A car accident can be devastating. It doesn’t matter if it was minor or major. It still leaves you in a state of shock and pain, and there is an excellent chance of your car getting damaged. However, you should be thankful that you are alive because car accidents often prove to be fatal.
There is one question that everyone has in their mind – should I see a doctor after a car wreck even if I don’t have symptoms?. The right answer is yes. You must visit a physician after you undergo a car accident because there might be internal injuries that you can’t see or feel at the moment.
This is just one of the many things that you should do right after facing a car accident. We have mentioned below the other steps that you must take:
Check if everyone else in the car is safe
When you are not driving alone, you have to be extra careful. Be it your family or your friends or even your colleagues; it is your responsibility to make sure they are safe in your car. However, if an accident takes place, the first thing that you should do is look around yourself and check if everyone else in the car is alive. If someone is severely injured, you must not try to move them by yourself.
Take note of what happened
Once you know that you and everyone else in the car survived the accident, you are free to get out of the car. Have some water, get back to your senses, and exchange information about the accident with the people around you. It is quite reasonable to see a crowd around you at the moment. So, don’t panic. Take note of all that happened. This will be important for a car accident attorney in Austin TX if you decide to file a lawsuit. If possible, take pictures of the accident site. These photographs will also come in handy when your attorney is building your case. It would help if you also tried to get hold of any surveillance camera nearby that might have recorded the incident.
Call the cops
Calling the police and telling them what happened is essential. So, don’t forget to dial the number after checking on other people. One thing that you can’t afford to miss is, asking for the name and the number of the police officer that you are talking to. Also, if you collide with another vehicle and that vehicle gets damaged or the person sitting inside the car is injured, you must attend to that person first. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was. You are lucky that you survived a car accident.
Talk to your insurance company
In case your car is damaged during the accident, it is obvious for you to worry about the expenses of getting it repaired. They are high, indeed. Situations like these are why people get their car insured. Also, if you have health insurance and you got injured during the accident, you don’t have to worry about paying the lengthy bills for your visits to the doctor. Your insurance company should take care of that. So, talk to them as soon as you can. Remember that the sooner you call, the sooner you get your claim money.
Visit a doctor
This should be the first step if you faced severe injuries during the car accident, and you are bleeding. However, if that isn’t the case, you can save this step for later, but don’t skip it at any cost. The reason being internal injuries. They don’t show up right at the moment of the accident, but over time, they worsen and can potentially cause serious health problems in the future. These injuries can be related to bones in most cases, but they can be traced to muscles as well. So, visit a doctor and clear the risk.