What To Do Right After A Motorcycle Accident

At Robert Bates & Associates, we are often asked the question: “What should I do right after I’m involved in a motorcycle accident?” We focus our practice on representing bike riders who have been seriously injured in motorcycle accidents due to the negligent driving of others. If you have been injured, you are entitled to recover money damages to compensate you for those injuries. There are things that you can do right after the motorcycle accident that will help your case and help your motorcycle accident attorney to recover the fair and full compensation you deserve.

Motorcycle Accident Tips

If you can do the following things right after the accident, or have someone else focus on them if you cannot, it would help you significantly:

● Seek medical help: Call 911 as soon as possible so the police and EMS can get to the scene of the crash. The sooner they get there the better. EMS can help everyone who is injured and get them to the hospital quickly. Also, the police can maintain traffic so no secondary accidents happen. Further, the police officer can begin investigating the accident, taking pictures, taking witness statements, and begin compiling the information for the police crash investigation report.

● Obtain information from all drivers and vehicles involved in the wreck: Obviously, this is one of the most important things to do in order to hold those responsible for the injuries accountable. The more information you can get about the other drivers the better.

● Obtain witness information: After a motorcycle accident, get the names and phone numbers of any potential witnesses. Whether it is a good Samaritan who comes to your aid or someone who was standing near the crash. An experienced motorcycle accident lawyer will want to contact these people as soon as possible to obtain recorded statements from them. This is important because people’s memories fade over time and the sooner their memories of the accident are taken down the more accurate they will be.

● Take photographs and videos: Make sure that either you or a friend or family member take photographs and videos of the scene of the crash. Make sure to record as accurately as possible the position of the vehicles, the entire scene of the collision, any damage to the various vehicles involved, skid marks, and any broken off pieces of the vehicles and their location in relation to the overall accident scene. Also, make sure to get photographs of your injuries from the very beginning and throughout the healing process.

● Security cameras: Note any security cameras at or near the scene of the collision and make sure you tell your lawyer. A security camera at an intersection stoplight or at a nearby business might have caught the accident in real time. However, many security camera systems erase portions of recordings after a period of time. Therefore, getting copies of the recordings as soon as possible is very important to help prove how the accident occurred and who was ultimately at fault.

● Contact a lawyer: Some people think that they can handle their motorcycle injury cases themselves. This is a big mistake. The defendant’s insurance company will have a small army of insurance adjusters, investigators, and attorneys on their side, so you should have an experienced law firm on your side. You need to hire a motorcycle accident lawyer who has the knowledge, skill base, and resources to take on these defendants and fight for your rights to fair and full compensation.

Robert BatesRobert is a Kingsport trial lawyer who handles car, truck and motorcycle wreck cases across the Tri-Cities. Every client gets his cell number.