Car accidents are never an enjoyable experience. If the thought of colliding with another vehicle, sustaining injuries or possibly even losing your life wasn’t enough to make you strap your seatbelt on tightly and drive slowly, then perhaps the endless amount of forms to fill and phones to make regarding your insurance and compensation will.
Whether you have a luxury car or a sturdy truck, there’s plenty of reason to drive safely and watch out for other cars. Not only are you putting yourself in danger, but reckless driving can also put your passengers and other people on the road in danger. Injuring someone due to your own mistake and neglect can have a huge impact on your mental state because you’ll feel an overwhelming sense of guilt after causing pain to someone else.
We’re teaching better driving skills, but it’s not enough
Fortunately, many advertisements and driving schools are now promoting good driving skills and being careful on the road. There’s everything from road safety tips and tricks to educational videos that teach you how to maintain your car to ensure that it’s working properly and isn’t a hazard to other drivers. Sadly, no matter how much we try to enforce good driving skills, almost anyone can be a victim of a collision.
Though there are many guides on how to deal with motor collisions, very few guides will point out things that you shouldn’t do. Many tips and tricks articles will tell you things like gathering information, but most people involved in car crashes are unstable, frustrated and are difficult to speak to. Confrontation is usually not a good idea because, in many cases, people that drive recklessly have reckless personalities.
Here’s a comprehensive guide on five mistakes that almost every driver makes when it comes to car accidents. Whether it’s taking the wrong approach to claiming your insurance or panicking after the crash, you’ll learn about all the mistakes that people make and how to avoid them.
Emotions can be all over the place immediately after a crash and the worst thing you can do to other drivers and passengers is aggravating them. Don’t go up to the other drivers and demand their name and phone number for insurance purposes. Your first priority should be ensuring that everyone involved, even pedestrians and passengers in other vehicles, are safe. Make sure that you contact an ambulance before phoning any other numbers, and try to treat any serious wounds with your in-car first aid kit. If you don’t have one, then it’s highly recommended that you invest in one for these types of situations.
As a worst case scenario, if you confront a driver with a rude tone, then you could end up starting a brawl between the involved parties. This could lead to even more injuries and perhaps trouble with the police—both are very undesirable outcomes. If the other drivers or involved parties are aggressive towards you or pushy about obtaining your details, then kindly tell them to stop and try your best not to be provoked by their taunts and profanity.
In a perfect world, everyone involved in a crash will be taking care of each other and putting their differences and frustrations aside. Sadly, this rarely ever happens and there will always be some unsavoury people that only care about getting your details so they can immediately make an insurance claim or sue you for damages. No matter the situation or who’s fault you think it was, it’s best to gather details in a polite manner and not make matters worse by making rude or snide comments.
2. Driving away from the scene after a crash happens
Perhaps you just bumped into a car and scratched some paint off. Perhaps, in a moment of panic, you decide to drive off because no one is seriously injured. Maybe you even hit someone but, after a brief check, they seemed to still be fine so you call an ambulance for them and drive off.
These are horrible ideas. No matter how minor or major the injuries are or how much paint you grazed off a car, you should never ever drive off and leave the scene. Not only does it look like a hit-and-run attack, but it becomes a criminal offence to not report the collision and give all the details involved. If there are pedestrians around to witness the deed, they will undoubtedly remember your license plate or car make and colour. You’re going to be tracked down one way or another—there’s no running away.
Avoid confrontation with the local authorities by staying at the scene. If you have to, then phone your boss or whoever you’re rushing to meet and tell them you’ll be late because you’ve been in a car accident. Stay and make sure everyone’s treated and that you’ve called an ambulance. Then you should proceed with the regular process of exchanging information and taking pictures of the damage on your cars.
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3. Forgetting to visit a doctor after the crash
Car crashes give us a rush of adrenaline to cope with the stressful situation. As a result, we might not feel the immediate effects of injuries to our body but they can surface a few hours, days or even a week after the ordeal. Don’t neglect your personal health and make sure that you visit a doctor for a checkup. If you experience dizziness, pains around your body or even mental stress, then that’s enough reason to book an urgent appointment. The earlier you discover these problems, the less likely they’ll develop into long-lasting conditions that could seriously affect your health.
It’s important to take a couple of days off work to ensure that you don’t encounter further complications. If you’ve been injured, then take extra care not to stress your injury and aim for a full recovery before you continue working. Psychological impacts can be long-lasting, often taking anywhere from two to twelve months to recover from depending on the severity. You might feel anxious about driving again or develop a fear of motor vehicles, but those are completely normal reactions after a collision. It’s important that you recognise these problems and admit you have a problem so you can seek help. Hiding it doesn’t do you or anyone else any good. The key to quickly recovering from mental trauma is to ask for advice and recognise you have a problem.
4. Rushing the insurance claim or compensation process
It’s normal for people to want to make insurance claims as soon as possible or to sue the opposing drivers for compensation. Unfortunately, claims can take a long time to process and rushing it doesn’t make it go any faster. In fact, the best thing you can do is take it slow. Make sure that when you exchange and collect information that you are thorough and take into consideration everything from photographs of the people and car damage to collecting contact numbers and asking what insurance company the other parties are with. It’s a good idea to seek help from pedestrians that saw the accident too so that you have more.
When you first contact a motor vehicle collision lawyer, ensure that they are everything you hoped for. They should sound caring but professional. If they make something sound too good to be true, then you know you’re wasting your time. Your attorney should be understanding of your situation, but never give you false hope regarding your case or guarantee you anything. Make sure that you compile all of the information you have into a folder to give to your attorney or insurance company. Don’t try to rush the process—take it slow and steady so that you don’t miss any vital information.
5. Neglecting to take care of passengers and family members
As mentioned before, damage on the surface might not reflect what’s going on inside. It’s important, especially if you were the one driving, that you try to recover and speak with your friends and family members that were involved in the collision.
Some people might blame you for the incident if you were driving and they might refuse to ever get into a car with you again. It’s a natural reaction for someone who is still scarred by the incident or has developed a fear of cars after suffering a crash. It’s important that you try to comfort them and tell them of the situation. Don’t treat it like an elephant in the room, make sure you talk about it and discuss your options or where to go from there. Many friends and family members will be happy to get into your car again despite the crash because many car accidents aren’t caused by safe drivers, but reckless ones that caused the collision.
Check up on the people involved in the crash a few days later and ask about their injuries or issues they are having. Visit them with good intentions and try to comfort each other if you are still feeling stressed or frustrated about the whole situation.
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