Need Advice - Was in a accident yesterday

[dark0821]

Hey everyone,

I was involved in an accident yesterday around 1:00PM along Canada Way in front of Burnaby City Hall.

My dash cam video below:

YouTube

Photos here







Thank you for the kind witness for sending me the photos, I didn't bother walking around taking photos as my right knee took the blunt of the impact... ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital. Got some X Rays, thank god no bones were broken...left the hospital with Tylenol and ice packs

I have already given my original SD card from the dash cam to the police officer, he met up with me at the hospital, my wife drove over with my laptop so I could make a copy of it on my laptop and leave the original with him

ICBC claim already made, and have already emailed adjuster the youtube video link.

Since I am pretty new to this kind of things, what are my steps going forward.

Lawyer has been signed, thank you everyone, will update when it is all settled and done.

***Fire fighters spent like 20min trying to get my hood to open, after finally prying it open with a crow bar... they walked over and asked where the battery was.... I had to tell them its in the trunk... and his face at the time was... priceless... asked if it was a modification, and I was like nope... came like that from factory where the battery is located at the back.

Any advice is greatly appreciate it, I am super new at this, and not sure what are my next steps.

TIA

TLDR
-was in accident
-no injury claim at this point, probably wont need it
-not sure what to do with car at this point with adjuster

[Badhobz]

I ain't a lawyer but you should be talking to one. I also wouldn't post any details on a public forum especially regarding injuries. You never know. What if a few months down the road your knee is all fucked up and you already wrote that your fine. You have up to a year to do any claims for injuries.

[SkunkWorks]

Damn dude, that is brutal. Hope you feel better soon!

For the car - best to talk to the adjuster about it. I would definitely start doing my homework and research however, better to have it handy now than later.

For yourself - follow up with your family doctor. If needed, I can introduce you to a friend of mine who's got 10+ years experience with ICBC injury claims. Car guy too.

[vitaminG]

For injury I would just claim anyway, there's no harm in don't so. You never know with soft tissue, knee could still be hurting months from now. Plus icbc will probably just offer you a settlement for it anyway

[!Aznboi128]

Hey man, that sucks I know what you're going thru. I would highly advise talking to a lawyer. When I was in an accident back in Jan I thought it was no big deal. However here I am 9 months in and my back still hurts and it has changed the quality of life by a lot.

[Teriyaki]

Wow. Glad you got all that on dash cam to show that you had right of way on the green.

On a side note, amazing that the benz didn't cream the Sienna right afterwards...

[dark0821]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

I ain't a lawyer but you should be talking to one. I also wouldn't post any details on a public forum especially regarding injuries. You never know. What if a few months down the road your knee is all fucked up and you already wrote that your fine. You have up to a year to do any claims for injuries.

thanks man, yea, hence why I said "I think", because so far I am okay... thought this morning is definitely worse than yesterday. That or I am just over sensitive now... had no dizziness yesterday at all... but now I feel like having a headache and my neck/back/and my right knee joints are not improving yet...

So I am not sure at this point...

[meme405]

What was that person thinking.

As for the damage to your car. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's probably a write off. If you had a passenger and that airbag had gone off it would definitely be, but right now as it sits, I'm only like 80% sure.

If it's not a write off, unfortunately you are going to have a tough time getting money back for loss of value. Others have tried, and some people say that they know a friend of a friend who sued in small claims and won some money. But I've never heard of a first hand account of it.

[boibuddha]

Soft tissue injuries from car accidents show up roughly 48 hours later. That's when I would see a doctor, then they could truly assess your injuries.

[Dragon-88]

Originally Posted by dark0821

thanks man, yea, hence why I said "I think", because so far I am okay... thought this morning is definitely worse than yesterday. That or I am just over sensitive now... had no dizziness yesterday at all... but now I feel like having a headache and my neck/back/and my right knee joints are not improving yet...

So I am not sure at this point...

Injuries will always feel worst the next couple days. So the first day you really cant say you arent injured as your body is typically shocked from the incident and tenses up.

Get prices for the car and build a profile up. Wait until ICBC decided what they will do with the car and let me make the first offer. You might get more than you'd expect especially since its 100% not your fault.

My buddy just got his 05 RSX-S written off a couple months ago. He paid $5k for the car and we were all expecting ICBC to come back with a payment of $3k or less. Surprisingly ICBC came back with an offer of $7500, as they couldnt find a similar vehicle with low mileage and he wasnt at fault. So it turned out better than expected. Hopefully the same works out in your favor. But I would definitely claim injuries cause the airbags deploys which is quite a jolt.

