What to Do if a Car Hits You While Riding?

Do you want to know what to do if a fast-moving car hits you while riding a bicycle?

When a car enters the bike lane, crosses a red light, or makes a right-hand turn in front of a bike, the consequence comes with the accident of a cyclist. It's very hard to know what to do if a car hits you while riding in the stress and pain of the moment.

But knowing the proper steps ahead of time will increase your chances of recovery, make the moments less stressful after an accident, and help for a quick and complete recovery.

Please follow the given steps if a car hit you.

1. Try To Move To A Safe Place.

If you are aware after being hit, do a quick systems check.

Are you able to move your limbs?

Are there any injuries that made you helpless?

Try to move at a safe pace and compose yourself if you can move.

2. Immediately Call 911.

After being involved in an accident on your bicycle, report the accident immediately to 911 or have someone else call for you. Traumatic brain injuries and back and spine injuries are common post-collision and can be fatal.

Even if you think you are fine, call 911 anyway; it ensures they can't blame you for leaving the scene.

The emergency services will send paramedics to provide you with a medical check-up and a police officer to investigate the accident at the scene. You should avoid talking to anyone at the scene about the accident other than a police officer investigating the crash.

3. Keep Yourself Relaxed.

Don't be bullied into saying anything that stops you from seeking police involvement, medical care, or getting eyewitnesses to relay what happened to authorities when they arrive accurately. For legal reasons, if the blame for the situation is obvious, neither party should at the scene admit fault.

4. Take Pictures After Accident And Gather Evidence

Collect as much detail and pieces of evidence as you can about the accident:

• The weather situation at the accident time.
• The presence or absence of road signs or other things would have affected the car's ability to avoid hitting you.
• The damage to your bike
• The car's license plate
• Insurance information from the driver
• Contact information from witnesses to the incident
• Your visible injuries

Try to capture photos of the accident scene using your mobile, including your bike and the car that hit you, slip marks on the road, traffic controls at the location, and any visible injuries you suffered.

If the driver stops, collect their license number, insurance information, telephone, and address.

If you were riding with friends, ask them to provide their argument of what happened. Obtain any information about the collision, police reports, documentation of your injuries, or any nearby homes with security cameras that may have footage of you being hit by a car.

5. Know Your Rights.

Even law enforcement officers don't always enforce the law, making filing a report a challenging process. Every cyclist must know their rights.

There is no guarantee that the responding officer will take the crash seriously or even write the driver a ticket. Get the responding officer's name and badge number, then contact cycling-specific legal counsel to ensure the law is followed as it's written–not as one officer interpreted it.

6. Stay Away From Social Media.

After being hit by a car, many people are tempted to post on social media, either as an appeal to track down a hit-and-run driver or to register the aftermath.

You need to avoid discussing the crash with your family, friends, or on social media.

Please keep all the photos you have taken to yourself and share them with the authorities and your cycling lawyer only. Insurance companies love to mine social media looking for damaging admissions or pictures of less than severe injuries as may be evidenced by images of current physical activities."

7. Get Legal Support Before Filing Claims.

Start documenting expenses related to the collision:

• Medical bills,
• charges for fixing your bike,
• lost wages,
• mileage for going to doctor's appointments.

Eventually, you'll give it all to the driver's insurance company to recover financially from its negligence. Do not discuss anything with an insurance company before speaking with an attorney but Keep in mind that attorneys can be very pricey.

8. Get Involved.

If you are riding your bicycle and are hit by a car, you need to take action to protect your health and well-being after an accident and protect your legal rights. And options for recovering financial compensation for expenses and losses that you suffer due to the crash.

9. Get Eyewitness Information

If any eyewitnesses saw the accident, you should get their contact information. Many motor vehicle-related accidents become a matter of you said, or they said, where the parties involved in the crash have conflicting stories. If you have a neutral eyewitness who can confirm your account details, that goes a long way to proving your claim.

10. Make Sure To Get The Accident Report

If police respond to the bicycle accident scene and fill out an accident report, you should get a copy of the report. You will want a copy of the report to verify that any details are correct. Any insurance company you file a claim with will likely like a copy to review as part of their investigation.

11. Preserve Evidence

Keep your bike with you, and do not throw away any bike parts. Take pictures of your crash bike to document the damage. Keep any damaged clothing safely to preserve it for potential evidence at trial.

12. Get a Medical Evaluation

You should have a medical professional evaluate your wounds on the same day as the accident. If the police offer to call an ambulance, go to the hospital by ambulance. Do not worry that being evaluated in the emergency room will be expensive there will be time to figure out who is responsible for all medical bills.

 It is good to have documentation of the trauma you sustained in the accident to prove its cause if it later turns out you need expensive treatment.

We have tried our best to explain everything you need to know what to do after having a car accident, but if you still have any questions feel free to ask us in the comment section. We would be happy to help.

Have safe riding.