Can I Sue Uber/Lyft If I Was in an Accident?

• (Photo : Can I Sue Uber/Lyft If I Was in an Accident? )

Uber, Lyft and other phone applications that facilitate personal transportation have become a part of almost everyone's life. Even if you do not use them yourself, if you walk anywhere, ride your bike anywhere or drive a vehicle anywhere, there is a high probability that you will encounter someone driving for Uber or Lyft during your travels.

Unfortunately, because Uber and Lyft drivers are paid per ride, rather than being paid based on the amount of time they spend working, they have an incentive to get to their passengers' destinations as quickly as possible so they can increase their earnings. This incentivizes them to make unsafe decisions while they are driving so they can get from place to place faster, which can lead to accidents. Luckily, you can sue Uber or Lyft if you get into an accident with someone who is working for them. Follow these steps if you are ever in an accident involving an Uber driver or a Lyft driver, alternatively, you can visit here for more information, https://westcoasttriallawyers.com/ca/los-angeles-uber-and-lyft-accidents-lawyer/

Check Everyone in Your Vehicle for Signs of Injury

Give yourself a second to calm down and absorb what just happened. When you regain a bit of your cool, start checking yourself and anyone who is in the car with you for signs of injury. Simply looking around and listening should give you a pretty good idea of whether anyone has been hurt. If you feel any pain, or if you see any bumps, bruises, blood or bones, there are injuries that need to be treated.  Not all injuries are visible, though. Ask everyone else with you whether they are in any pain just to make sure.

Get Everyone to Safety As Quickly As You Can

The last thing you want is to be involved in another accident while you wait for emergency personnel to make it to the scene. If you were the driver of one of the vehicles involved, you should get yourself and your passengers off the roadway and to safety as quickly as possible. If your vehicle is still drivable, look for a parking lot or a quiet side street where you can park it. Use the shoulder of the road if need be. If you were a passenger in one of the vehicles, get to a place where you will be away from oncoming traffic.

Be Sure to Take Pictures of Everything and Everyone at the Scene

If you are able, you should get out your phone, start walking around and take as many pictures as you can before you leave the scene. Try to take pictures of everything. Yes, everything. Pictures will demonstrate to everyone who looks at them how severe the accident really was. You will need them so you can show them to your attorney, the insurance companies, defense attorneys and, if your case makes it all the way to trial, the jury. Without pictures of the cars involved in the accident and pictures of your injuries, even the best ridesharing accident attorney will have a difficult time making sure you are properly compensated for your injuries.

Call the Police and Talk to Them When They Arrive at the Scene

To make sure your accident and your injury claim against Uber or Lyft and any other potentially responsible party are both handled properly, you will need to call the police so they can come to the scene and conduct an investigation. When the responding officers arrive, you need to be completely forthcoming with them. Tell them everything you can remember from before, during and after the accident. Be sure you include details about which parts of your body you believe were injured. No detail is too small to mention. The police will talk to all the drivers and all the passengers who were involved in the accident. They will also talk to any independent witnesses who saw the accident happen but were not directly involved.
 
Get Medical Treatment for All of Your Injuries Right Away

Getting immediate medical treatment for all of your injuries is probably the most important step on this list. If you wait, you could be setting yourself up for a lifetime of consequences. You need to have a medical professional examine you in short order. Some of your symptoms could take days, weeks or even months to appear. Waiting for them to appear or worsen will only allow your underlying injuries to progress, and they could reach the point of being irreversible. As soon as you are able, you should transport yourself or have someone you know transport you to a medical facility. If your injuries are severe enough, ask for an ambulance to take you to a nearby hospital's emergency department. When you arrive there, the emergency department's staff will examine you and have you undergo some testing to determine the full extent of your injuries. If they are severe enough, you may need to have surgery right then and there.

Keep All of Your Accident-Related Documents in a Single Centralized File

You will need evidence to prove your case to the insurance companies and to the jury. Without documentation to support the claims you make; you will have difficulty prevailing over the responsible parties when you make your injury claim. At the very least, you should keep copies of your medical records, your medical bills, pictures of the vehicles that were involved in the accident, pictures of all your injuries, property damage estimates if your car was damaged and documentation about your lost wages if the accident caused you to lose time from your job. Your Los Angeles personal injury attorney at West Coast Trial Lawyers will need to review all these documents and produce them to the responsible parties' insurance companies, so you will save yourself and your attorney the hassle and expense of having to track them down after the fact if you keep them organized.

Contact a Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney Who Will Stand Up for You

You owe it to yourself and your loved ones not to settle for anything less than the best ridesharing accident attorney. West Coast Trial Lawyers prides itself on having a staff of attorneys with hundreds of years of combined experience handling personal injury claims on behalf of car accident victims. Finding a Los Angeles personal injury attorney is as easy as picking up your phone and calling or messaging the firm.

West Coast Trial Lawyers' attorneys will ensure your claim is handled with professionalism, care and a personal touch. They will be invested in your case, and they will make sure you are able to provide your input every step of the way. West Coast Trial Lawyers will help you recover maximum compensation for all of your injuries from each potentially responsible party.