How to Manage a Car Accident

Essay and photo by Soujin Nam

Are you a driver? Instead, you may take a bus to go to the school. Maybe, though, you will also need a car to carry groceries, to move at night, and to go on a trip as an international student. Driving a car is quite essential and a pretty comfortable way to live in the United States. However, what if you get into a car accident? Actually, I have had a car accident in College Station. You may be curious about how to manage a car accident. Here are some steps you might want to know.

First, it’s the step of being inside the car. You need to stop, turn on your hazard light, and stay in your car, not get out of it. And then call or ask someone to call the police or an ambulance (mostly 911). But you have to be careful about it because you must pay quite al lot of money after calling for an ambulance. This is why you need to purchase health insurance. Just briefly look at the conditions of you and other passengers in your car.

Next, it’s the step of getting outside of the car. If you decide the circumstance is safe, and if you weren’t injured, so you are able to move, it’s good to take pictures of damage of the cars and how they are placed. You don’t have to argue with the other party’s driver, instead, keep calm and take pictures of the accident. After taking pictures, you might want to move the cars to the side of the road so that you are not interrupting the flow of traffic if the cars are still functioning. If the car was seriously damaged, or you were injured, you can get into an ambulance, and your car will be towed. Until then, keep your hazard light on, and if you have one, put a warning sign out on the road so that no other crashes happen.

Third, it’s the step of reporting to police. When police and ambulances arrive at the accident site, they will ask if you are injured or not. If you are injured quite a lot, you had better get into an ambulance. If you can stay in the accident site, it’s time to report to police about the accident, which usually takes 20 minutes or so. After the police finish recording the accident, they may explain about what they recorded for you to check, and you will need to write your signature on the police report.

At last, it’s the step of collecting information from the other driver(s). Make sure that you keep the report number and the paper containing each other’s information including insurance and addresses. If your car was towed, you should also collect the business card or telephone number of the towing company.

To sum up, just follow four brief steps and you can deal with a car accident quite smoothly though you might be embarrassed about the unexpected accident. You all must be safe drivers. However, life is unpredictable and something happens suddenly. You can carry this paper in your car, just in case. Of course I hope you all never use this paper in your lifetime. Be safe in your driving!