Hit by a Car and Don’t Know What to Do?

Being hit by a car can leave you injured, shaken, and unsure what to do next. Whether you were driving, walking, riding a bicycle, or riding as a passenger, the steps you take after the collision can affect both your health and any insurance or personal injury claim that follows.

If you were injured in California, these are some of the most important steps to consider.

Get Medical Care

Your health comes first.

Call 911 when emergency assistance is needed. If it is safe to do so, move away from traffic and other immediate hazards.

Some injuries are obvious at the scene. Others may become more noticeable over the following hours or days. Concussions, neck and back injuries, soft-tissue injuries, and other trauma do not always produce their worst symptoms immediately.

Tell your medical providers what happened and describe your symptoms accurately. Medical records can later help establish what injuries you suffered and when those symptoms began.

Report the Collision

When appropriate, report the collision to law enforcement.

A police report can document important information, including:

• The identities of the drivers involved
• Insurance information
• Vehicle locations
• Witnesses
• Statements from the people involved
• Observations made by the investigating officer

When speaking with an officer, explain what happened as accurately as you can. Do not guess about details you do not know.

Keep the report or incident number so you can obtain the report later.

Preserve Evidence

Evidence can disappear quickly after a crash.

If you can safely do so, take photographs or video of:

• The vehicles
• Vehicle damage
• Your injuries
• The roadway or intersection
• Traffic signs and signals
• Skid marks or debris
• Crosswalks or bicycle lanes
• The surrounding area

Obtain the driver’s name, contact information, license plate number, driver’s license information, and insurance information.

If anyone witnessed the crash, get their name and contact information as well.

Nearby homes, businesses, buses, or government cameras may also have video of the collision. That footage is often deleted automatically after a relatively short period, so identifying potential cameras early can be important.

Notify the Appropriate Insurance Companies

Depending on how the collision happened, several insurance policies may potentially apply.

That can include:

• The driver’s liability insurance
• Your own automobile insurance
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage
• Medical payments coverage
• Rideshare insurance
• Commercial insurance

Even pedestrians and bicyclists may sometimes have coverage available through an automobile policy.

You should be careful when discussing your injuries with an insurance adjuster. You generally do not need to speculate about your diagnosis, recovery time, or the ultimate value of your claim shortly after the accident.

You should also understand what you are signing before providing broad medical authorizations, releases, or settlement documents.

Do Not Rush to Settle an Injury Claim

A quick settlement is not always a good settlement.

Shortly after an accident, you may not yet know:

• How long your symptoms will last
• Whether additional treatment will be necessary
• Whether you will miss more work
• Whether an injury will become permanent
• What your total medical expenses will be

Once an injury claim is settled and a release is signed, you generally cannot return later and demand additional compensation because your injuries turned out to be worse than expected.

For that reason, it can be important to understand the extent of your injuries before resolving the claim.

Keep Records of What Happens After the Accident

Keep copies of documents related to the collision, including:

• Medical records and bills
• Prescription receipts
• Police reports
• Insurance correspondence
• Photographs
• Repair estimates
• Tow and storage bills
• Wage-loss documentation

You should also keep track of how the injuries affect your daily life.

For example, an injury may interfere with your ability to work, sleep, exercise, care for your children, drive, walk, or participate in activities you previously enjoyed. Those effects can be relevant to a personal injury claim.

What Compensation Can an Injured Person Recover?

The damages available depend on the facts of the case.

A California personal injury claim may include compensation for losses such as:

• Medical expenses
• Future medical care
• Lost wages
• Loss of future earning capacity
• Physical pain
• Mental suffering
• Physical impairment
• Property damage

The value of a claim depends on many factors, including how the collision occurred, the nature of the injuries, the medical treatment, the length of recovery, available insurance coverage, and whether any injury is permanent.

What If the Driver Fled?

A hit-and-run does not necessarily mean there is no insurance claim.

Report the collision to law enforcement as soon as possible and provide any information you remember about the fleeing vehicle, including:

• Make and model
• Color
• License plate information
• Damage
• Direction of travel

Look for nearby surveillance cameras and witnesses.

If the driver cannot be identified, uninsured motorist coverage may sometimes provide compensation. The availability of coverage depends on the insurance policy and the circumstances of the collision, so these claims should be evaluated carefully.

What If You Were Walking or Riding a Bicycle?

Pedestrians and bicyclists often suffer serious injuries even when the vehicle involved was traveling at a relatively low speed.

Evidence can be especially important in these cases. Photographs of the intersection, crosswalk, bicycle lane, traffic signals, sight lines, and surrounding businesses may help establish how the collision occurred.

A pedestrian or cyclist may also have insurance coverage available from sources that are not immediately obvious, including certain automobile policies.

Anderson Franco Law represents people injured in pedestrian and bicycle collisions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and California.

What If a Government Vehicle or Dangerous Road Condition Was Involved?

Different deadlines may apply when a city, county, public transit agency, school district, or other government entity may be responsible.

California generally requires a government claim involving personal injury to be presented within six months of the incident.

That deadline is much shorter than the deadline that applies to many ordinary personal injury lawsuits.

Government claims can arise from collisions involving public buses, government vehicles, dangerous roadway conditions, malfunctioning traffic signals, and other circumstances involving public entities.

How Long Do You Have to Bring a California Personal Injury Claim?

California generally provides two years to file a lawsuit for personal injuries caused by negligence.

But there are important exceptions.

Claims against government entities can have deadlines as short as six months. Other circumstances can also change the applicable deadline.

Waiting can create another problem: evidence can disappear even when the legal deadline has not expired. Surveillance footage may be erased, vehicles may be repaired, witnesses may become difficult to locate, and physical conditions at the scene may change.

Should You Speak With a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Not every accident requires a lawyer.

But speaking with an attorney may be useful when:

• You suffered a significant injury
• Liability is disputed
• The insurance company is blaming you
• The driver was uninsured or underinsured
• Multiple vehicles or insurance policies are involved
• You were a pedestrian or bicyclist
• A commercial vehicle was involved
• A government entity may be responsible
• The insurance company is asking you to sign a release
• You are unsure what your claim may be worth

A personal injury attorney can investigate the collision, identify potentially available insurance coverage, obtain evidence, evaluate damages, and handle communications with the insurance companies.

Talk to Anderson Franco Law

Anderson Franco is a California personal injury lawyer who spent the first seven years of his legal career defending insurance companies in civil lawsuits. He now uses that experience exclusively to represent injured people.

Anderson Franco Law handles personal injury cases in San Francisco, Marin County, Oakland, the East Bay, and throughout California.

If you were hit by a car and have questions about your rights, you can contact Anderson Franco Law for a free consultation.

Call (415) 727-1832 or contact Anderson Franco Law online.