What Should I Do After a Personal Injury Accident?
If you’re one of the nation’s nearly 9 million motorcycle enthusiasts, you know that sharing the road with cars, trucks, buses and other motor vehicles can be challenging, at best. While hundreds of articles have been written theorizing as to why other drivers tend not to see you and your bike, the bottom line in terms of your safety is that they, in fact, often don’t.
Unfortunately, other drivers tend to exhibit the following behaviors:
- They weave into your traffic lane.
- They don’t leave sufficient room between you and them when passing you.
- They cut back in front of you too closely after passing.
- They turn in front of you without signaling.
- They fail to yield to you when you have the right of way.
All of these dangerous behaviors and more put you at great risk for being hit by another driver when you’re out enjoying the scenery on your bike. And the statistics for bike accidents are not in your favor. For instance, you are 26 times more likely than the vehicle occupants to die in the accident. Even if you survive the crash, over 80% of bike accidents result in serious injury to the rider.
Emergency Medical Intervention
It goes without saying that the first thing you should do after a bike accident is to seek immediate emergency medical help. Given that your bike offers you no protection whatsoever in a crash, your injuries need to be assessed by a competent health care professional and treatment begun as quickly as possible to minimize the damage to your body.
Now is not the time to worry about having adequate health insurance. Heed the EMTs’ advice and go to the nearest emergency room, by ambulance if necessary. You may well require hospitalization, including surgery. Your health is much more important than the admittedly high costs such medical assessment and intervention undoubtedly will entail.
Legal Intervention
You have the absolute right to sue the person whose negligence caused your accident. Consequently, your wisest strategy after an accident is to seek the advice, counsel and representation of an experienced personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. He or she can provide the following services:
- Advise you of your lawsuit options going forward
- Review the police accident report to determine what happened
- Further investigate the accident to determine who was at fault
- Attempt to locate witnesses and, if successful, interview them
- Review your medical records to date so as to get a good idea of your current and possible future damages and losses
Ultimately, the lawyers at Davis & Brusca Trial Lawyers can serve as your greatest ally and advocate in obtaining the compensation you’re entitled to.