Car accidents can cause serious injury to those who may struggle with the prospect of paying for medical bills while missing time at work with their injuries. It is important to note what steps you can take in the wake of an accident to secure your financial recovery. This includes calling 911, taking pictures at the scene, and seeking medical attention as soon as possible.
Your monetary recovery can come in the form of an insurance claim or lawsuit, depending on the seriousness of your injuries. While insurance claims will get you some compensation, you should always consider the substantial advantages of legal action in your case.
To learn more about your case and what you stand to recover, reach out to the seasoned Melville car accident lawyers at The Carrion Law Firm by calling (631) 910-7493. When you place your first call today, you could obtain an initial case assessment for no charge.
What to Do After a Car Accident in Melville
It can be difficult to concentrate on securing your recovery abilities in the immediate wake of a traffic collision. That is why you should familiarize yourself with these key steps provided by our Melville car accident attorneys that describe how you can benefit both your physical condition and financial security.
Move to Safety
The priority immediately after an accident is to make sure that it doesn’t compound itself. If you can operate your vehicle, slowly pull off to a shoulder or other side street that is out of the way. If you cannot move the car or the accident occurs in low visibility conditions, turn on your hazards and deploy flares if you have them before getting yourself and your passengers to the side of the road.
Call 911
You should always call for emergency services after any car accident, no matter how serious you believe it is at first. The dispatcher will send law enforcement officers to the scene to take down critical information, which they will include in their official accident report. You can also request an ambulance if anyone at the scene has injuries that require immediate attention.
Get Information from Other Parties
Exchanging contact and insurance information with the other driver or drivers involved is standard practice after an accident. The other driver is legally required to provide you with this information before leaving the scene. You should also do your best to get contact information from any potential eyewitnesses to the accident who could help sustain your claim later on, as these individuals are substantially more difficult to track down after they leave the scene.
Take Pictures
While you might ultimately not need it, visual evidence of the accident may prove vital in your later pursuit of compensation. You should attempt to document the damage to the vehicles, road and weather conditions, and tire tracks left on the road at the scene.
Go to an Emergency Room
Once you leave the scene, the first place you should go is your nearest emergency room or urgent care facility. While you may want to wait for an appointment with your primary care doctor, you should know that this may take some time. Additionally, many primary care physician’s offices will not treat car accident injuries, as they may be unable to accept car insurance coverage for payment.
Call Your Melville Car Accident Lawyer
You should not waste any time in reaching out to an experienced Melville car accident attorney. The earlier you start working on your legal claim, the more likely you are to succeed and the sooner you will receive your compensation. You should get medical care for your injuries first, however, as your lawyer can use your medical record to estimate potential damages.
Recovering Compensation After a Car Accident in Melville
If you were involved in a car accident caused by another driver’s negligent or reckless driving behavior, there are two possible ways that you could seek compensation: insurance claims and lawsuits. However, the choice is not always yours to make.
New York is a no-fault state, meaning that car accident injury victims are generally required to pursue their compensation through an insurance claim with their own provider (or the provider for the driver of their vehicle if they were a passenger). To get an insurance claim approved through your own provider, you will not need to demonstrate that the other party was at fault for causing the accident. However, your recovery is limited to what is provided by your particular policy and will not include compensation for noneconomic harms that is available in a lawsuit.
There are exceptions to the no-fault rule in New York. Car accident injury victims may file a lawsuit to recover compensation if the injuries that they sustained qualify as “serious” under New York law. Under the 90/180 rule, a victim’s injuries will be considered serious if they prevent the victim from performing the material acts of their customary daily activities for at least 90 days of the 180-day period that immediately follows the accident.
New York law also relies on certain named types of injuries to determine whether an injury is serious. These examples include dismemberment, disfigurement, bone fractures, miscarriage, or loss of the use of any limb, organ, or bodily system.
Because the potential compensation available through a lawsuit is much higher than what is available through an insurance claim with your own provider, always seek the advice of a Melville car accident attorney when determining whether this option is available to you in your case.
Call The Carrion Law Firm Today to Get a Free Melville Car Accident Case Assessment
If you are struggling with the consequences of your recent car accident injuries, The Carrion Law Firm can help. Call our dedicated Melville car accident lawyers at (631) 910-7493 to receive your free first-time case assessment.