If a Lyft or Uber driver hits your car, then hopefully, you will walk away without any injuries. In the aftermath, you must consider the next logical steps. You might need to pursue legal action against the driver who hit you if it’s clear they demonstrated negligence.
Hiring an experienced ride share accident attorney will certainly come into play, but that’s down the line. First, you must take some additional steps. We’ll talk about those right now.
Get Your Car Off the Road
If a ride share vehicle hits you, you should check your physical condition first. Maybe you feel okay, but perhaps you have immediately noticeable injuries. You should also check your passengers for injuries if you have anyone in the car with you.
Next, you should try to get your vehicle off the road if you can. If you stay on the road, another driver could come along and hit your vehicle, or it might strike you if it doesn’t notice you standing there in time.
Call 911
Next, you should call 911. You must report the accident. Most drivers have smartphones with them these days. If it so happens that you don’t have your cell phone on you, then you must see whether a passenger has one. If they don’t, ask the other driver to call 911 instead.
If you talk to a 911 operator, you can tell them what happened. You can mention your location if you know it. You can also say whether you or anyone else needs medical attention.
Get the Other Driver’s Information
Next, you can get the other driver’s information. At a minimum, you will want their name, license plate number, driver’s license number, and insurance information. Ride share vehicles must have all of these things, so you’ll immediately know there’s something amiss if they claim not to have any of that info.
You should also give the ride share driver all of your information. If they seem angry, as some drivers become following accidents, then don’t engage with them. Wait till the police arrive so that they can act as intermediaries.
Get Medical Attention
If you need medical attention, you can get it when an ambulance arrives. You might need the ambulance to take you to hospital if the crash injured you severely. You should also try to stay calm. You may start to notice an injury after the adrenaline has died down that wasn’t immediately evident right after the wreck.
If you must go to the hospital, then the police can help get your vehicle off the road. You can check on its status later.
Tell the Police What Happened
If you don’t need to go to the hospital, then you can tell the police what happened when they arrive. They must fill out an accident report, and they will require all the information we previously mentioned.
Make sure not to leave any details out, but don’t embellish any, either. The facts always come out in these cases, so give a basic play-by-play of what happened without speculating about blame.
You should also try to take some pictures and videos of the accident site with a smartphone before you leave the scene. Those can come in handy later if you end up suing the ride share driver. Try to take a video of where your car ended up after the impact, the position of the ride share driver’s car, the weather conditions, the road conditions, and so forth.
Inform Your Insurance Company
Once you’re at home and you’ve received any necessary medical attention, you can start considering your options. Do you feel sure the ride share driver caused the accident? If so, you should feel confident that the other driver’s insurance will pay for the damages. Those might include damage to the car, the cost of medical bills, money from lost wages, and non-economic damages from pain and suffering as well.
However, to get that money, you may need to consider hiring a lawyer. You might want someone to represent you in this situation, especially if you feel confused or out of your element.
Find the Right Lawyer
If you think you might sue the ride share driver, look around for a car accident lawyer who knows about these kinds of cases. You can probably find many personal injury lawyers close to you, but make sure the one that you meet with knows all about ride share accident cases in particular.
When you meet with the lawyer, you can tell them what happened. Again, make sure to give a detailed explanation when they ask about the collision. They will consider your case’s details. Then, they will decide whether they think you have cause for a lawsuit and whether they want to take you on as a client.
The Case Can Move Forward
If the lawyer feels you have a case and they’re willing to represent you, then you will need to dedicate some time to the lawsuit. Your lawyer can get the ball rolling by contacting the ride share driver and telling them that you’re suing them. In rare instances, you might even sue the ride share company as well.
You must follow your lawyer’s advice in this regard. They can tell you whether you should sue just the driver, the company for which they work, or both.
In the days that follow, you will probably spend a lot of time with your lawyer. You might also spend time at doctor’s appointments if the crash injured you. You may have to recover physically and emotionally before you can go back to work. You might need to see a therapist if the crash made you feel unsafe or anxious every time you get back out on the road.
The ride share driver might offer you a settlement, or perhaps the case will go to trial if they feel they did nothing wrong. That’s a rarity, but it does happen sometimes.
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