There aren’t anywhere near as many trucking accidents in the U.S. each year as there are car accidents. But even still, there are almost half a million of them that take place on an annual basis.
If you’re ever involved in a trucking accident, it can be very scary. The accident itself might be over and done with in an instant. But you’ll be left wondering what to do after a trucking accident—and it can be confusing for a lot of people.
If you need to figure out the answer to the question, “What do you do after a trucking collision?”, in a hurry, we’re here to help. We have some simple steps that you can take to ensure you’re able to hop right on the road to recovery in the aftermath of a trucking accident.
Continue reading to see which steps you should take.
Call 911
In the immediate aftermath of a trucking accident, the very first thing you’ll want to do is call 911 to report it. Even if you think others may have seen you get into an accident, you shouldn’t just assume they’ll call 911. You also want to do it yourself.
You should look around to see where exactly you’re at so that you can let a 911 operator know where they should send police. You should also be ready to describe what has happened to you and how many other drivers may have been involved in your trucking accident.
Check for Injuries
While you’re in the process of reporting your trucking accident, you should also begin to check to see which injuries you may have sustained. You should look at yourself in your mirror and examine everything from your hands and arms to your legs and feet.
There might be some obvious signs of trucking accident injuries. But there are also some injuries, like whiplash, that aren’t always going to show up right away. You should keep a close eye out for all of these injuries and let a 911 operator know if you’re injured badly.
Get to a Hospital
Following a trucking accident, there is a chance that you’ll feel fine and that you won’t think you need any serious medical attention. But you should still make it a point to get checked out from head to toe by a doctor.
It’s never a bad idea to take a quick trip to the hospital after a trucking accident to make sure that you’re not injured worse than you really are. It could save you in a big way if a doctor catches an injury that you weren’t able to catch yourself.
Exchange Information With Other Drivers
Prior to leaving the scene of a trucking accident, you should always exchange insurance information with any other drivers who may have been involved in the crash. Or at the very least, you should communicate with the police and make sure that you’re going to be able to get access to this important info later on.
You might want to go ahead and see if you can find anyone who witnessed your accident as well. Your insurance company is likely going to be interested in speaking with anyone who can provide them with a rundown of what took place during your trucking accident.
Take Photos of the Scene
Soon after you’re involved in a trucking accident, the police officers who show up on the scene are going to work to clean everything up. This will be especially true if your crash took place on a busy highway or street.
With this in mind, it would be smart for you to pull out your smartphone following your trucking accident and start snapping photos left and right. The more photos you can take, the better off you’re going to be in the long run when your insurance company starts investigating the crash.
You might even want to go as far as to take a few videos of the scene. It could all come in handy down the line once you start trying to recover from your accident.
Contact Insurance
Your insurance company is going to want to hear about the trucking accident that you were involved in from start to finish. Insurance for truckers usually covers most of the damages done during an accident, but before they pay anything out, they’ll want to launch a full investigation.
You should contact your insurance company to let them know about the accident. But just a piece of advice: You should watch what you say to them since saying too much could come back to bite you. You might want to talk to a trucking accident attorney first before discussing your accident at length with anyone.
Speak With a Lawyer
There are trucking accident attorneys that specialize in dealing with nothing but cases involving those who have been involved in accidents in trucks. They can lend a hand to both drivers and passengers in car accidents and truck accidents.
You should get one of these lawyers on the line right away so that they can provide you with the necessary advice. They can help you put your life back on the right path and prevent you from having to spend a fortune to clean up the mess you made during your accident.
Make Sure You Make the Right Moves After a Trucking Accident
Getting into a trucking accident can be a life-changing experience. It can also continue to haunt you for years to come if you don’t take the right steps after a trucking accident.
Follow along with the steps that we just laid out when you’re trying to decide what to do after a trucking accident. They should put you in a position to start the recovery process sooner rather than later. They should also help you steer clear of having to shell out a bunch of money due to your trucking accident.
Browse through the other articles found on our blog for more tips on what to do following an accident.
