What to Do Immediately After a Car Accident
It’s difficult to make good decisions ninety seconds after a crash.
Your hands are shaking, your ears are ringing, and some part of your brain is still processing the implications of the impact. That’s exactly when you’re expected to trade information, talk to a police officer, and decide whether you’re hurt.
The choices you make in this narrow window will follow you through your entire car accident claim.
Around St. Louis, it can get even trickier. A crash on the Illinois side of the river runs under a different set of rules than one in Missouri.
Here’s what to do immediately after a car accident.
First, Get Off the Road
Check yourself, then your passengers, and then anyone else involved. Call 911 for any injuries beyond a scratch. Don’t talk yourself out of an ambulance just because you feel fine standing on the shoulder.
If the involved vehicles are drivable and nobody is seriously hurt, move them to the shoulder or a nearby lot.
Turn on the hazard lights. Secondary collisions are a real risk on I-44 and I-270, where traffic can come up on a stopped vehicle amazingly fast. If a car won’t move or one of the drivers might have a neck or back injury, leave everything where it is and get yourself behind a guardrail.
A smashed fender is a small problem. Getting struck by a car on the interstate could be a fatal one.
Call the Police Even If It Seems Minor
Get an accident report. Every time.
Drivers who agree at the scene to “just handle it between us” have a habit of remembering things differently once the repair estimate comes in.
A police report after an auto accident gives you an independent record of the date, location, conditions, vehicle positions, and who said what. All of this information is created at the scene by somebody with no stake in the outcome.
The responding agency depends on where your crash happened. A crash in the city goes to St. Louis Metropolitan Police. A wreck in the county goes to the local municipality or county police. And one across the river goes to the Illinois State Police or the local department nearest where the accident occurred.
Always ask the responding officer how you can obtain a copy of the accident report and write down their number before you leave the scene.
The accident report does more work in proving fault in a car accident than almost anything else you’ll gather.
Your Phone Is the Best Investigator on Scene
Car accident evidence collection is mostly just photography. You already own the equipment you need. It’s all on your smartphone.
Shoot a wide shot of the accident scene before you snap images more close up. Get the whole intersection, the lane markings, the signals, the skid marks, and the debris field. Next, move in for tighter shots of the damage to both vehicles.
Get pictures of both license plates and anything on the road that shouldn’t be there. Get photos of the other driver’s license and insurance card. Don’t try copying the numbers on those cards by hand. Your handwriting right after an automobile collision can’t always be trusted.
If there are witnesses at the scene, talk to them before they leave. Get their names and cell numbers, even if they only saw the aftermath of the actual crash. Also, if you have the presence of mind, look around you for gas stations, drive-throughs, or possible doorbell cameras that might have recorded video of the crash.
It’s important to preserve such evidence before it’s automatically overwritten by new footage. This can happen within days.
Adrenaline Is a Liar
Unless you’re clearly badly hurt, don’t trust whatever your body is telling you at the scene. You will not feel your worst injuries just yet.
Adrenaline spikes during accidents, numbing pain and providing enough energy for you to get out of immediate danger. It’s easy to mistake this pain-free rush as being “okay” after an accident.
Whiplash symptoms after an accident often surface a day or two later, such as neck stiffness, tingling down one arm, or headaches at the base of the skull.
Concussions can be even harder to detect early on. The CDC says that most symptoms don’t manifest for hours or days. Early signs such as trouble sleeping, poor concentration, and mood swings can show up a week or two later.
If it’s at all possible, get a medical evaluation the same day as the accident, even if you feel fine. This will protect your health while creating a medical record tied to the date of the crash. A three-week gap between the collision and your first appointment will look suspicious to an insurance adjuster.
The Two Words That Cost You Money
“I’m sorry.”
Pop songs tell you those are the hardest words to say, but they come too easily after a car accident. Most of us say it reflexively, the way we apologize to furniture we bump into. If you utter words of apology at a crash scene, even just to be polite, your words will get written down and thrown back at you as an admission of fault later.
Stick to the facts when talking with the police and exchanging information with the other driver. Do not theorize about who did what. The same rule applies to the insurance claims process in the days after a crash.
Report the accident to your own carrier promptly, as your policy probably requires it, and keep your account of the accident short and factual.
When the other driver’s insurer calls asking you for a recorded statement, you are allowed to say no. Remember, their insurance company is not gathering information from you out of polite curiosity.
Casey & Devoti Has Been Doing This Since 1983
The first hours after a crash are the ones you’re least equipped to handle well.
Still, these are the hours that matter most to what comes after. It’s an unfair arrangement. That’s why having a short list of steps beats trying to think through it on the shoulder of the expressway.
Casey & Devoti is a St. Louis personal injury firm that has spent more than 40 years handling serious injury cases across eastern Missouri and southern Illinois. Our partners try cases, and we take on a limited number so each one gets real attention rather than a claim number.
If you’ve been hurt in a crash and aren’t sure what to do next, speak with an attorney who handles these cases on both sides of the Mississippi. You don’t have to try sorting it all out alone.