what to do when you get rear ended in california

7 Critical things to do right afterward a car blow

What youpractise later on a automobile accident in California tin can determine whether you get your medical bills and automobile repairs paid, too as pain and suffering damages. It tin also proceed you from violating California law and having your driver's license suspended.

Even if you lot were at mistake for a California automobile accident, the steps you take afterward can profoundly affect your rights.

Our California auto accident attorneys recommend the following 15 steps if yous are in an auto accident in California:

Young man and woman looking upset in front of their cars that have just collided

At-mistake drivers have financial responsibleness for damages under country law in California.

one. Remain at the scene of the automobile accident

If someone was injured or killed, remain at the accident scene until the police come unless you demand immediate medical assistance.

Leaving the scene of an accident involving injury could become you charged with a hit and run. Penalties can include a fine of up to $ten,000 and up to one year in jail (more if the injury is serious or someone dies).¹

If the only impairment appears to exist property damage, you may legally exit the blow scene after identifying yourself to the parties involved. Failure to identify yourself constitutes a misdemeanor hit and run. Penalties tin can include a fine of upwards to $ane,000 and/or upward to vi months in jail.^two

If the other involved driver(s) fled the scene, contact the police. If the police tin can rails them downwards, so you can file a claim against his/her insurer. Just if the at-fault driver is never constitute, you may notwithstanding be able to recover damages from your own insurer if you have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage and/or comprehensive and collision coverage.

2. Seek medical attention if needed

If you were injured and need immediate medical assistance, do non wait for the constabulary.

Phone call 911 or inquire someone else to call for you lot. If someone else is taking you to the Emergency Room, make sure you exit your contact information with the other driver(s) start if you are able.

3. Movement to a safe area

If it is safe to do so, move your car to the shoulder or somewhere else prophylactic. Cars that are blocking traffic can consequence in further injuries to yous or other people.

Simply go out the cars where they are if moving them would be dangerous.

Y'all should as well go out the cars where they are and wait for law enforcement if someone was killed or seriously injured, unless the cars pose a significant hazard.

4. Record data about the other vehicle

Once you take moved the cars (if appropriate) and/or sought medical attention for those injured, write down or photograph:

The license plate number of every other vehicle involved in the accident,
The year, make, model and color of the other vehicle(s), and
If possible, the other vehicle(s)' Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

You will need this information in order to written report the accident as legally required to the California DMV.

The VIN is ordinarily listed on a commuter'due south insurance menu and registration. Just it is a good thought to confirm it physically, especially if the driver is uninsured.

Do non, yet, attempt to become the VIN number from the other driver's vehicle if the driver won't cooperate. Touching the other person's vehicle without consent is a bad idea.

You tin find the VIN on a car:

On the driver'due south side dashboard (where information technology meets the windshield), and
Inside the commuter's side door (where the door latches when it is closed).

On a motorbike, the VIN commonly appears on the left side of the steering head.

v. Substitution contact info with other drivers and witnesses

Ask to meet the other driver's license, insurance information and registration.

If yous tin can, take a photo of these documents. Otherwise, write down the numbers.

You should too, if possible, become contact information from everyone else who was involved in, or who witnessed the accident.

If a constabulary enforcement officer came to the scene, become the officer'south name and write it down as well.

Be sure to provide your info to the other driver, regardless of who was at mistake.

6. Practice Not Admit FAULT!

It is extremely important not to acknowledge to any wrongdoing even if you recollect the accident was your fault.

You lot may be wrong. Or the other driver may exist partially to blame under California's "shared mistake / pure comparative negligence" law. Or the problem could be bad road design, highway construction negligence, and negligence from the car manufacturer or service provider.

Even apologizing can be misconstrued and keep you from getting the compensatory amercement you need from your or the other driver's insurance company.

Do enquire, nevertheless, whether the other driver is injured or needs medical assistance.

If the other driver pressures you to accept arraign for the blow politely ask him or her to call your insurance company.

7. Practice not say you are not hurt

Even if y'all call back you were non injured in the car crash, do not tell that to the other driver.

Soft-tissue injuries are not ever immediately apparent. Saying you are not hurt gives the other driver's insurance visitor an excuse to deny your claim or offering yous less than it is worth.

That does non mean that you should lie. A lie tin come back to undermine your brownie.

You can simply say you lot don't know and will be seeking medical attending if necessary.

8. Go out your contact info if the other vehicle or property is unoccupied

If you hit an unoccupied vehicle or other holding, California police force requires y'all to practice i of two things:

Locate the possessor and present him or her with your commuter's license and registration, or
Leave a written note with your name and address in a conspicuous place on the vehicle or holding and promptly notify either:
- The police force department of the city wherein the standoff occurred or,
- If the collision occurred in unincorporated territory, the local headquarters of the Department of the California Highway Patrol.ⁱⁱⁱ

By law, a annotation must include the circumstances. However, it should say as lilliputian every bit possible — for instance that your vehicle collided with the owner's property.

Make certain you annotation the address where the collision happened so that yous can written report information technology.

9. Accept photos of the accident scene

If you are able to do and then safely, photos of the scene of the accident and the vehicles involved can help your lawyer or adjuster determine what happened. Effort to photograph all of the vehicle damage and whatever bodily injury.

It can besides prevent someone from claiming that you are responsible for any damage the vehicle or property later on sustains.

If it is not safe to take photos of the accident scene, or if you had to leave to seek medical assist, return as soon as y'all are able if there is a safety identify to take photos.

Fifty-fifty afterward, photos tin aid your California injury lawyer or your insurance adjuster get an idea of what happened.

