The only thing more frightening than being involved in a car accident is being involved in a collision with your kids in the car. If you are in an accident with your children in your vehicle, it’s important that you take steps after the accident to make sure your kids are OK.
This means doing the right things in the immediate aftermath of the accident and it also means contacting an experienced Colorado Springs personal injury lawyer to get help making a claim for compensation for your children’s injuries if another driver was to blame for the crash.
What Should You Do After an Accident Involving Your Children?
If you are involved in an accident with your children, there are a few key steps that you should take:
- Get to safety: While you want to check on your children as soon as possible after an accident, it’s important to pull off the road if your vehicle is moveable. You want to move a safe distance away from moving traffic so you don’t create the risk that a secondary accident will occur.
- Wait for EMTs to move your child: If you have any reason to believe that your child has been hurt in a collision, most experts advise that you wait for medical professionals to move your child. While you naturally want to go to your child and comfort your child, moving an injured child could exacerbate injuries and make your child’s condition worse in some circumstances. Be very cautious about moving your child even if your child doesn’t indicate pain in any particular area because kids do not always know how to communicate where they are hurt.
- Watch for symptoms as you wait for EMTs: Children are more susceptible to certain injuries than adults are and it is important that you carefully watch for symptoms so you can help medical personnel responding to the accident scene understand more about your child’s condition. You should watch for bleeding from the nose or mouth, abnormal speech patterns, or abnormal or labored breathing and alert EMTs right away if you see any of these symptoms.
- Always have an exam performed: It is imperative you have your child examined by a medical professional as soon as possible after an accident, even if it does not appear that your child has been badly hurt. Not all medical conditions manifest symptoms right away and you don’t want your children to be injured but unable to communicate that something is wrong. A doctor can give your child a clean bill of health or can document injuries so you can prove they were caused by the collision.
If your child has been hurt, you want to reach out to a Colorado Springs personal injury lawyer to get help pursuing a claim for compensation as soon as possible. You can pursue a claim for damages so you can recover the funds you need to provide appropriate medical care for your child in aftermath of a serious accident without jeopardizing financial stability for your family.