You’ve just been thrown from your bike. The adrenaline is rushing through your body, hundreds of things running through your mind all at the same time. You’re so amped up you may not even be feeling any pain from the hard landing you just took.
You take a quick inventory of yourself and you can stand up, so you do just that. Your very next inclination is probably to go look at the state of your motorcycle. However, you may also be filled with a whole range of emotions that could dictate your next moves.
Before you do anything, take a step back. Pause. Think first. Your next actions could have a serious impact on filing an insurance claim and affect your options for legal recourse down the line. This is a challenging situation, to say the least, but cooler heads always prevail, which is particularly true if you are not the party at fault.
You may not be thinking clearly after a motorcycle accident, but try your best to remember these five things you should do going forward. This accident could affect whether or not you are able to save on motorcycle insurance in the future.
1. Emergency Assistance
Once you’ve assessed your current condition, check on everyone else involved in the crash on scene. Do this first because anyone in need of emergency medical assistance should receive it immediately. So be sure you and the other parties are all okay and, if not, call 911 as soon as possible. Just because you have notified emergency personnel of any injuries does not automatically put you at fault. If anything, it shows that you were concerned about your fellow drivers.
2. Documented Evidence
We all have smartphones with cameras. So you’re ready to gather as much visual evidence of the scene. Start snapping and get everything you can, including the condition of your bike, any other vehicles involved in the incident, road conditions, surrounding areas around the scene, and even the other drivers who were part of the accident. These pictures can be very helpful to you when you file a claim or in the event you are involved in a court dispute.
3. Get Out of the Road
Depending on the nature and severity of the accident, you should take quick action to get your motorcycle to the shoulder and off the road as soon as you can. If you keep the bike in the road you could be putting other drivers in danger as they may not be able to see there has been an accident until is too late and another one occurs.
4. Get a Police Report
Here is the part where you and the other drivers should trade information such as contact and insurance information. Call the police to come out to the scene and intervene, even if the other party requests that you do not or urges you not to do so. But bringing the police to the scene solves a number of potential problems, it ensures that you get the vital data necessary from the other drivers and produces an official record of the incident that is filed with the authorities.
If the driver decides to leave the scene before the police show up, that will put them in serious legal jeopardy as leaving the scene of an accident is a crime.
When you are giving and receiving information on scene, be sure to get all contact, VIN number, and insurance company information from the other drivers as well as the names and badge numbers of the police officers that arrive. This way you have everything you will need moving ahead.
One last thing, do not every admit fault. Not to the other drivers, not to police. No one.
5. Contact Your Insurance Provider
Once everything has been handled on scene and it’s been determined whether or not your motorcycle is still drivable, you should reach out to your insurance company and let them know what has happened. You can give them all of the information you gathered at the scene including your photos as well as the condition of the motorcycle. Do not give them any information about your injuries or lack thereof, you should see a doctor first. Then you can decide what to tell them.
Motorcycle insurance in NC can be tricky because if you underestimate your damages in a claim, you could be left paying for repairs or medical bills out of pocket. So always have all of the pertinent information at the ready before you make your claim.