What to do after a bike accident

A bike accident is a serious situation. A collision between a car and a bike can result in major injury or death. In fact, there were 3,651 motor vehicle-related deaths in California alone in 2018. With such widespread events like this, it is important to know what to do if it happens to you. When you’re in a bike accident, take these steps in the aftermath.

Get to Safety

If you’re able to move, get out of the road and get on the sidewalk. While you shouldn’t leave the scene of the accident, you should make sure that you’re not putting yourself in danger as you wait for help to arrive. Make sure that everyone involved in the accident is out of harm’s way before doing anything else.

Assess Your Injuries

If you’re able to move out of the way, you are hopefully not too badly injured. But you should assess your injuries immediately regardless. Do you need assistance moving? Does anything seem to be broken? You should get medical treatment after the accident regardless of how you feel, but it is important to note any immediate injuries as soon as you can.

Document Everything

You’ll need to have as much evidence of what happened as possible, especially once you get a bicycle attorney involved to help you later. Write down everything that happened while your memory is still fresh. Get photos of any injuries and damage to your property. While you want to hope that everyone will be honest in the aftermath of the accident, you need to protect yourself just in case.

Wait for the Police

You probably just want to go home. But you shouldn’t leave the scene of the accident until the police arrive and take everybody’s statements. This is important because it creates more evidence that your bicycle attorney will be able to use to help you. Answer the questions honestly and make sure that you receive a copy of the police report.

Once these things are taken care of, you should be able to leave the accident scene and get any medical attention you require. From there, you can contact a bicycle attorney to help you deal with other parties and insurance. If you follow these steps, it will provide you with the evidence you need to take care of yourself if anything goes wrong.