31 May Hit and Run Accidents: What You Need to Know and Steps to Take
Any type of car accident can be frightening, stressful, and life-altering. But hit and run accidents can pose their own set of challenges. A hit and run driver can complicate an already complex situation, making it difficult to resolve the issues raised by an accident, including compensation.
Fortunately, all is not lost in hit and run cases. Victims of these types of accidents can take steps after the crash to help ensure that they not only get compensation for their losses, but also avoid potential criminal penalties, liability, and further harm.
What Is a Hit and Run Accident?
A hit and run in California occurs when a driver is involved in an accident resulting in property damage or injury but fails to provide necessary contact information before leaving. If only property damage is involved, the act is generally charged as a misdemeanor. But when an injury occurs, a hit and run is a felony.
For instance, if a person rear-ends you yet continues on their merry way, they can be charged with a hit and run. Whether it is a felony depends on whether you or one of your passengers was injured.
Additionally, hit and run charges apply in situations where there is only one driver. For example, if you hit a parked car, you are still required to stop and make sure your contact information lands in the hands of the owner of the parked vehicle. The same holds true for property that is not a motor vehicle, such as a light post or a building.
What to Do After a Hit and Run Accident in California
Hit and run accidents are frustrating at best and dangerous at worst. However, you can mitigate both the annoyance and danger by taking a few key steps after being involved in a hit and run accident.
Get to a Safe Place
Safety is most important after hit and run accidents. As soon as you are hit, you should immediately assess the situation and take action to get yourself to safety. Even though you may be stunned or in a state of disbelief, it is important to take action to keep yourself safe.
Getting to a safe place may include moving your vehicle or bicycle out of the path of incoming traffic to prevent a second accident from occurring. However, if your vehicle or bicycle is damaged after the accident, you may not be able to move it, in which case you should exit the vehicle and remove yourself from the path of traffic.
You should also take reasonable actions to help other parties get to safety as well, such as other vehicles involved in the crash and their occupants. But you should not engage in actions that unreasonably risk your life or the lives of others.
Don’t Pursue the Other Driver
The actions of hit and run drivers make it difficult and sometimes impossible to recover compensation from them. For these reasons, some victims of hit and run drivers decide to give chase to those who flee.
The problem with this course of action is that it puts people’s lives in danger, including the person giving chase, other drivers in traffic, and the hit and run driver
Instead of pursuing the other driver, try to get their license plate number and the type of vehicle they are driving as they flee the scene. If you fail to get this information, do not worry; witnesses or traffic cam footage may have the facts you are looking for.
Call the Police
A hit and run is a crime that is best dealt with by law enforcement. That is why it’s essential to call the police immediately after another driver hits you and flees.
Additionally, there are strict reporting requirements for accidents in California that require those involved in a collision to report an accident involving injury, death, or property damage over $1,000, or you can lose all driving privileges.
Failure to report an accident is not only illegal; it can also result in serious liability on your part. For example, if you decide not to call the police or to report a hit and run, another party might do so and give information that is contrary to how you believe the accident took place.
If that happens, you will have a difficult time contradicting the reporter’s story and may be on the hook for damages. However, if you do call the police and file a report as soon as possible, you get your story on the record and remain in compliance with California’s reporting requirements.
Seek Medical Attention
Regardless of how minor you believe an accident to be, victims should always consider seeking medical treatment immediately after hit and run accidents. Prompt medical treatment accomplishes three important things after an accident:
- It leads to treatment for your injuries and prevents them from worsening
- It provides an official record and cause of your injuries
- It identifies hidden injuries that escape detection by the untrained eye
When you don’t seek immediate medical treatment, your case for compensation can be much more difficult to establish. The other side can simply argue that your injury could have occurred at any time and that you could have exacerbated your injury by waiting to get treated. Additionally, prompt medical treatment saves lives.
Gather Information and Evidence
The best time to collect evidence for any case is always immediately following the event in question. In hit and run accidents, evidence is more trustworthy and more readily available when gathered just after an accident.
With that being said, you can only gather important information and evidence if you are not too injured to do so. In other words, you should look after your safety and health first before worrying about collecting clues.
