RED LIGHT! GREEN LIGHT!
What to do (and not to do) after an accident.
By Nate Lee

The sound is ten times louder than you imagine, even for a small collision. Your mind and body are suffering trauma that is also ten times more than you are aware, again even in a fender bender. So, what do you do?

First, breathe! Deeply and thoroughly and slowly. That will help your heart and your brain to return to somewhat normal functioning. Move your head and back slowly to make sure you aren’t injured. Take your time getting out of the car. Let the other driver wait.

Now that you are calm(er), you are more ready to engage in all of the many tasks that must be completed after an accident. Also, now that you are calmer, you will remember to never admit that it is your fault, even if you have a hunch that it is.

Don’t Cause Another Accident.
If your car will move, get it off to the side of the road where you can safely walk around it. You don’t want your stopped cars to cause another accident, or to hold up traffic – which causes stress, which also contributes to unsafe driving and therefore more accidents.

Don’t Call the Police.
Unless someone is hurt or you can’t move your cars, leave the police out of it. They have better things to do than look at your dents.

Have the Right Equipment.
If you don’t have a cell phone, you may want to keep one with some paid minutes on it just for such emergencies. Also, keep a disposable camera, pen and paper for taking notes and, of course, your insurance information. And, if you want to look like a driving professional, keep some emergency reflectors in the trunk.

You should also have the following, in case you are injured: a card with information about allergies, your doctor’s name and emergency phone number, and any other medical conditions you would tell the emergency room folks if only you were conscious.

Be an Ace Reporter.
Since you’ve got the pen and paper and hopefully the disposable camera, you will want to get all the possible information you can think of, so pretend you are a reporter. The easy stuff is all participants’ names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and all the license plate numbers. ALSO, you want to remember to get all that nasty insurance information with all the long numbers. (If you are dyslexic, read it back to the person to ensure accuracy.) That’s right: insurance carriers, policy numbers and phone numbers. ALSO, driver’s license numbers. Now, here is where a good reporter makes sure that all the names and addresses match! “What’s this? A different address?! How do you explain that, sir?!!” Okay, you don’t have to be as obnoxious as the average reporter, but get the facts -- all of them.

And you certainly don’t have to be as obnoxious as the average paparazzi (considering that you are literate enough to be reading this, we’ll consider that as impossible). Still, though, you should take plenty of pictures with either your cell phone or your disposable camera. Make sure you get wide angles to show the general layout of the cars as well as tight shots of the places of impact. Okay, that’s a wrap. No, you don’t need a picture of the other drivers.

Keep your Insurance Representative Your Friend.
Even if you aren’t planning on reporting it officially, you may want to let your friendly insurance person know about the accident. He can give you good advice. Don’t worry. As long as you don’t report it, he won’t raise your rates. Also, you probably forgot that you are entitled to a replacement car if yours is in the shop.

File a Police Report.
You can usually download it from the DMV or pick one up at the police station (or get one from the officer at the scene, as the case may be). It will help the insurance companies sort everything out.

Get an Attorney.
If it isn’t your fault and you are injured, you MUST have an attorney. (See accompanying article.)

Just remember those deep breaths. Even if some crazy driver just scarred your beautiful new Yugo, that’s no reason to be rude, and certainly no reason to be abusive or threatening (this can get you into even more trouble).  Just be polite and do everything on this list and you’ll live to not regret it.