Urban Velo published a succinct post today with 6 steps that you should take after being hit by a car.
1. If you are in pain, stay put. Don’t try to move. You could end up injuring yourself even more.
2. Call 9-1-1 or tell someone else to do it for you
3. Make sure to get the driver’s name, license plate, insurance info and contact info
4. Get a police report
5. Contact a lawyer
6. Contact your city councilperson and tell them your story and that you want safer cycling conditions in the city
After Nick Magruder was recently hit-and-run on Bonnie Brae on May 13th, he went through most of those steps. I say most because to my knowledge he didn’t contact a council person and let them know what happened, but I definitely did. In querying the Denton police department to obtain cyclist accident statistics, we learned that they were not keeping track of cyclist accidents, but they are now, since we asked.
On the topic of #3, I have previously failed to memorize license plates during traffic incidents, and now I regularly scan plates with my eyes just as practice. It definitely hasn’t come naturally to me during the few unfortunate incidents I’ve had, like when a van on Hwy 77 stopped and the passenger threatened to get a gun and shoot me. In situations like that, with adrenaline pumping, I simply never thought to memorize the license plate. As a result, the (UNT) policeman was not inclined do anything.
Lesson learned: practice memorizing license plates, so you can do it when it counts.