What to Do if You Become the Victim of a Hit and Run

Taking your daily bike ride or walking your dog can quickly turn into a nightmare if someone hits you with their car. The most common situations where pedestrians are hit by cars include:

• Early morning or late in the evening when visibility is poor
• The streets are dimly lit
• The driver or the pedestrian have consumed alcohol or drugs
• The pedestrian was jaywalking

One of the chief things a driver needs to be looking out for are pedestrians because getting hit by a car is bound to leave a pedestrian with multiple bodily injuries. In most cases, the driver’s insurance will cover your medical costs. However, you should always consult with a bodily injury lawyer if you find yourself in one of these situations.

Any lawyer will tell you that your journey to being financially compensated for your medical bills starts from the second you get hit.

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What to Do After Getting Hit by a Car

When a car collides with you while you were trying to cross the street or walking along the sidewalk, you are bound to be either terrified or in shock. Our attorneys urge you to follow these steps below in order to protect your own best interests:

1. Stay Calm and Move Out of the Street: Try to take deep breaths through your nose in order to relax your body. You may have broken bones, whiplash, a concussion, or internal bleeding, and these will all be made worse if you panic and move around. If you can move, get out of the way of oncoming traffic so as to not prevent another accident.
2. Keep the Driver at the Scene: In some cases, your body is in shock and you feel totally fine. Despite this, do not let the driver leave, as they need to stay and give their contact information to responding officers.
3. Call the Police to the Scene: Police officers are trained in handling these situations, so they will gather all necessary evidence for your claim. They will also formulate a police report where they state what they believe happened leading up to the accident. Make sure to ask the officer for the other driver’s contact info, as they should take it as part of their protocol.
4. Take Photos: Photos are essential to proving your claim. Take photos of the scene as well as of your bodily injuries.
5. Get Checked Out by a Doctor: It doesn’t hurt to see a doctor a few days after the accident, as they can check on the healing process and diagnose you with injuries that may not have been visible right away.
6. Let Your Insurance Company Know About the Accident: You should contact your insurance company to let them know you or a dependent was hit by a car.

All of this information may feel useless if the driver fled the scene, leaving you hurt on the pavement. However, our attorneys for pedestrian accidents are equipped to handle cases where the driver is nowhere in sight.

What to Do After a Hit and Run

In the event the driver drove off after hitting you, don’t worry; our lawyers for getting hit by a car can still work to get you financial compensation. In fact, your settlement will likely be bigger if the driver tried to get off scot-free compared to if they got out of their car and helped you.

If you were hit by a car and the driver fled the scene, you should follow the same steps above, letting police officers arrive and take down an accident report.

In order to locate the driver that hit you, our personal injury attorneys will go to Google Maps to contact businesses in a nearby radius to the accident, as their security cameras may have picked up the vehicle fleeing from the scene. Based on a description provided by you and any witnesses, they can work to identify the car.

The responding officers will also work to identify the car, as hit-and-runs are illegal.

Rest assured, you will be compensated after your accident, and when the driver is identified, you can tack on additional damages to your pedestrian accident lawsuit because they caused you additional pain and suffering by leaving you alone on the road.

Contact our accident injury law firm in Sherman Oaks at (310) 579-9082 to learn more about how we handle pedestrian accident lawsuits.