What to do after a car accident in Atlanta

1. Check for injuries and call 911

Before anything else. If anyone is hurt, that is a 911 call immediately. Do not move an injured person unless they are in immediate danger from fire or traffic — moving someone with a spinal injury can make it permanent.

Adrenaline masks injuries. "I feel fine" at the scene is not a medical assessment, and a surprising number of collision injuries present hours later.

2. Get safe

Hazard lights on. If the vehicles still drive and the crash is minor, moving them out of live lanes is generally safer than leaving them there — a secondary collision into a stopped crash scene is a real and common way people get badly hurt. If a vehicle cannot be moved, get yourself away from the traffic side.

On an interstate, the same rule as any breakdown applies: if you cannot get clear safely, stay belted in the vehicle with the hazards running.

3. Report it

In Georgia, a crash involving injury, death or apparent property damage must be reported to law enforcement. Beyond the legal requirement, a police report is the document that protects you when someone's account of events changes a week later.

Wait for the officer. Get the report number before you leave.

4. Document the scene before anything moves

Photographs, and more than you think you need:

• The overall scene from several angles, showing the position of both vehicles.
• Damage to every vehicle involved, close and wide.
• Number plates.
• The road — skid marks, debris, signals, signs, lane markings, the weather and the light.
• The other driver's licence, insurance card and registration.

If there are witnesses, get a name and a phone number. Independent witnesses are disproportionately valuable and they leave quickly.

5. Exchange information

Names, addresses, phone numbers, licence numbers, insurance companies and policy numbers, plates, and the make and model of each vehicle. Be civil and be brief. This is not the moment to establish fault, and admissions made at the roadside have a way of being quoted back later.

6. The tow — and this is the part people get wrong

You generally get to choose who tows your vehicle, and where it goes. A great many people do not know this, and simply let whichever truck shows up take the car. That is how vehicles end up in a storage yard the owner did not choose, accumulating daily fees, sometimes a considerable distance away.

So:

• If a truck arrives that you did not call, ask who dispatched it and what it will cost.
• Ask where exactly the vehicle is being taken, and get it in writing on the invoice.
• Ask about storage fees — the daily rate, and when it starts.
• If you have a preferred body shop, say so and have it taken there directly. One tow is cheaper than two.
• If you have not chosen a shop, that is fine — but choose quickly. Storage runs whether you have decided or not.

A post-collision vehicle usually wants a flatbed, since wheels, steering and suspension are frequently compromised. If the vehicle is off the road, down an embankment or on its side, that is a recovery and a different job.

7. Then, and only then, the paperwork

Notify your insurer. Keep every document: the report number, the tow invoice with the destination, the photographs, the witness details. And be careful about giving a recorded statement to the other party's insurer before you understand your own position.