Following a road traffic accident, what you do can be very important to making a successful compensation claim. Making a personal injury claim may not be the first thing on your mind following a road traffic accident, but you may need to make one for the effects of the injuries on your life.

A road traffic accident happens out of the blue. You could be out for a walk, cycling home from work or driving the kids to school in the morning when another road user may hit you. 

The accident may not be your fault, and you could suffer broken limbs and nerve damage, or the kids may have cuts, bruises and other more severe injuries following a RTA.

What is essential is to know what to do following a road traffic accident, and here we aim to guide you along the right steps to making a successful compensation claim.

What to do following a road traffic accident

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What is a road traffic accident compensation claim?

A road traffic accident compensation claim is when you seek compensation for the effects of the injuries on your life today and in the future. 

Every road user owes other road users a duty of care. If a road user breaches their duty of care and causes you an injury, you may have a road traffic accident compensation claim.

You could have a road traffic accident compensation when you are injured:

There are many types of road traffic accidents and many types of road traffic accident injuries.

Immediately following any road traffic accident, you should:

  • Call an ambulance if necessary
  • Call the police if necessary
  • Take the name, address and insurance details of the driver who hit you

A No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor may handle a successful road traffic accident claim.

Your personal injury solicitor will need as much evidence as possible to make the claim.

Evidence to help support a road traffic accident claim

To make a road traffic accident claim, you will need to gather evidence, such as from eyewitnesses, to help make your personal injury claim successful. 

Your personal injury solicitors can help you gather evidence and tell you what you will need for the compensation claim, but the more evidence you collect, the better it will be for your case.

Evidence to gather following a road traffic accident:

  • The name, address, and insurance details of the driver
  • The make and registration details of the other vehicle
  • The contact details of eyewitnesses
  • Take photographs of the scene on your phone
  • Write down what happened while it is still fresh in your head
  • Get the accident report from the insurance company
  • Get the accident report from the paramedic who attended the scene
  • Get the accident report from the police officer who attended the scene
  • Retrieve any CCTV footage of the scene
  • Ask any passersby for relevant phone footage
  • Ask any other drivers for dash-cam footage
  • Get your medical report from the hospital or your GP

The slightest piece of evidence may be vital to making a successful road traffic accident claim.

You are the one who suffered the injuries and making the compensation claim. You will need all the evidence possible to help your case against the person responsible for the road traffic accident.

Evidence to support a Road Traffic Accident claim

Who can be responsible for a road traffic accident?

The driver of the other vehicle could be responsible for your road traffic accident. It may be the lorry driver going too fast on the roundabout or the car driver who did not look before turning left who hits you, but they can be responsible if you suffer an injury.

Drivers must follow the rules of the road and avoid accidents with other road users. When they breach their duty of care to you, causing you an injury, they may be responsible for the road traffic accident claim.

More than 28,000 people were seriously injured on UK roads in 2023, an increase from previous years. On average, about five people are killed in UK road traffic accidents every day, and 80 people are seriously injured. There were over 110,000 minor injuries on UK roads in 2023 with over 96,000 injuries in England alone. Over 5,000 pedestrians are involved in road traffic accidents annually, and the annual figure for cyclists is now over 4,000. 

People who may be responsible for a road traffic accident in the UK:

  • The car driver who knocks down a pedestrian at a road junction
  • The bus driver who hits a cyclist in the cycle lane when pulling in
  • The lorry driver who hits a car on the roundabout
  • The cyclist who collides with a child on the Pelican Crossing
  • The driver coming out of the side street who runs into a motorcycle

If you are injured in any road traffic accident, you could have a personal injury compensation claim. 

Knowing what to do after a road traffic accident could be crucial to making a successful compensation claim.

A No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor can advise and guide you through making a successful road traffic accident claim.

What should you do following a hit-and-run road traffic accident?

Following a hit-and-run road traffic accident, you should contact the police. It is unlikely you will be able to find the driver of the other car but the police may, using CCTV and other tools.

When the police locate the other driver, you can make a personal injury claim against their insurance company.

The Motor Insurers Bureau can handle any claim when you cannot trace the driver in your road traffic accident. The MIB was established to handle all hit-and-run claims, and you can make a compensation claim against the MIB.

A claim is the legal process to get compensation from the driver responsible for your road traffic accident injury. Making a claim against the MIB is very similar to claiming against any other insurance company.

