Things to Do After a Bicycle Accident
Cycling is an enjoyable way to commute. But it can also be dangerous, especially when you ride in the dark or on unlit roads. The best thing to do after a bicycle accident is calls for help and wait for emergency services to arrive. The quicker you let your friends and family know about the accident, the faster they can help you. You should also take these steps if you are involved in a car accident. You may like to read: Mongoose adult bmx bike
Things to Do After a Bicycle Accident
If you are involved in a bicycle accident, the best thing to do is call for help and wait for emergency services to arrive. Here are some additional steps you can take:
- Remain calm and stay on the scene until help arrives. If possible, take photos or video of the scene before the responder’s arrival. This will be helpful in documenting what happened and may provide evidence in court if you file a lawsuit.
- Tell any witnesses – family and friends, take note of who they are if you can. You never know what information may help to identify or locate a suspect or other eyewitness in an incident like this.
- Ask the person operating (riding) the cycle how it happened- where was the incident? Was anybody injured? What do they remember about what transpired exactly before and after your accident occurred? Who else was involved in this collision which usually involves more than one person?
- Call the police if the accident is not an ASIST: run hit and drive situation where another vehicle was involved in your bicycle crash with you or seriously injured. Depending on whether this rider has a valid driver’s license (e.g., Maryland motorcycle), it may be up to them or their insurance company to handle traffic enforcement functions of operation known as “ASIST.” The site here often contains information about accidents involving bicycles and bicycle facing traffic where there is no need to call the police because of an accident which should have been classified as a “run, hit and drive.” Therefore typically, whether your accident involves one or more vehicles that affect you must be reported. In addition, they are generally required by law for accidents involving motor vehicle moving violations (such as speeding) but less so if it’s someone not driving who happens to collide with you.
- If this is a hit-and-run situation, you should call the police so they can find the other driver(s) involved in this collision causing your accident.
- Take pictures of yourself/your own injuries or with witnesses (especially eyewitnesses where possible). They will be helpful for documentation purposes if it does not put out an alert regarding the incident or you get into a car accident yourself in the future.
- Also document your initial observations, especially whether there are any witnesses present or what type of information they can provide you with at this time, along with an accurate description of the vehicle(s) involved, including make and model, license plate number if it is known otherwise as well as direction (how many blocks away was anyone else when you were crashed). If available, have all medical providers come to the scene right away as well.
- If you take your own vehicle home and find out that it is totaled, call the police immediately so they can capture the names and other information of anyone who claims insurance on the car/truck plate (also request any surveillance tapes if available). Don’t expect them to be able to get all details like even if there are no injuries, this person may have left with important evidence about their involvement in what caused the crash.
- If you suffer from a brain injury or warn of sudden changes in how your vision, speech and/or motor should be slower (less threatening) on their walkthrough at the scene to document details about yourself that day as well as for security purposes so others can’t follow this incident back up with you later down the road unless there is proof that they had knowledge of it before getting out of their car onto yours unexpectedly, etc.
- Take notes to document the following details from your last neurological exam when it is completed/approved by a doctor: I don’t have any brain injury at this point out of my own knowledge (this is common sense and isn’t necessarily asked for by doctors). If brain imaging shows damage, you are given various estimates about risk level depending on how bad it was, for example, loss of speech but not the ability to move arms or legs or walk additional cause difficulties, etc. You will likely also have your toxicology/drug screen done at this time too to confirm that you weren’t involved in a drug deal (otherwise, they may not let you see the results until after diagnosis).
- Take notes from the doctor regarding possible causes of brain injury and concerns should arise down the road like if he even wants to order an MRI, for example, or has symptoms of it developing further faster than expected, such as you saying that “this has something to do with the brain” and he says ok let’s move on, etc.
- Document head trauma, especially where it is suspected or involved like extremely hard hits without proper padding, concussion, traumatic injury including any history of other injuries in this area like bleeding into the scalp/skull 11-14 days later that may cause problems such as memory loss (memory of a few weeks ago not long before you were in the hospital).
- Document any cognitive issues with common tasks such as dialing 911, remembering names/des Command and Conquer rules, knowing where home is on a map, etc (difficulties known beforehand like you are an idiot but not obvious to others).
Conclusion
The last thing you want to do after a bicycle accident is afraid of your bike. This blog post will give you some useful information on how to make the most out of your situation. Once you’ve read through this article, I recommend that you take some time to think about what kind of insurance coverage you need and what steps can be taken to protect yourself in the future. If there’s anything else we can help with, please let us know in the comments below!
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