Wipeout! 5 Things to Do If You’re Ever in a Motorcycle Accident
NHTSA motorcycle research shows that only 5% of drivers ride motorcycles but contribute to 27 percent of fatal accidents. That’s why it’s important to take steps to protect yourself and others when riding a motorcycle. You might be injured or in a state of shock, but taking key protective measures is important.
What to Do After Wiping Out
The following six steps help to protect you and others after wiping out or crashing into another vehicle, property or pedestrian.
1) Check on Everyone’s Safety
It’s important to check if anyone was injured in the accident and contact the appropriate authorities if they have. You should also get to safety out of the middle of the road or away from any other dangerous situations like fire and potential gas explosions. Check that others also navigate out of harm’s way. Don’t try to move your bike to save it from further collisions. Removing yourself and other people from the roadway should be your top priorities.
Part of this issue involves getting medical treatment as your top priority. If you urgently need medical treatment, all other steps can be delayed. Even if you feel that you haven’t been seriously injured, many injuries don’t generate symptons right away. Internal and soft tissue injuries can become quite debilitating, but they commonly don’t show symptoms immediately. Some severe injuries take days, weeks or months before symptoms appear. Having an accident on a motorcycle often results in broken bones, internal damages and bleeding because you’re more susceptible to these injuries without the protection of a vehicle’s infrastructure.
Even if you don’t think you’re injured, it’s always best to get checked out by a medical professional after any accident. Serious injuries may not be apparent right away and sometimes it will take days, weeks, or months for symptoms to appear. If you were on a motorcycle during the accident, you are extremely susceptible to broken bones and serious internal damage and bleeding.
2) Keep Your Protective Gear in Place
The temptation to remove your helmet and other protective gear after a motorcycle accident is strong, but you should resist removing protective gear until a medical professional arrives. Removing gear prematurely could result in other injuries from glass and debris. Your protective gear might be preventing blood loss or protecting you from exposure to dangerous chemicals and contaminants. Removing your helmet can aggravate your injuries and cause further spinal, neck, shoulder and head injuries.
3) Call 9-1-1 to Report the Accident
Reporting your accident immediately speeds up the process of police authorities reducing the risks of further collisions. Police can supervise the safe removal of your motorcycle and damaged parts from the roadway and reroute traffic if necessary. The police will also come in handy for the next step: sharing critical information.
4) Share Information
Exchanges of vehicle, insurance and contact information should always be verified by the police. You probably don’t know how to identify a false ID card, and the police can also confirm whether an insurance policy is still in force. The police officer will generally inspect IDs and verify other information so that you don’t get fooled by fast-talking con artists.
5) Gather and Preserve Evidence
You can collect and preserve lots of relevant information about road conditions, damages to property and injuries sustained from memory and the testimony of witnesses to the accident. Try to get contact information for any witnesses, take pictures of the scene and vehicle damages with your phone and write down a brief description of what happened to preserve your memory of events. Keep the bike — no matter how damaged — to preserve the evidence, or verify damages by having them repaired by a reliable company. Be sure to take pictures to thoroughly document your injuries despite any feelings that it’s gruesome to do so.
6) Contact a Motorcycle Accident Attorney
Any accident involving injuries of substantial vehicle damage on either side requires the services of a lawyer to ensure fairness and facilitate receiving a settlement large enough to cover all your injuries, medical treatments and property damages. Contact motorcycle accident attorneys Glotzer & Leib to learn your rights, and how to navigate the legal process. Protecting yourself, friends and family members after any kind of accident is important, but motorcycle injuries can be especially severe because there are fewer safety devices to protect you. That’s why it’s so important to ensure safety after a motorcycle accident.
