After a serious impact with another car, you may stumble out of your vehicle feeling dazed and stressed. The time immediately after this event is crucial for your physical health and safety, as well as future issues that could occur.
Protecting yourself includes making the best choices possible when talking to another driver and moving your car.
Assess the situation
According to the AARP, your first action after the crash should be to ask around to see if anyone involved in the collision is in pain. Checking with any passengers and the other driver about whether someone needs to call an ambulance can save important minutes of time if there is a serious injury.
After asking about possible health issues, you also need to move out of the way of oncoming traffic. If your car is not safe to start up again after the crash, calling a tow truck may be the best choice.
Call the police
Having a third party at the scene can help both you and the other driver from potentially getting into an argument. Discussing the crash or who is potentially at fault is a bad idea since it can lead to an accidental admission of guilt. You should ask for the accident report after talking with the officer as well.
Get any necessary information
Before anyone leaves the scene, you should make sure to get the full name, address and phone number of the other driver. You may want to take a photo of where the cars are in the street before you move them to help you out later on for insurance purposes.
By preparing for what to do next immediately after a collision, you can handle the situation and keep your cool.
