You can easily hurt yourself if you are driving or riding in a car and another vehicle hits it. That is never fun. It can change your life, and seldom for the better.
You can sustain various injuries that way. For instance, if a car hits your vehicle from behind, then whiplash can happen.
Whiplash injuries require expert medical care, and the sooner you have a doctor look you over, the better. You can determine the injury’s severity and the proper treatment that way.
Let us talk about the steps that you would follow after a whiplash car wreck injury.
Try to Get the Car Off the Road
Let’s say that you’re driving along one day. Maybe you’re on your way to work or the grocery store. You’re sitting at a red light at an intersection, when suddenly, a car crashes into your rear bumper.
In that situation, your upper body, including your head and neck, will presumably rock back and forth. When that happens, you can sustain whiplash. It occurs when the head and neck rock quickly backward and forward because of a sudden impact.
In the moments afterward, you may feel shock. If it’s a nice day, then there’s no reason you might think of why the other driver ran into you. Maybe they let a smartphone distract them, though. Perhaps they tried to change the radio station and didn’t see you sitting there.
No matter why the other driver hit you, you will probably realize pretty quickly that you sustained an injury. It’s best to try to get your car off the road in this situation. You don’t want to have your car sitting out there where another vehicle might hit it again.
Call the Police
Once you have your car out of the road, you can call the police. You might not be able to get your vehicle out of the road in some instances. However, if you sustained a mild fender bender and that gave you whiplash, the car can probably still start, and you can move it with no problems.
With the car off the road, get on your smartphone and call 911. The police can come once you give the operator the necessary information.
If you don’t happen to have a smartphone on you, then you might ask the other driver to call, assuming they stayed at the crash site. It’s illegal to leave the scene of an accident, but that doesn’t mean some drivers won’t still do it.
If you and the other driver don’t have cell phones, then you might ask another driver or a passerby to do it. If you’re on a deserted stretch of highway somewhere, then you might see whether there’s an emergency call box nearby.
Get the Other Driver’s Information
Next, you can try to get the other driver’s insurance information. You will also want their name, their car’s license plate number, and other relevant details.
If you don’t want to talk to the other driver, then you might wait for the police to arrive and get the information from them. Sometimes, you might have a situation with an irate driver, even if they caused the accident.
If so, it’s best to avoid talking to them. You can even get back in your car and wait for the police to come. If you sustained a whiplash injury, then you will probably feel it at this point. However, there’s little you can do about it till you deal with the cops.
Talk to Your Insurance Company
You can figure out the best way to get home after talking to the police and getting the other driver’s information. You might drive your car home if it did not sustain very much damage. If the wreck damaged your car to the point where you’re not sure if you can safely drive it, then you will need to call a taxi, Uber, or tow truck.
Once you’re home, you can put some ice on your neck. You might put a heating pad on it. You can also take some Advil or some other over-the-counter pain meds.
Now, you can call your insurance company. You can give them all the information from the crash. If you’re in a no-fault state, then your insurance should pay for the damage to the car, regardless of whether you caused the crash or not.
If you live in an at-fault state, and you feel certain that the other driver caused the accident, then you will need to get the other driver’s insurance to pay for your vehicle’s damage. This process can take weeks or longer.
Hopefully, the other driver won’t dispute that they caused the accident. That will make things go smoother.
See a Qualified Medical Professional
Next, you will want to go see a doctor. They will probably want to take some X-rays. They will ask you about the accident, and they will ask you how much pain you’re in as well.
If the X-rays reveal that you did not sustain any serious injuries, then you can probably continue to use ice packs and heat pads until you start to feel better. You can use over-the-counter pain meds as well.
If you sustained a more serious neck injury, then you may have to use some prescription pain meds instead. However, you should know that most doctors only prescribe them in extreme cases. They know about how some pain meds have addictive qualities, and they don’t want to put you in that situation.
They may also suggest that you wear a brace to immobilize your neck if you injured it badly. They may recommend that you stay home from work for a couple of weeks.
This time might test your patience. You will probably experience pain, and perhaps boredom as well. In time, you can hopefully go back to work. Whiplash usually gets better in days or weeks, or months in the most extreme of circumstances.
