What Steps Should I Take After I’ve Been Injured While Riding My Scooter?
Scooter accidents have risen sharply in the past few years. Scooters are so popular in California, the team here at Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers is seeing a constant need for scooter-related legal assistance.
These are the kinds of questions swirling through our clients’ minds as we help them with their scooter cases. We’d like to take a moment to share the most important steps to take after someone injures you on your scooter.
First, Stabilize Your Injuries
Scooters are great for zipping around town efficiently, but they’re not necessarily made for safety. Your body is openly exposed to the impacts of a scooter crash.
So if someone hits you, the very first thing you should do is get out of immediate danger and seek urgent medical care. A witness may have called 911, but if you’re not sure, call 911 yourself or ask someone to do so.
Your goal at this point is to make your health a priority and stabilize your injuries. You’ll need an assessment from a medical professional, plus follow-up treatment or procedures they recommend.
Meanwhile, the police should be doing their work to determine what occurred during the accident and which criminal charges may apply. Of course, not every scooter accident involves a crime and you may need to do your own investigation to get to the bottom of what happened.
Next, Get the Police Report
Ideally, you’d ask about getting a copy of the police report at the scene of the accident. But if you’re too injured to do so, you can follow up with the police later to request the report. The police may even contact you while you’re still at the hospital.
As your injuries stabilize, now’s the time to call a lawyer. We always recommend making this call sooner rather than later to prevent accidentally doing or saying something that’s not in your best interests.
Make sure you choose a lawyer who has plenty of scooter accident experience locally, right in your own city. A good lawyer will get right to work tracking down the police report, explaining how to interact with the various people involved in your accident, and gathering vital evidence for your case.
Identify Participants, Witnesses, and Involved Companies
One of the trickiest parts of a scooter accident is identifying every person and organization who plays a role. You’ll need the contact info for the person who hurt you, their insurance company, anyone else who was part of the accident, witnesses to the accident, and more.
There could even be a government agency involved, like when a city parks vehicle hits someone. Or perhaps it involves a company like DoorDash, Instacart, Shipt, Amazon, FedEx, UPS, a local pizza joint, or a rideshare company like Uber or Lyft – plus their insurance company.
As you can see, your contact list could grow and grow. Accident lawyers know how to handle all the person-to-person interactions in a savvy way that preserves your ability to collect compensation.
Our Best Tips for Scooter Injuries
Finally, we’d like to share a few things you can do to help your scooter accident case go as smoothly as possible. Whether you hire a lawyer or not, these are all smart steps to take.
- File a claim against the liable person’s insurance company.
- Don’t give a recorded statement or provide your social security number.
- Don’t say anything on social media regarding your accident or share photos/videos.
- Calculate your loss of earnings and include it in an insurance claim.
- Include your medical bills and doctor’s recommendations for ongoing treatment.
- Include damages for your pain and suffering.
These Tasks Can Be Time-Consuming
Some of these tasks can be time-consuming, so you’ll need a lot of determination to handle it all without a lawyer. Maybe you’re dealing with a hit-and-run driver or someone who simply refuses to talk to you. Maybe the insurance company is stonewalling you.
A talented lawyer will whip your case into shape and boldly assert your legal rights. They’ll help you lock down liability so you can put the right foot forward and pursue a successful, high-value scooter claim.
If you need to reduce your stress and improve your odds of fully covering your losses, contact Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers today. We have a long history of success with California scooter accident cases.
We Handle Your Accident Claim So You Can Focus on Your Life
After an accident, contact the attorneys at Sally Morin Personal Injury Lawyers. We handle many types of personal injury claims including scooter claims. We believe you should be able to focus on recovering from your accident while we handle the legal details.
We truly care about the people of California. Contact us today for a free online case evaluation.
Video Transcript
What steps should you take after you’re in a scooter accident? Well, the very first thing you should do is get medical care, make sure that you are stabilized and that your injuries are taken care of. Hopefully, somebody at the scene of the accident called 911, the police are doing their thing digging into who’s responsible, getting the information, and you’re being treated at the emergency room getting stabilized.
Get a Copy of the Police Report
The next step you need to take is to get a copy of the police report. To do that, the police officer at the scene should contact you either at the scene or at the hospital and give you the police report number, and you’ll want to collect that from the San Francisco PD. Or if you want to talk to a lawyer sooner than later, which I recommend, your lawyer can track down the police report for you as well. But again, don’t call a lawyer from the scene; wait until you take care of your injuries; that’s just the number one priority.
Then, when you are ready to speak with a lawyer, I recommend you do that and take a look at my page, which talks about the top questions to ask a lawyer if you’re considering hiring them. You want to make sure you find the right person for you with this.
Identify Any Witnesses
The next thing that you want to do, whether you hire a lawyer or not, is identify any witnesses to the accident, identify the third party who caused the accident, get all their insurance information, and then contact that insurance company and initiate an insurance claim so that you can get compensated for your medical expenses, any loss of earnings you may have incurred, and some damages for your pain and suffering.
Couple More Things You Can Do
So again, if you hire a lawyer, a lot of this stuff will be handled by the lawyer, but if you don’t, here are a couple more things you can do. First of all, don’t post anything on social media about your accident that can backfire later. So just refrain from Instagramming photos of you and your new cast and things like that, just keep it tight.
Contact Any Witnesses
If you are having any issues locating the third party or determining who caused the accident, you want to canvas the neighborhood where the accident occurred and look for any surveillance footage if there is any available, contact any witnesses, and lock down the liability so that you can go into making your insurance claim with the right foot forward.
Then you’ll go ahead and gather your medical records and bills once you’re done treating and submit all that to make a claim with the insurance company. But again, hire a personal injury lawyer, and they will get you way more than you’ll get on your own, and you won’t have to do any other work or have any of the stress.
