At the Scene of a Portland Injury Accident

It’s an accident, and it’s a Portland injury accident.  You were driving down the highway minding your own business, and then all of a sudden someone merging onto the highway hits you.  All you hear is the crunch of the metal on metal, and you realize, you never saw anything coming.  Fortunately no one was terribly injured, but the glass on the passenger side of your car shattered and you have a few cuts.  Your neck and body are sore, but you don’t think you’ve broken anything and you can exit the car and stand on your own.  As you stand outside of your car looking at the damage, you wonder, “Ok, what do I do now?”

Standing at the scene of a Portland injury accident can be terrible, especially if there are significantly disabling injuries.  The good thing, though, is that a greater portion of accidents on the road ways are either non-injury or minor injury accidents.  But even if an injury is minor, it doesn’t mean that your health and well-being aren’t important.  You will likely receive medical attention for these minor injuries and these are costs that you shouldn’t have to pay, just like you shouldn’t have to pay for any damages to your car that may have been caused by the accident.

As soon as you can after your accident, you will want to make sure that you seek the help of an attorney in order to help you work with the insurance companies and obtain your compensation for your damages, but this will happen, as we said, after the accident.

When you’re at the accident, this is the most vital part of the whole event.  There are several important things that you will need to do in order to make sure that everyone is safe, secure, and understands what to do next.

Here is a short checklist of six things that you absolutely must do at the scene of the accident.

1. If your car is still running after the accident, turn the ignition off and put your keys in a safe place.  Also, turn your hazard lights on if they are functional.
2. Immediately, take a look and see if you can tell what the responsible party’s license plate number is, and the make and model of their car.  You don’t want to give would-be runners the opportunity to leave the scene of the accident without providing their information.
3. Before exiting your vehicle, make sure that you are unharmed.  If you have been injured, it may be a good idea to wait in the vehicle until help arrives.  You do not want to injure yourself further.  If you can get out of the vehicle, make sure that there are no other injuries.
4. Now it’s time to call the police.  Many people mistakenly believe that the police should be called for only major accidents, but the fact is that they can be called for even minor accidents.
5. You will always want to locate witnesses while you are at the scene.   These witnesses may have seen important details regarding the accident that you were not able to see.  Get a short statement from them and their contact information.
6. Finally, you will want to exchange information with all the parties involved, including the driver responsible for the Portland injury accident.  Get their names, address, phone number/s, and insurance information.