What to Expect Post-Motor Vehicle Accident
Written by an Expert Car Accident Lawyer in Nova Scotia – Glenn Jones, Partner
If you have never been in a motor vehicle accident before, you can be easily overwhelmed by the barrage of activity you are forced into in the days and weeks afterwards. If you have been injured, navigating all this activity can be even more challenging. This blog is meant only as a basic information guide for people who believe they have been injured in a motor vehicle collision. Please do not use it as a substitute for a personal consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer. Often, there are specific issues that arise in individual cases that can affect the approach lawyers may suggest for you. Our initial consultations are always free and without any obligation, so there is no reason you should avoid calling. Just to be clear, I always recommend that you call a lawyer as soon as you are able.
The Day of the Accident
If you are reading this because you have been in an accident, you have already left “the scene” of the collision. Hopefully, you have the information on the other driver (name, address, license # and plate #) and their insurance company (name, policy #). If you don’t, and the police were on scene, contact the police and ask for the information. They should give you the driver’s name and insurance info at least. You will need it in order to make a claim to recover losses from the other driver’s insurance. You will also need it to provide to your own insurer when you contact them. If you have photos of the other driver’s license/insurance, the vehicle damage, and/or accident scene on your phone, obviously keep them, as they will become important later.
If the police were not on scene and do not know about the accident, you should report it to them. The law requires accidents to be reported in some situations and one of those situations is an accident where there is an injury. Obviously, if you were not the party who was at fault for the accident, you want the police to have a record of it anyway. If the accident occurred locally in areas of HRM covered by the Halifax Police, the accident can be reported online to the police through e-mail. If it occurred in an area patrolled by the RCMP, you can contact the RCMP through their non-emergency phone line.
Sometimes clients tell me that the police were not called and they did not get the information on the other driver/vehicle. They may have thought the accident was minor at the time and let the other car drive off without getting the information they should have. Or perhaps the other driver left the scene before providing any information. If that is your situation, call a lawyer immediately. We may be able to locate the other vehicle or driver, but at the very least we can advise you on steps to take to protect yourself. In some situations, we can present a claim under your insurance policy for your loss. However, this will depend on the specific facts in each case.
In some situations, the other driver may not have valid insurance. In those cases, you need to call a car accident lawyer in Nova Scotia immediately. You will likely have coverage under your own insurance policy for the loss that would have been covered by the other driver’s insurance. However, this creates a more complicated insurance situation for you, and navigating through it will be easier with an experienced personal injury lawyer guiding you.
The most important step though, after an accident, is to record everything you can about what happened as soon as possible afterwards. If you can’t take a photo or write it down for whatever reason, have someone else write it for you or record it on your cell phone. If you have visible injuries (cuts or bruises), take pictures of those areas. The fact is that memories do fade over time and what you recall the day of or day after the accident you may not recall months later. Bruising generally fades eventually. You should protect yourself by recording everything as soon as time permits. If there are skid marks at the scene of the accident, have someone get pictures for you. If there were witnesses, note their names and contact info. Take pictures of any vehicle damage – eventually that will be repaired and the insurers do not always take or maintain photos of the vehicle damage.
The other important step is to see a medical professional as soon as possible if you think you have been injured. If possible, do it within the first week. Waiting to do so, hoping the symptoms will go away on their own, only suggests to the insurers that you have no injury. So, call your doctor and make an appointment. If you have no family doctor, go to a walk-in clinic or go to the local hospital Emergency if you can. If none of those options are available, you can visit a physiotherapy clinic for an assessment.
In Part II, we will address the days following the collision.