Whether your car is in the shop, or you don’t have a car, it’s easy to catch a ride these days thanks to Uber and Lyft. However, there’s a downside to everything in life, including rideshare vehicles. If a driver is distracted on driving recklessly, they can end up hitting a pedestrian or another vehicle. Rideshare car crashes are on the rise, and so are the number of serious injuries for accident victims.
If you were hit by an Uber or Lyft driver, make sure to call 911 or the police right away so your accident is on record. Then, seek medical attention, even if your injuries don’t seem that serious. Deciding where to go for treatment is important, but many people are confused about their options. Should I go to an urgent care center, the emergency room, or my primary doctor?
The answer largely depends on the severity of your injuries, though the timing of your accident is a factor as well. Mainly, you will need to decide if your injuries are life threatening or non-life threatening. In general, the ER is for life-threatening injuries, while urgent care and primary doctors treat non-life threatening injuries.
Regardless of how badly you’re hurt, don’t wait to get treatment from a medical professional. Not doing so can compromise your ability to file an injury claim with Uber or Lyft’s insurance companies. These companies offer up to $1 million in third-party liability coverage, which compensates victims for medical injuries and property damage. However, insurance companies will look for any excuse to deny a claim, including not seeing a doctor right after your accident.
Have you been in a car accident with an Uber or Lyft rideshare vehicle? To learn about your rights and legal options, speak with the lawyers of Normandie Law Firm.
Life Threatening Injuries from a Rideshare Accident
Here are some injuries resulting from car accidents that are viewed as life-threatening or medical emergencies.
- Severed limbs
- Broken bones protruding through the skin
- Third degree burns or burns over a large area of the body
- Cuts deep enough to expose joints, bones, or ligaments
- Blurred vision, dizziness, and trouble thinking clearly (signs of traumatic brain injury)
- Severe pain in the knees or hips
- Profuse bleeding
- Loss of function in the limbs
- Neck pain (whiplash)
- Spinal cord injury
- Loss of consciousness (even for a brief period)
- Puncture wounds from metal objects
- Broken nose
If you have sustained any one of these injuries, call 911 right away or ask someone to call for you. It’s in your best interest to wait for an ambulance, since you can cause more damage to your body if you try to move.
Non-life Threatening Injuries
Some injuries from rideshare accidents are not as serious, but still require medical attention. Non-life threatening injuries include:
- Superficial cuts and bruises
- Fractures / broken bones not protruding the skin
- Soft tissue injuries (torn muscles, ligaments, and tendons)
- Wrist / hand sprain or strain
- Ankle sprain / strain
- Mild to moderate knee pain
- Back pain (with no neck or spinal cord injury)
- First degree burns
Even though these injuries are unlikely to cause fatality, they can lead to long-term complications if they’re left untreated. In many cases, car accident victims have several of these injuries at a time and may need multiple hospital visits until they’re completely healed. Medical bills can pile up quickly in these cases, which is why it’s important to file an injury claim against Uber or Lyft right away. Our lawyers can assist you with this, as well as any other actions needed to recover your losses.
Once you’ve determined what type of injuries you have, you’ll need to figure out where you should go for treatment. To answer this question, let’s talk about each of your medical facility options and how they differ from each other.
Urgent Care Center
Urgent care centers are an excellent choice for many kinds of ailments. They’re normally available on weekends and stay open as late as 9PM. Most urgent care centers are affiliated with major hospitals, so you can expect to receive quality healthcare from a variety of specialists. However, urgent care centers are not equipped for life-saving treatments. So if you go there with third degree burns or a serious head injury, you’ll be referred to the emergency room for immediate attention.
On the other hand, if you’re dealing with moderate pain, minor cuts and bruises, or anything else that’s not life-threatening, an urgent care center can take care of you at a reasonable cost. Urgent care centers are also a great option if your primary doctor isn’t available, but you’re struggling with symptoms that need to be addressed.
