Halloween accidents can happen for multiple reasons. Often, they are preventable and result from someone's recklessness or negligence. Accidents may involve one or more people, various types of injuries, and significant financial loss. In every case, you need to know what to do after you suffer an injury.
Follow these steps to take after a personal injury on Halloween. Then, contact a Philadelphia personal injury lawyer at Kwartler Manus for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your rights.
Step 1: Get Medical and Rescue Support First
Put your health as the top priority after an accident. Get to safety, call 911, and wait for help. If you are unable to move, work with the dispatcher to address injuries and communicate your needs. If it is safe to do so, offer help to others. Follow the instructions of medical professionals who arrive on the scene.
Step 2: Start Documenting What Happened
If you can safely do so, work to preserve evidence. What you do at this moment could help to clarify who is at fault and responsible for your injuries and other losses. Again, when safe, take these steps:
- Take photos of your injuries.
- Capture photos of your vehicle damage or other property damage.
- Get photos of the other damage, including to other vehicles, structures, or other areas.
- Use a video to record where you are standing and how the accident unfolded. Describe the details at the time, such as weather conditions, time of day, and how the traffic signals were functioning.
This information may help to later build your case. It may clarify fault based on the debris' position or the vehicles' angles. Do not overlook any details when you are taking the pictures.
Step 3: Get Witness Information
Witnesses are anyone at the scene of the accident or those who saw what happened. This may include passengers in vehicles. It may also include those standing at a crosswalk or watching from a business window. Ask anyone who stops to help you for their contact information and name.
Witnesses often have no idea they have critical information to share. Yet they may remember small details that could document fault or prove someone acted recklessly. Always be pleasant to witnesses. They are under no obligation to provide you with testimony.
Step 4: Get to the Hospital
Even if you feel okay, go to the emergency room or urgent care to inquire about a physical. In these accidents, you may not realize the severity of your injuries at first. Traumatic brain injuries, internal bleeding, and some forms of spinal injuries are hard to notice at first, but carry lifelong potential complications.
Inform the emergency room of the accident, where you struck your head, and the rate at which you were traveling. These details help medical teams know how to check for injuries. Their documentation can serve as valuable evidence for you to use later.
Then, get all follow-up care recommended by the emergency room. Complete therapy, rehabilitation, medications, and further treatment you need. Keep detailed notes on the care you receive and how this accident and your injuries affect your life and well-being.
Step 5: Contact a Personal Injury Attorney
It is never too early to call a personal injury attorney for a consultation. They may even come to the hospital to talk to you right away. That can be valuable for many reasons, especially when preserving evidence is critical.
Your attorney can help in many ways in these types of matters. That includes:
- Gathering evidence of what occurred and why. Expect your attorney to ask you questions and then seek out all available evidence to document what occurred. They will ask questions to clarify details.
- Contact the insurance company to inform them of the accident. While you can do this, allow your attorney to do so when possible. That helps you avoid the risk of settling your case for too little.
- Determine fault in your accident. It is possible that more than one party could be at fault in an accident like this. Your attorney's goal is to show you were not at fault or to minimize any fault claims attributed to you.
- Seek a comprehensive claim that includes all of the losses you have. Common losses include medical bills, lost wages, catastrophic injury-related costs, pain and suffering, and emotional trauma.
- Negotiate a claim settlement or go to court for you. Your attorney's job is to get as much money as they can for you. That means fighting hard for your rights.
In every case, you must act quickly to seek fair compensation. The statute of limitations in Pennsylvania for many personal injury claims is just two years from the date the accident occurred. If you wait past that time, you may lose your chance to recover damages.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a Personal Injury Attorney Now
Talk to the team at Kwartler Manus about your accident, injuries, and losses. Let our personal injury attorneys become your advocate. When Halloween goes wrong, we are here to help you navigate the process. Call us today to schedule a free consultation.
Sources
- Section 5524.0 - Title 42 - JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/CT/HTM/42/00.055.024.000..HTM
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