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Traveling, whether for leisure or work, is always fun and exciting. During the planning process, it is possible to get carried away by the fun aspect of traveling and lose focus on the things that could go wrong.
Unfortunately, accidents can and do happen while traveling. The worst part is there is not much you can do to avoid them. However, the actions you take after an accident are important and can make a huge difference in the outcomes of an accident.
This post highlights some important steps you should take if you’re injured during travel to reduce your recovery times and maximize the amount of compensation you recover if another person is to blame for the accident.
Call Emergency Hotline
Your health should come first in an accident, so you can call emergency services and notify them of your accident and injuries. If you are traveling within America, 911 is the number to call, but 911 may not work if you are traveling outside America.
So, you will need emergency service numbers for the country you intend to travel to ensure you get help whenever you need it. Emergency response may not be as effective in some not-so-developed countries.
Under such circumstances, you may have to make arrangements with a private emergency service provider in the country you travel to. There are two reasons you should seek medical attention after an accident.
The first reason is to ensure timely intervention to prevent a deterioration of your injuries. Secondly, medical documents such as the doctor’s notes and hospital bills can become an important piece of evidence when filing a claim for damages.
Notify Relevant Authorities
After taking care of your health, you must report your accident to the relevant authority. For example, if you get in a car accident in any state in the USA, you must report it to the police.
Luckily the police will almost always show up at the scene of an accident, so even if you do not manage to call them, you still get an opportunity to report it. Things could be a bit different when traveling outside America.
But as a rule of thumb, always notify the relevant authority, which in most cases is the police. If an accident occurs in an establishment, the relevant authority could be the establishment supervisor or manager.
After reporting, make sure you keep a copy of the report. It is also important to notify the American embassy hotline if your country of travel has one for help accessing healthcare.
Collect Evidence
Accidents happen in different places and can take different forms. But irrespective of the type of accident, documenting the accident scene is critical. Documenting the accident’s site helps rebuild the accident and establish fault.
Whether you think you are responsible for the accident or not, always document the scene so you can have documentation to counter the opposing sides’ story.
Accident documentation can involve taking witness testimonies and contact details, the other parties’ contacts, insurance information, and picture and video footage of the scene and injuries. You may also want to document your progress after the injury.
Find a Way of Financing Your Medical Bills
Whether you are insured or not, you will need extra cash to finance your medical bills and extended stay as you wait for your insurance provider to step in. The best thing is always planning for eventualities and putting some money aside.
If your reserves can’t cover your medical and living costs, you could seek help from family and friends. You could talk to your attorney about getting litigation funding.
If none of these options are for you, you can agree with the treating facility on a mode of payment that could work for you. Alternatively, you can contact the US embassy for assistance.
Inform Your Insurer
Most insurers require policyholders to inform them if they ever get in an accident, even when they are not at fault. Failure to notify your insurer could lead to a voiding of your policy.
If you are a regular traveler, it is wise to have a travel insurance policy for eventualities for travels outside the USA. But travel insurance is not only a requirement for regular travelers. You could buy a short time coverage when traveling to ensure you have peace of mind during your travel.
Different insurers offer different coverage and have different requirements for reporting. Fortunately, you can report an accident from any place as long as you have an internet connection.
It is also important to know that insurers may not cover some extreme outdoor activities. Some common uninsurable activities include bungee jumping, skydiving, boating, and kayaking, among other high-risk activities. So, you may want to read the fine details of your policy to understand its exemptions.
Make Informed Decisions
After an accident and initial medical intervention, you have several options; get back to traveling while adhering to the doctor’s recommendation or take a break from travel until your doctor gives you the go-ahead. You could even return home for specialized treatment if you feel like the kind of services you get from your country of travel is not up to standard.
Whatever your choice, the bottom line will be following the doctor’s recommendation. Failure to follow your doctor’s recommendation can prolong your recovery period and create ground for the at-fault to dispute your claim.
For example, if your doctor recommends bed rest, but you choose to get on the road instead, and the at-fault lawyers find out about it, this could hurt your case’s outcome. They can claim that you are partly to blame for an extended recovery period, significantly affecting the value of your claim.
Seek Compensation for Damages
Accidents vary in severity, but no accident is a good experience. If you get in a severe accident, your life may be affected in several ways. You will have to contend with physical pain resulting from the injury, dealing with the psychological pain of having your life altered, losing your ability to earn a living, and piling medical bills.
If another party’s actions or inactions caused the accident, you could recover compensation for damages suffered. Severe injuries typically have a more complicated claims process, so you may need to hire a lawyer for your claim.
Different jurisdictions have different approaches to personal injury law. Therefore, you must work with a local lawyer when navigating a claim.
For example, say you live in Oklahoma and get into an accident during a vacation in Texas. You can contact your personal injury lawyer for directions if they have an office in Texas. If not, you will need to talk to a local lawyer who may have a better insight into Texas personal injury law than your Oklahoma lawyer.
Final Words
Travel is exciting, and you should not let the fear of an accident restrain you from doing what you love most. However, it is important to consider that it can occur and prepare in advance about how to deal with the situation.
If you have gotten into an accident unprepared, the tips offered in this post can help you manage the outcomes of your accident. Do not worry about having missed any steps highlighted in this post. If you have a lawyer in your case, they can help mitigate the damage your mistakes could have on your case and improve your chances of a better outcome.