Emergency Room
Car accidents often result in severe injuries, so ER doctors and nurses are very familiar with the treatment needed for these victims. Emergency rooms are stocked with medical equipment and medications that can address just about any type of injury. Additionally, they are staffed by highly qualified doctors and nurses, who are specifically trained to deal with life-saving procedures. You can also go to an emergency room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even during holidays.
Two of the biggest downsides to emergency rooms are cost and waiting times. An emergency room visit may only be partially covered, or not covered at all by your insurance plan. That can become very expensive, considering the average ER visit costs around $300 to $500. An urgent care visit, on the other hand, can be as little as $150. Thus, it’s easy to understand why some people go to urgent care, even if they have serious injuries. But as we mentioned before, urgent care centers cannot handle most medical emergencies, so they will send you the ER anyway. This will delay the amount of time before you receive treatment, which can exacerbate your injury, or even cause death.
We understand how worried you are about the costs associated with your injuries. California law allows you to seek compensation from Uber or Lyft’s insurance companies specifically for this purpose. The lawyers of Normandie can help you file a claim, or fight on your behalf if your claim is rejected.
Primary Doctor
There’s nothing wrong with going to your own doctor, but there’s a good chance they’re unavailable when you have an accident. That means you’ll have to wait till the next day – maybe even days later – to be able to see them. Waiting is a bad idea when it comes to medical treatment after a car accident, since many injuries can quickly get worse. It won’t reflect well on your injury claim either, since Uber or Lyft’s insurers will question why you waited to get treatment.
Another issue is your doctor’s knowledge and experience, which may be insufficient to treat you for the type of injuries you’ve sustained. In that case, they’re going to send you to urgent care of the ER anyway, so it’s best to go to one of those facilities to begin with. Once you’re there, call your primary doctor and let them know what’s going on. They may want to speak with the ER doctor who is treating you, especially if you have allergies or pre-existing conditions. It’s a good idea to keep your primary doctor informed, since they should know what is going on with you medically at all times.
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Along with calling your doctor, make sure to contact a law firm that specializes in rideshare accident lawsuits. Our lawyers can protect your rights from day one and ensure that you are compensated for the full extent of your injuries.
Protecting Your Rights after an Uber or Lyft Accident
Taking the right steps after you’ve been hit by a rideshare driver is critical to recovering the right amount of compensation for your injuries. We’ve covered going to a medical facility, but there are several other things you’ll need to do as well.
- Call 911 or the police so you can file a police report. This is just as important as your medical records in terms of proving that you were injured by an Uber or Lyft driver.
- Get information from the Uber of Lyft driver, including their name, insurance provider, and policy number. We recommend using your phone to take a picture of their insurance card if at all possible. If the driver is evasive about your request for information or acts aggressively towards you, wait for the police and let them retrieve the information for you.
- If you can, take pictures and/or video of the accident scene and your injuries. Take pictures of the damages to your car as well, and anything else that shows the full impact of the accident.
- Call Uber or Lyft’s customer service line and report the accident. You can do this right through the app, though with Lyft, you’ll need to wait for a callback. Either way, you must notify them of the accident right away so they don’t have an excuse to deny your claim later on.
- Call a lawyer who is experienced with rideshare accident lawsuits. You don’t need an attorney to file an injury claim, but it’s a good idea to learn about your legal rights. Not knowing these things ahead of time can make you vulnerable to underhanded tactics by insurance companies. A lawyer can also help you fill out your claim forms and include the necessary evidence to support your claim.
Contact Normandie Law Firm
Whether you’re a driver or a pedestrian, the last thing you want is to be involved in a car accident. The positive to a car accident with a rideshare driver is third party liability coverage, which will cover the costs associated with your medical needs and property damage. Unfortunately, some victims have trouble obtaining these funds and need someone on their side.
That’s where the lawyers of Normandie come in, with our many years of experience fighting for the rights of car accident victims. Please come see us for a free consultation so that we can advise you on the legal actions that are available to you. All our services, by the way, are completely free under our Zero fee guarantee. We recover our fees once you get paid by Uber or Lyft’s insurers, so there are no upfront costs to you at any point. Don’t wait to recover the funds you’re entitled to. Contact our office and speak with a rideshare accident lawyer today.
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