Close up of someone taking photos of a bad car wreck on his phone to use as evidence for a car accident claim - which is advisable after a California car accident

Photos of an accident can help you prove your damages.

10. Make a record of your version of the accident right abroad

Equally shortly as is practical, write downwards everything yous can recollect of about the accident, no matter how unimportant it may seem.

Details will fade along with the shock of the blow, so the sooner you record your impressions the better.

Things to write down or record include (but are not express to):

The time and date of the accident,
The cross streets and management of travel of each vehicle,
Your best estimate of each commuter'southward speed,
The colour of any traffic lights that were visible, and
Any adverse road weather (such as potholes or bad weather condition).

xi. Document your injuries

Take, or accept someone else take, photographs of whatever visible injuries with your phone or photographic camera.

If you seek medical attention, ask a nurse or other health professional to accept photos of your injuries likewise.

As soon every bit you lot can, also write down or record your ain impressions of what hurts or is damaged.

The more than prove of your injuries that is documented, the meliorate your risk of your personal injury chaser getting you the recovery you lot deserve.

Auto accident injuries range from modest and cosmetic to catastrophic and disabling. Common examples include:

broken basic ("fractures")
spinal cord injuries and/or broken backs or necks
traumatic brain injuries
cuts, lacerations, and bruises (soft tissue injuries)
burns
scarring and disfigurement

No less important is the emotional distress collisions can cause, leading to major mental and psychological damage – even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

12. Report the accident to the California DMV

California law requires you to notify the California Section of Motor Vehicles within x days of an accident if:

Anyone was killed,
Anyone was injured (fifty-fifty if the injury was small), or
The blow resulted in more than than $one,000 of impairment.^four

If you lot are not sure, make the accident report anyhow, peculiarly if yous volition be putting the merits through your California auto insurance.

Accidents must be reported to the DMV on California DMV Form SR1.

Please come across our article on reportable collision – When must an accident be reported to the DMV?

Failure to report an accident to the DMV can result in the suspension of your commuter'due south license for upward to one year.^v

xiii. Notify your insurance company

Many people do non file a car accident merits in California for fear their rates will get up. California is i of but two states that legally prohibit auto insurers from raising rates if an accident is not the policy holder's fault.^{half dozen}

Furthermore, most machine insurance policies require motorists to written report an accident promptly to take a viable insurance claim.

And fifty-fifty if the accident was your fault, it is normally all-time to study information technology. The other party may report it (even if the commuter says he/she won't), putting you at risk of a suspended driver's license as well as canceled auto insurance.

Early reporting also gives your insurer a improve run a risk to defend your injury claim in a car accident case.

Notation that every motorist in California must carry at least $15,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $5,000 of belongings damage liability. California's machine insurance laws are fault-based, so crash victims would file claims with the at-fault party's insurer.

14. When you can safely not study an blow

The i fourth dimension information technology makes sense non to report an accident is if no other commuter was involved and your car sustained only minor harm which yous can live with or are willing to pay out-of-pocket to repair.

For instance, let'due south say you damaged your motorcar by backing into or scraping a wall and

You do non have standoff insurance,
You lot take collision insurance but the cost of repairs is shut to your deductible level or an amount you can hands afford.

In such a case car accident victims may choose to leave their automobile "as is" or pay for the repairs out of pocket.

15. Consider retaining a California personal injury lawyer

If you have been injured in a car crash, you usually accept only a two-year statute of limitations subsequently the crash to bring a lawsuit in California. Yous are encouraged to retain an experienced California car blow attorney every bit soon as possible to help protect your rights and evaluate all the evidence – including the police study – to determine whether you lot have a right to compensation.

An experienced lawyer may likewise be able to assistance you find a doctor who volition accept a medical lien in California if you lot cannot beget to pay for handling. Your lawyer tin too typhoon an insurance demand letter that is likely to go a settlement offer that may cover your:

Existing medical bills and future medical expenses;
Disability accommodations;
Lost wages, past and time to come;
Pain and suffering, including loss of enjoyment of life ("non-economic damages"); and/or
Property damage, including repairing or replacing the vehicle

(Punitive amercement come into play only if the example goes to trial and does non settle.)

Finally, a good California injury lawyer knows all the insurance companies' tricks and understands the insurance lawmaking. Your lawyer can save you the headache of dealing with your own and the other person(southward)' adjuster(s) so that yous go the best settlement possible.

If your loved one was killed in a automobile accident, encounter our related article on bringing a wrongful death lawsuit. In 2019 alone, in that location were 3,606 traffic-related fatalities in California. The victim's family may be able to recover damages for loss of support and funeral expenses.⁷

Injured in a machine accident in California? Call usa for help…

Receptionist with headset smiling

Contact our police firm for help with your personal injury lawsuit.

If you or someone you know was in a car, truck, motorcycle or other traffic accident, or if you were hurt in a "pedestrian knock-downwards," we invite you lot to contact our California motorcar accident lawyers for a gratis consultation. If you wish to form an attorney-customer relationship, we will get working on your case correct away. We operate by contingency fee, so we exercise not get paid unless you lot become paid.

Nosotros serve personal injury police force clients in Los Angeles and throughout the state of California, and we tin can come across with you lot virtually or at one of our several law offices. There is a statute of limitations (time limit to sue) nether California car accident police, so do not wait.

Encounter our related articles on DUI victims, motorbike accident lawsuits, trucking accident lawsuits, SUV rollovers, bike accidents, eastward-bike accidents, pedestrian accidents (including skateboards), California underinsured / uninsured motorist coverage and our California workers' comp attorneys.

Yous tin can also phone call us if you were injured in a car accident in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Legal references:

careyfromin.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/personal-injury/car-accident/what-do-do-after-an-accident/