After a Rochester Car Accident

One second you are traversing a familiar road; the next you are on a stretcher, being taken to the emergency room.

The moments following a Rochester car accident can be chaotic and hectic. The first priority is obviously your health and wellbeing. You should contact emergency personnel, or arrange for another motorist or a bystander to contact emergency personnel. If you think you endured a neck or spine injury, try to minimize movement and stabilize the area until emergency personnel arrive.

Most collisions occur on busy Rochester roads. As such, it is important to be aware of your surroundings and exercise caution. If possible, you should try to remove yourself from immediate harm by, for example, moving to the road shoulder or, perhaps behind a guardrail. It is almost always a good idea to activate your hazard lights as well. Every situation is different, so there are no bright-line rules. If you don’t know what to do, call “911.”

Once you are out of harm’s way and have arranged for emergency personnel to respond, it is important that you contact the Rochester Police Department so that a police report can be drafted. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), “you are required by the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law to stop and exchange information with the involved drivers”:

• If the accident caused property damage only, then exchange information about your driver license, insurance, and registration with the involved drivers.
• If a parked vehicle or other property is damaged, or if a domestic animal is injured, you must locate the owner or contact the police.
• If the property damage of any person is $1,001 or more, all the involved drivers are required by the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law to file a Report of Motor Vehicle Accident (MV-104). File form MV-104 with the DMV no more than 10 days after the accident. The DMV can suspend your driver license if you fail to report an accident. The MV-104 form can be downloaded here.
• If a person is injured or killed, you are required by the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law to immediately notify the police. All the involved drivers and the police must file an accident report with the DMV. It is a crime to leave the scene of an accident that causes personal injury or death.

Once you have moved to safety, you should identify potential witnesses, such as uninvolved motorists or bystanders.  You can ask these witnesses to stay on scene until police officers respond, but, at the very least, you can request contact information, such as their phone number and address. This contact information will prove helpful for future investigations.

Our team takes calls from Rochester car accident victims 24/7. If you need a Rochester car accident lawyer immediately, don’t hesitate to contact us by phone or fill out a form to schedule a free consultation at your convenience.