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What To Do After A Car Accident

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Car Accidents are terrifying. I have been in a handful over my life and all have been frightening. No one ever wants to have to call 911 because of an accident but it is better to be prepared just in case. If you want a definitive list you can print out either one of our printables at the end of this post. 

Here are some things you should do if you are in an accident: 

  1. Check for injuries on yourself and others in the car. Call 911 if necessary. 
  2. Exchange information with the other drive. Make sure to get their name, phone number, address as well as the make and model of their car and their license plate number. I find it helps to take a picture of the car and license plate. 
  3. Call the police if you haven’t already to come and make an official report. You will need this later. 
  4. Take photos of the accident from all angles. 
  5. Find witnesses to the accident and gather their contact information,
  6. Call your insurance to report the accident. 
  7.  Do not leave the scene and do not admit fault. 

After my car accident, I created this printable form that I could keep in my car with my insurance cards and a pen, in case I ever need it again. I love knowing I miss any important information. 

 

My Car Accident Story

It was going to be a great day. I saw a number on the scale that I hadn’t seen in months. My middle school teacher husband only had a week left of school before he was out for the summer. It was going to be a great day.

We had been watching my friend’s four kids, for the last week. It had been a pretty great week and their parents were coming home that day. I had big plans to drop the kids off at school and then come home and clean my friend’s house for her. I dropped the three oldest kids off at school, in my friend’s minivan and the pulled out of the parking lot with my 3-year-old and her 11-month-old still in the car.

I didn’t make it far from the school. I was just down the road, which happened to be a very busy two-lane road. Busy, small and dangerous. The car in front of me stopped suddenly to make a left-hand turn. Luckily I had been watching and was able to stop in time. When I stopped I looked up in my rearview mirror and in a split second, I knew. I knew the minivan behind was not going to be able to stop. She was going way too fast. I knew I had only a couple of seconds before she slammed into me. I glanced at my sides and there was no place to go. In those quick moments, I think I said the most fervent prayer of my life.

 

So many things happened in the second of impact. The kids started screaming. Glass shattered and metal crunched. The force of her impact slammed the front of the car I was driving into the car in front of me. A fourth car came along, seeing the accident she tried to swerve as to not hit us. She didn’t hit us but she drove her truck right into a tree in a neighboring yard.

 

Thankfully, my door would still open. I stepped out of the car and had to use all of my strength to get the kid’s door open in the back.  I worked to calm down the kids. Searching for my purse to give them treats. My purse which had been sitting next to me on the passenger seat before I was hit, was now if the back of the car. I was scared to get the kids out of the car because we were still on a busy street and cars were still trying to drive past us. I’m not sure who called 911. Honestly, I was so dazed it would have taken me a long time to think to do it. It made me grateful for passing good Samaritans and made me vow to be one in the future. 

 
 
By the time the police and ambulances arrived a few minutes later, to shut down the road, I was sitting with both kids in my lap, shaking and crying. The paramedics raced to the car I had been driving when they arrived on the scene and peered inside. One glanced around frantically and asked loudly if anyone knew where the driver of the car was. I raised my hand and they ran over. After a couple of minutes of checking me out, I was declared the luckiest person alive.

 
The paramedics check over the kids and made sure we were OK, noting that my 3-year-old in the very back seat of the van had come within inches of the car hitting the seat she was in. Once again, we were called the luckiest people alive. The paramedic then told us he wasn’t kidding when he said we were lucky. That every single accident he had ever been called to on this busy farm road involved fatalities and ours didn’t and that being the middle car in a pile-up, I was especially lucky to walk away.  I didn’t feel like the luckiest person alive in that moment, I mean, I had just wrecked my friend’s car, but in the days, months and years since the accident, the words of that paramedic have stuck with me. 
 
I am incredibly grateful for the police and paramedics that showed up that day when I needed them the most. I am grateful for their kindness in one of the scariest moments of my life and most of all I am grateful to a paramedic who changed my entire outlook on life with just a few words of encouragement. 

Discounts for First Responders From T-Mobile

First Responders have an incredibly hard job. More than once I have thought back on my experience with the paramedic and wonder just how many people he has helped and how frustrated he must be if the people can’t be saved. That is a heavy burden to bear. They have to comfort people in their times of greatest distress and they deserve all of the thanks.
 
Last October, T-Mobile launched a new discount program for first responders and their families. Magenta First Responder gives these heroes 50% off family lines, the same discount they give to Military, Veterans and their families with the T-Mobile Magenta Military Plan. I am so glad that T-Mobile is finding ways to say thank you to those who serve our country and our community. 
 
John Legere, T-Mobile’s CEO, said  “At T-Mobile, we’re on an unrelenting mission to change wireless for good. With Magenta First Responder, we’ll put money right back in the pockets of our nation’s first responders and their families. Magenta Military forced AT&T and Verizon to respond and altogether created a wave of change that we estimate saves military families more than a billion dollars every year. This is what we do. We spark a reaction. And Magenta First Responder will do the same.”
With Magenta First Responder, our country’s state and local law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS personnel, and the small businesses they own can get 20% off the first line and 50% off up to five additional voice lines. T-Mobile Magenta First Responder also includes Netflix on Us for families, unlimited hotspot with 3GB high-speed data per month, unlimited free texting and data and low flat-rate calling in 210+ countries. Head over here to learn more about T-Mobile Magenta First Responder 

Car Accident Form Printable

Printables in this post are for personal use and available to subscribers of Housewife Eclectic only. To use this printable, please SUBSCRIBE NOW.

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

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