While we hope your teen driver never needs it, the lawyers at Lucé Law, PC want your teenagers to be ready should they ever be involved in an automobile accident. To that end, we’ve put together a Car Accident Preparedness Kit to help. Look at this form carefully, talk it over with your teenagers, and make sure it’s in the glove compartment of any vehicle your child might be driving. Taking action now means they’ll be ready should an accident occur. Additionally, discuss the Safe Driving Contract with your teen driver before he or she even gets in the car. It’s important to remind teens that driving is a privilege, not a right, and the Safe Driving Contract helps establish the seriousness that is operating a vehicle.
Crucial Information
The first thing your teen driver should do is to write down the date, time and location of the accident. Then he or she needs to exchange contact and insurance information with the other driver or drivers involved. Your teen will simply fill in the other driver’s information in the space that has been provided. Also, make sure your child looks for any people who may have seen the accident and get their contact information as well – names, phone numbers, addresses and emails are what they’ll need to collect. This will be critical to your teenager’s case in order to assess responsibility for the accident.
Accident Checklist
Getting into an accident is obviously an extremely stressful situation, so there is a good chance that you won’t be thinking clearly. That’s why we’ve added this easy-to-follow checklist as part of our Car Accident Preparedness Kit. Make sure your teen understands each of these steps in their entirety before they get behind the wheel:
- The most important thing to do is make sure that anyone who may have been injured gets the medical attention they need.
- Exchange contact and insurance information with all other drivers involved, and get information from passengers and witnesses as well.
- Use your camera or smartphone and take pictures of the accident scene.
- Use the diagram at the bottom right hand corner of the form to sketch the accident.
- It is critically important that you only discuss the accident with police and none of the others involved.
If the accident requires legal attention, do some Internet research and find a trustworthy lawyer. Locally in Dallas, call Lucé Law, PC at 972-632-1300. Nationally, use a service such as Avvo, Super Lawyers, or Best Lawyers to research trustworthy lawyers.
Finally, help your teen compile a preparation kit to keep in the car in case it takes a while for help to arrive. This could be the case if there is inclement weather or you have an accident in a rural location. These supplies include:
- A first aid kit
- A flashlight
- Bottled water
- A blanket
- Non-perishable or dried food
- A disposable camera
- Jumper cables
Again, we hope your child never has to use this Car Accident Preparedness Kit, but we want you to be as safe and legally protected as possible if he or she does. Give Lucé Law, PC a call at 972-632-1300 or contact us online if you want more information, or if you need legal assistance.
