who responds to the accident scene. Once everyone has been checked for injuries, it’s a good idea to contact the police so that they can start to head your way. This will help to minimize your time at the accident scene and ensure your safety there.

Exchange Contact And Insurance Information

While you’re waiting on the police to arrive, it’s a good idea to fill in the time gap by exchanging information with the other driver. You should be getting their personal contact information, including their full name, address, and phone number. You’ll also want to get all their insurance information. Since it’s very likely that you have a smartphone on you, taking a quick picture of the other driver’s insurance card can be an easy way to speed up the exchange process.

Look For Witnesses

It’s best to look for witnesses early on after the accident occurred. Most witnesses will tend to stick around to make sure both drivers are okay and a police officer is on the way. Then, they’ll go ahead and leave the accident scene. You want to grab their attention before they leave and ask them to explain to you what they saw and write down their contact information. Your motorcycle injury lawyer may need to contact the witness later on to support your case. If you don’t get witness information, then it can be harder to prove your claim.

Take Pictures

It’s much easier for someone to see what happened when they get to look at pictures over verbally hearing the story. Your motorcycle accident attorney will want to have pictures to support your insurance claim. Again, your smartphone can come in handy. Take pictures of the entire scene, each vehicle, the damages incurred, and any other relevant items you find. While you may not want to take pictures of injuries, it can help later on to prove your case for the amount of damages that you want compensated for. Also, be sure to get a picture of the other driver’s license plate number.

Call Your Insurance Company

After the vehicles have been removed from the scene, it’s time to contact your insurance company. Let them know that an accident occurred and give them the other driver’s insurance and contact information. It’s imperative that you only talk with your own insurance company. Let your personal injury attorney deal with talking to the other insurance company. They have your best interests in mind and know how to avoid falling into a legal pitfall.

Contact West Coast Trial Lawyers

You want to contact your motorcycle injury lawyer as soon as possible. This will ensure that they can get the claims process started quickly. Also, your lawyer is likely going to want to get your full account of what happened. West Coast Trial Lawyers know that you remember more details about the accident scene just afterward. As time passes, you’ll start to forget small details. By talking with your lawyer early on after the accident occurred, you can tell them what’s fresh on your mind from the scene. This way, your motorcycle accident attorney can rely on this information as your case progresses. You’ll also want to forward the pictures you took and the contact information you got from the other driver and the witnesses.

Don’t Admit Fault

One of the biggest pitfalls that injured persons make is unintentionally admitting fault at the scene of the accident. Sometimes our human nature kicks in and we apologize for the accident to the other party. Even when this is said casually to put the other driver at ease, it can come back to hinder your case. Any personal injury attorney will advise you to be careful what you say at the scene of the accident. All of your actions and words can come back to light later on down the road if your case goes to trial.

Keep A Record About The Accident

You should do your best to keep an accurate record about the accident throughout the entire claims process. Start by putting all the other driver’s information, witness information, the police report, and pictures into a safe place. You’ll want to include any medical appointments that you go to. Notate what doctor you saw, when, where, what their diagnosis was, and any prescription medications you were prescribed.

If you have to pay a co-pay or other fee, be sure to include the amount and how you paid. Keep all the crucial information surrounding your accident claim in one safe place so that you can refer back to it as time goes on. Don’t rely on your memory and bank records to do the job. The more accurate your notes are, the more information your attorney will have to use for your personal injury case.