The claim will be for the damages incurred for the injury and the effects on your life.

Your personal injury solicitor can handle a claim through the MIB and guide you through the steps to make a road traffic accident claim.

The steps to making a road traffic accident claim

Following a road traffic accident, you will need to take the steps to making a successful road traffic accident compensation claim.

The steps will help you get the compensation claim in order and may be the best way to making it a successful one.

Instruct a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor as soon as possible. A solicitor can look at your case and see the extent of your injury in the road traffic accident and see if it could form a compensation claim.

Only a No Win No Fee personal injury solicitor will have the experience and the team to handle your claim – they will know what your claim may be worth and how to get the best results for you.

Following a road traffic accident you may require medical treatment or investigation if you have suffered an injury. It is vital that the nature and extent of your injuries are contemporaneously recorded in your medical records. 

This may be in a consultation with your GP if you have less severe injuries which do not require immediate treatment but do not clear up in a reasonable timeframe. You may need investigations, referral to a specialist, or maybe physiotherapy.

Of course, in a severe or life-threatening injury, you will attend A&E, and the hospital medical records will detail your injuries and treatment.

The solicitor gets all the details and evidence to support your case in the next step of the road traffic accident injury claims process. 

Your Personal Injury Team solicitor will speak to you and obtain a detailed description of what happened to you. The solicitor will need to know details of any injury suffered and the financial losses you sustained.

An experienced personal injury expert will assess the case. 

If they confirm you have a valid RTA compensation claim, they can discuss the next steps in the process with you and answer any of your questions.

The solicitor submits the claim for personal injury compensation to the negligent party who may be responsible for your injury. Your solicitor submits the claim by writing to the negligent party to outline your possible claim.

The negligent party has to give a written response to your solicitor’s letter within twelve weeks of receiving it. 

Your Personal Injury Team lawyer will advise you of the time limit applying to your case and what to expect during the process.

Getting the response from the negligent party informs your personal injury solicitor how the case for compensation is likely to proceed.

The negligent party can either admit liability in the case or state that they intend to defend it.

When the negligent party decides to defend the case, it is known as ‘denying liability’ in legal terms.

If the negligent party admits liability, which often happens, your personal injury solicitor will obtain medical evidence. You may need to have a consultation with a medical expert, which your solicitor will arrange. 

Once completed, medical evidence and details of your financial losses will be sent to the negligent party’s insurer. 

The negotiation period then starts, often resulting in the settlement of your claim. You would be closely involved in this process and given expert advice throughout – no compensation would be agreed upon without your authority.

In very large claims, you will likely have to see several medical experts over a longer period. When the injuries suffered are significant, it can take a long time until the final prognosis is known. 

Your solicitor will advise you on the likely timescales and when, tactically, will be the best time to enter settlement discussions with the defendant.

Often, claims for life-changing injury will be negotiated at a “settlement meeting” with the defendants. The two sides may meet, and during the meeting, your case will be outlined, and negotiations will take place.

You would be at this meeting and be closely involved in this process, and no settlement would be agreed upon without your authority. 

At this stage, your solicitor, and sometimes a barrister, will handle the meeting and advise you on what is on offer and what level of compensation to accept. 

To make this as easy as possible we suggest gathering as much evidence from the scene of the accident as possible.

Going to court is the final step in a compensation case if the negligent party does not accept responsibility for the negligence or if the negligent party admits liability but refuses to pay you a fair amount in compensation. 

Issuing court proceedings is handled by your solicitor.

Although court proceedings are started in some cases, very few claims make it to a court case before a judge. The vast majority will settle before having to issue court proceedings, and even where proceedings are issued, few cases end up at a trial.

Your Personal Injury Team solicitor will advise you through the entire process from start to finish.

Contact the Personal Injury Team Today

Contact the Personal Injury Team today to start a compensation claim following a road traffic accident. 

The Personal Injury Team FREE online assessment tool will put you in direct touch with one of our team, who will give you a full rundown of what can happen with your road traffic accident injury claim.

Compensation amounts for any accident injury vary, and expert advice from one of our team members can give you an idea of compensation for the claim. 

We can be on your side if you are dealing with the MIB and help you get the compensation you deserve.

Contact your Personal Injury Team today for immediate road traffic accident injury advice tailored to you.

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