If you are indeed not too injured to do so, collect as much relevant evidence as you possibly can, such as:
- Vehicle Description: Make sure to include the color, make, and model of the vehicle, along with the license plate number, potential damage it has suffered, and any other distinguishing characteristics it possesses
- Drive Description: If you saw the other driver, write down a description of their sex, approximate age, race, hair features, and anything else that might allow law enforcement to identify them
- Time and Location: Don’t forget to record the exact time, date, and location of the hit and run accident, and make note of any weather or environmental facts that might be pertinent, such as the presence of fog, rain, or bright sunlight
- Photos and Video Footage: Take photos and video footage of the accident scene from various angles, and get shots of the damage to your vehicles as well as shots of your injuries and of any passenger injuries
- Witness Testimony: Talk to as many witnesses as possible to get any information that might help your claim, and don’t forget to get the contact information of everyone you speak with so you can contact them later if need be
You should also note any information about the hit and run driver’s behavior before, during, and after the accident. For example, if you noticed the hit and run driver lane drifting or speeding before the accident, make sure to write that down.
Call Your Insurance Company
You should contact your insurance provider with details of the crash as soon as possible. Your policy may be able to cover some or all of the damage to your vehicle under the collision coverage contained in your policy. And if you have MedPay, you can get medical coverage for your injuries regardless of who is at fault.
Once the hit and run driver is identified, you can file a claim for compensation against their liability insurance coverage. However, if they are uninsured or underinsured, you may be able to claim compensation from the uninsured/underinsured motorist section of your auto insurance policy.
Find an Experienced Car Accident Attorney
To ensure that you receive maximum compensation for your injuries and property damage, you should reach out to an experienced accident attorney as soon as you can following a hit and run accident. Without representation, you will face penny-pinching insurance companies that fight hard to pay less or nothing at all.
Always remember that the compensation process is not victim-friendly but adversarial. This means that victims need to put up a fight to get the maximum payout they are entitled to.
An experienced car accident attorney knows how to meet insurance company tactics with strategies of their own that increase the odds of their clients receiving compensation payouts worthy of their losses.
Additionally, hit and run accident victims who employ car accident attorneys never have to worry about the progress of their case. Their attorneys handle everything for them while they heal, including:
- Filing and managing all claims-related paperwork
- Thoroughly investigating the accident
- Consulting with appropriate accident and medical experts
- Negotiating with insurance companies for maximum compensation
You deserve to have a top professional handling every aspect of your case instead of going it alone.
Quick Legal Action Preserves Your Compensation
In all cases, you should take quick legal action after a hit and run accident. Doing so will prevent your case from suffering from legal and circumstantial issues that can destroy your claim.
Statute of Limitations Issues
By not delaying taking legal action, you can ensure you abide by the statute of limitations for personal injury in California, which is two years. If you fail to seek compensation within this time, your case might get dismissed once you do decide to act.
There are, however, some exceptions to the statute of limitations that may lead to more time for your claim. For example, minor victims of hit and run accidents may have until their 19th birthday to file suit.
Other exceptions exist that may apply to your case if your accident occurred more than two years in the past. By meeting with an attorney, you can learn whether your claim is still valid.
Evidence Issues
Keep in mind that evidence is typically best gathered at the time or soon after an accident when it is fresh and available. Waiting too long can result in various negative evidentiary consequences for your claim.
For example, traffic cam footage that might help you identify the hit and run driver and prove their liability will not remain available forever. Municipalities typically erase their footage after a period of time to make room for more recordings. So if you wait too long to take action, you might lose out on a key piece of evidence.
Witnesses offer another example of why it’s important to act quickly. Witness testimony becomes notoriously unreliable if not memorialized soon after an accident. In other words, a witness’s statement is typically more believable when taken soon after a wreck rather than months down the line.
Additionally, witnesses sometimes become difficult or impossible to track down when too much time has passed since an accident; they move away, pass away, and even change their names.
Securing Compensation After a Hit and Run in California
Regardless of the circumstances of your case, following these steps can increase your odds of getting compensated for your injuries and property damage from a hit and run accident. And remember: swift legal action not only protects your claim, but also gets compensation into your hands more quickly.
If you have been injured in a hit and run accident in Yuba City, the experienced team at the Steve Gimblin Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyer is ready to meet with you and discuss your case. With a successful track record and unmatched work ethic, our injury attorneys can protect your rights and secure the compensation you deserve. Call today for a free consultation.
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