This post may earn affiliate income from links and/or review products to help support this site from the companies .
Moments after a bicycle accident, you might feel that everything is lost and nothing you can do. However, there are several things you need to do, especially if you got involved in an accident caused by someone else. The law requires you to get compensated for injuries and damages when you get involved in such accidents. However, not many people follow the proper steps after the accident, making it difficult for them to get their life back on track.
What should one do immediately after a bike accident? Below are some of the steps which you should take immediately action after a bicycle accident. However, if you get injured sometimes, you can still pick the steps back up immediately to ensure that you get well and fully compensated. Here are the seven things to do.
Find a Safer Place
Immediately you get involved in a bicycle accident, you need to pull yourself up and get to a safer place, away from the oncoming traffic. Remaining in the same place after you get hit makes you prone to another accident.
Therefore, if you are still physically able, collect yourself, go to a safer side and stay there until the police arrive.
Seek Medical Attention Immediately
Sometimes, you might not have any injuries or any damages which require immediate medical attention. However, you will need to go for a complete body checkup to ensure that you are okay. However, when seriously injured, it is essential to seek medical attention immediately to save your life.
With deeper medical extermination, the doctor might reveal some injuries you might not be aware of. Seeking urgent medical intervention has two significant benefits. First, it enables you to get treated for the injuries. Secondly, it helps you get a medical report to use when seeking compensation for the injuries.
Contact the Police
If there is no need for urgent medical attention, you should call the police while at the accident scene. Why call the police? As highlighted by the legal team on this site, the police must come and clear the accident scene and write down a police report, which is a handy document when claiming compensation.
Therefore, even when the police fail to arrive, you have to head to the police station and get the police report. The police report also confirms the person at fault during an accident. Your attorney will require this report to file a concrete case that will see you getting compensated.
Get Details of the Accident Scene
It is essential not to ride off the accident scene without taking pictures of the accident scene and everything else that might help with your compensation case.
Therefore, using your smartphone camera, you can take photos of your crashed bicycle and the vehicle at the accident scene, including the surroundings, road surfaces, and any other information that may be of help to win your compensation case. Other details you need to capture are the street details, traffic signs and signals, and injuries, if visible.
Obtain Witness Statements
Witnesses are crucial in any accident scene, especially if you have to prove that you aren’t guilty of the accident. In most cases, bystanders and other road users have a different view of the accident and can significantly help you shift from the person at fault to the victim, depending on how they viewed the accident.
Therefore, other than recording the witnesses’ encounters of the accident, you need to take down their details to follow up. This step will be if they’ll be required to testify in a court of law for your case.
File for a Compensation Case
Once you are involved in a car-bike accident, there is a possibility that you will incur high costs in treating your injuries and also repairing your damaged bike. Besides these costs, there is a possibility you will miss working, which leads to losses.
Therefore, to continue living your everyday life while nursing the injuries, it is essential to get compensated for the damages and injuries suffered from the accident. It is crucial to hire a reliable accident lawyer who will help you with the filing process.
Follow up on Worsening Symptoms
After getting treated and filing your compensation case, you need to be checking on your health status, including the injuries sustained when you got involved in the accident. Ensure that any new developments are reviewed immediately by your physician.
Your physician will also suggest other treatment alternatives that will enable you to recover fast and resume your everyday life.
Getting involved in an accident can significantly inconvenience you and change your life drastically. Therefore, when this misfortune befalls you, you need to take the necessary steps as highlighted above to ensure that you recover fully from the injuries and get compensated for the same as you resume your everyday life.