Distracted driving has been the leading causes of road accidents in the world. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded nearly 3,000 fatalities in 2018 alone, and despite national and local advisories that warn motorists about the dangers of distracted driving, life-threatening incidents continue to occur.
Even if you consider yourself as someone who abides by traffic laws, you are never really safe around reckless drivers. You have to equip yourself with the knowledge you need to respond to a scenario where a distracted driver hits your vehicle.
Check out this guide for how you can approach the aftermath of a distracted driving accident.
Check for injuries
Some of the most common injuries that result from road collisions include fractures, lacerations caused by metal and glass fragments, and head injuries. It’s best to check yourself of any of these injuries before you approach others. If you feel severe pain as you try to move your body, you may have to call for help. Otherwise, you can check your passengers and the passengers of the car that hit you for injuries requiring critical care.
Help out during a recovery
As you race to prevent any more fatalities, you may have to deal with situations where passengers are pinned down as a result of a head on collision. If you are cleared of any serious fractures or wounds, you may want to help other people out of a wreck. However, it’s important not to attempt recovering a trapped person, especially if the process involves special tools used by first responders. If the person can easily be pulled out of harm’s way without causing added injuries, then do so.
Take notes and photos
Before emergency services arrive and take charge of the situation, you may want to take photos of the wreckage and ask bystanders for testimonies about what happened. Take notes and illustrations that detail the moments before the accident. It’s also important to know if there were any security cameras around that captured the accident. Gathering documentary information and materials can give law enforcers a good understanding of what exactly happened. More importantly, you also need that much information to prove that the other driver was driving negligently and provide strong support to your injury claims.
Take legal action
If the accident caused by distracted driving has resulted in serious physical and emotional harm to you and your passengers, you are in a good position to hold the other driver responsible and demand compensation. In most cases, the other party might offer a settlement, but if the terms of the settlement doesn’t cover the trauma and pain you suffered, then you might want to hire the right lawyer, depending on where you are. It helps to find a Dallas distracted driving accident lawyer if you were injured within and around the DFW area.
Distracted driving will always be a scourge for motorists. But while you can’t convince others to focus on the road at all times, you should at least know how to protect lives and your right to a just compensation.