Winter Weather Series: Car Accidents
Winter weather means the holiday season, cold weather, and ultimately more car accidents and even personal injury accidents. In part one of our Winter Weather series, we will explore how you can actively do your best to prevent car accidents, what to do after you’ve gotten in a car accident, and ultimately how to decide if you should file suit with a Denver personal injury attorney.
While these tips to help avoid car accidents can be used year-round, they are particularly important during the winter to help prevent any serious accidents. Here are ten ways you can practice safe driving, and hopefully avoid a Denver car accident:
Always keep at least one hand, if not two, on the steering wheel. No matter what is going on in your car - this one is very important.
Pull into traffic slowly. You never know who is around you or what they are doing, and during the winter months black ice can be tricky.
Maintain a healthy distance from the car in front of you. Ever heard of the two second rule? It’s a rule often taught to new drivers that you should be at least two-seconds behind the car in front of you...during winter weather we recommend you increase that to five!
Eyes on the road. Limit distracted driving by putting away your phone, and avoiding any type of interaction with your car stereo. Keep your eyes on the road at all times! It’s an easy way to prevent accidents.
No matter how hard you try to avoid a serious car accident, sometimes you can’t avoid it. Once you get in an accident, here is what you need to do as soon as a car accident occurs. We recommend printing this list, or keeping a similar list, in your car. Car accidents can be a very traumatic and chaotic experience - it’s easy to forget what you need to do in the heat of the moment.
Never leave the scene of an accident. Make sure you stop, pull over, and await assistance from police officers and medical personnel.
Preserving the scene of any accident is extremely important. If there is debris scattered around your car, leave it.
Once you are safely on the side, make sure you call the police and report the accident. The police officers shouldn’t be long - but in the meantime take time to take plenty of photos!
Speaking of photos, make sure you take photos of all damage done to your car, and the parts on the road. While you are likely not going to need the photos of the debris, you never know and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Before leaving the accident, make sure to speak with the police officer and get the information of the other driver. Your insurance company will need to make contact with the other driver’s insurance company...so make sure it includes this as well.
So you’ve successfully maneuvered the car accident...but what’s next? You might be wondering if you should file a personal injury lawsuit - and we have your guide! You’ll want to consider filing a personal injury lawsuit if the other driver is denying fault, or if they are disagreeing about the amount of money they feel that they should receive. A Denver personal attorney can help you determine if that’s the right move for you, but what you’ll need is:
Your medical bills/charts/report
Police report
Any photos you took at the accident
The damage report on your car
This is just a few of the things you need, but your Denver personal injury attorney can give you a full list. Ultimately, you’ll end up speaking to an adjuster as well to help support your personal injury case. We recommend you approach this knowing you’ll need to convince the adjuster it was the other driver’s fault, and that the bills incurred from the accident were substantial and there was additional pain/discomfort.
If you are considering whether or not you should file suit, contact Mark A. Simon. Mark will work on the injured employee’s behalf to ensure the worker receives full benefits related to rehabilitation, wage loss, and final settlement. If you have been injured on the job, call to schedule a consultation.