What to Do After a Car Accident in Springfield

If you were just in a crash, this page is the checklist. We are Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, and the steps below are the ones we wish every client had taken before they called us. They protect your health first, and your insurance benefits and legal claim along the way. Nobody handles a crash scene perfectly, and nothing here requires that. You can also visit our broader Springfield car accident page.

Get to safety. If the crash caused only vehicle damage and your car can move under its own power, Massachusetts law actually requires you to move it out of the travel lanes when you can do so safely. Put your hazards on. On I-91, I-291, I-391, and the Turnpike, secondary crashes are a real danger. If the car cannot move, staying buckled inside is usually safest, unless smoke, fuel, fire, or oncoming traffic says otherwise; then get well off the road.

Call the police. Call 911 when anyone may be hurt, the road is blocked, a driver seems impaired, or a driver fled. For a minor fender bender in a safe spot, the non-emergency line does the job. Two useful details for Springfield: crashes on the interstates are usually handled by the State Police, while city streets belong to the Springfield Police Department, and knowing which agency responded matters later when you request the report. If you were hurt and EMS offers an evaluation, take it; declining transport is your right, but get checked the same day anyway, because adrenaline hides injury.

In a hit-and-run, two clocks start immediately. The standard Massachusetts auto policy requires you to notify both the police and your own insurer within 24 hours as a condition of the uninsured motorist claim that hit-and-run cases usually run through. Do both the same day.

Photograph what you can, without blocking the road or standing in traffic. Get the vehicles from multiple angles, their positions, every plate, skid marks and debris, the signals and signs from each driver's approach, the weather and lighting, and any visible injuries. Rather than copying information by hand, photograph the other driver's license, registration, and insurance card. Note whether the other driver appeared to be working, delivering, or driving for a rideshare app, because that can change whose insurance answers. If you have a dashcam, save the file today before it is overwritten.

Say little, and do not guess about fault. Exchange the required information, be civil, and skip the analysis. You may not know yet that the other driver was speeding, or that a signal malfunctioned, and an early "it was my fault" can follow the claim around. Massachusetts reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault and bars it entirely if your share passes 50 percent, which is exactly why insurers listen so carefully to what gets said at the scene.

Get witness names and phone numbers. People leave, move, and forget. A name, a number, and one sentence about what they saw is enough; the follow-up can come later.

Get medical care, and be accurate about everything. Some symptoms need the emergency room now: loss of consciousness, confusion, a worsening headache, repeated vomiting, weakness or numbness, trouble breathing, or severe abdominal pain. For everything else, same-day or next-day evaluation at an urgent care or your own doctor is the goal. Baystate Medical Center is the region's Level 1 trauma center, and Mercy Medical Center and urgent care clinics cover Hampden County. Tell providers you were in a car crash and report your symptoms accurately and completely, the small ones included. Do not minimize and do not exaggerate; the record only helps you if it is true.

Think before repairs, but be practical. In a disputed-fault or serious-injury case, the vehicle itself is evidence. Many vehicles record a few seconds of pre-impact speed and braking, and that data can settle an argument about what happened, so in those cases talk to a lawyer before authorizing repairs or salvage. In a routine crash with clear fault and minor injuries, there is no reason to rack up storage charges preserving a car nobody will ever inspect. If a child car seat was in the vehicle, do not reuse it; federal safety guidance calls for replacement after a moderate or severe crash, so photograph its labels, keep the receipt, and include the replacement cost in the claim.

Notify your own insurer promptly, and know the difference between your insurer and theirs. Your policy requires you to cooperate with your own insurance company, and refusing to communicate with it can jeopardize your coverage. Massachusetts is a no-fault state, and your own policy's Personal Injury Protection benefits pay up to $8,000 per person toward medical bills, lost wages at 75 percent of your average weekly wage, and replacement services, regardless of fault. Submit the PIP application early. How PIP coordinates with health coverage depends on what you have: with private health insurance, PIP typically covers the first $2,000 of medical bills before your health plan takes over; with MassHealth, Medicare, or certain self-funded employer plans, PIP generally pays first up to its limit. The other driver's insurer is a different story. You owe it no recorded statement, and giving one early, before you know what is actually wrong with you, is how injuries get locked into a two-day-old description. Talk to a lawyer first.

File the RMV crash report. Massachusetts requires the operator to file a Crash Operator Report with the RMV within five days when a crash causes injury or more than $1,000 in damage to any one vehicle or other property, with copies to the local police and your insurer. There is an exception if you are physically unable to file. Missing it does not erase your injury claim, but it creates friction with the RMV and insurers that nobody needs, and we handle it with clients routinely.

Keep records. A simple folder, paper or digital: the police report, every medical visit and bill, receipts, documentation of missed work in your employer's records rather than memory, photographs of your injuries as they heal, and short, honest notes about symptoms and what you could not do. Keep the notes accurate; anything you write down may eventually be read by the other side, and honest records survive that reading just fine.

Handle social media carefully. Do not post about the crash, your injuries, or your physical activities while the claim is open, because posts read out of context become defense exhibits. Just as important: do not delete anything already posted, and know that privacy settings do not put content beyond a court's reach. Deletion can be characterized as destroying evidence, which hurts worse than the post.

Know the deadlines. The RMV report is due in 5 days. If your insurer finds you more than half at fault and surcharges you, you generally have 30 days from the notice to appeal. PIP covers qualifying expenses incurred within two years of the crash. A personal injury lawsuit generally must be filed within three years, and talking with an adjuster does not pause that clock. Claims against public employers require a written presentment to the right official within two years, road defect claims require notice within 30 days, and claims under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage follow contract rules with their own notice terms, so those get calendared case by case.

Most of what protects a claim happens in the first two weeks, and none of it requires you to have done everything right so far. Contact Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free, confidential case review, whether the crash happened an hour ago or last month.

This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.