Dont sign anything until you talk to a lawyer or if you're happy with the outcome.

[mdnx]

First thing first, you should see your doctor right away so there is a recorded visit should you chose to claim for injury further down the road as they tend to pop up later. I had a similar accident with a left turner totaling my vehicle and now 1 year later my shoulder still hurts on and off.

I agree with meme405, that your car will most likely be a write off. Friend of mine totaled her lancer 3 months ago with a similar accident and icbc wrote it off.

Good luck and hope you have a speedy recovery.

[Traum]

From my experience through both sports injuries and car accidents, family doctors -- with all due respect -- have very poor knowledge about soft tissue injuries. Get yourself to your family doctor to have him note down the incident, get a referral to see a physiotherapist, and then look for a physiotherapist that you know will spend time to give you a thorough functional assessment of your knee and possible a quick inspection of your hip as well. Your knee is connected to your leg, and your leg is connected to your hip, so there is a chance the impact could throw something off.

[TypeRNammer]

First off don't tell yourself that you will be fine just based off the initial accident. You're gonna start feeling it the next couple of days and that's when you need to see a doctor.

I too was involved in a MVA earlier in the year. I went to back to work later in the evening, but realizing the next day everything started to hit me. Booked off from work and was out of commission for 5 months.

I'm back to work now but it hasn't been the same.

[320icar]

Fuck man my heart sank just watching that.... I will say though kudos to the Mercedes driver for staying in control and dodging the minivan

[Lomac]

To echo what others have saying, don't rule out injury just yet. At the very least have it checked out after the weekend to see if anything has begun to form or start to show. But don't be an ass and go for an injury settlement if there's nothing actually wrong.

That said, if there is something wrong, don't do what I did and make sure you deal with it properly. My left shoulder and arm is still fucked from an accident back in '01 that I never let heal properly. Don't affect my day-to-day life, but it will still flare up at the most inopportune time and it sucks.

[Mr.Money]

that's sure one long fucking green light to be running

[Liquid_o2]

I was in an accident last year. Impact was only at 20 km/hr. I thought I was fine after the accident, but within 24 hours my neck tightened up. Took 5 months of massage and then physio to finally be good enough to fully resume sports and gym.

Wait a 48 to 72 hours and then see a doctor. If anything, they need to record it in your file..

[RE-Jo]

Definitely speak to a lawyer.

[CorneringArtist]

Airbags deployed changes what factors into the car being written off, but if the engine or transmission suffered physical damage, they might go that route. Just looking at it, you won't know for sure if there's frame damage until the bumper comes off, and even then it's hiding additional parts that need to be replaced. If the estimate begins hitting write off value after your body shop supplements ICBC initial estimate, then they may start calculating whether or not it will be worth it to them to fix it, or write it off.

If the car does get fixed, have receipts ready to get your aftermarket parts replaced. ICBC will not cover depreciation as a result of a claim, unfortunately. That said, how the fuck does anyone mistime that kind of gap?

[geeknerd]

The accident was yesterday. Even when you work out, you're not sore until the next day or two. I'd hold off on saying you're ok.

[twitchyzero]

sorry about your Evo

I honestly wouldn't immediately worry about your car over the weekend...get some much needed healing time first.

can I ask if you remember how you were sitting? the brunt of the impact seems to be the passenger side, was it the steering wheel your knees banged into? PM me if you don't want to post the details publicly.

wow the Sienna was inches away from being smoked

[dark0821]

i was sitting in regular position, nth fancy... its just the airbag hit my knee dead on... and since my right knee was above my left knee at the time... my left foot at the point of the impact was fully depressing the clutch...my right knee took the full impact of dash panel that was pushed out by the airbag

i thought i was okay at first right after the incident, its when i opened my door and try to walk.. i collapsed unexpected as my right leg didnt want to hold my weight at all... however i got back up afterwards and was able to walk to the sidewalk

[68style]

Defensive driving! That Mercedes is freaking retarded, but god damn was it obvious that he was going to make that turn... front end lifting, wheels turned... dude, don't ever get a motorcycle license... I'd be dead 10 times over by now if I hadn't already braked/stopped for moron drivers turning left in front of me like this when on my bike.

[twitchyzero]

^ dont know if it's fair to compare a bike that can stop on a dime...also most dash cam footage will have objects appearing further away than reality

I do agree that this could've been prevented if the braking started shortly after seeing the left-turner inching forward.

commonly-traveled route = less situational awareness?

looks like both him and the left-turner froze right before impact seeing how they converged into the same path instead of swerving...

sorry i know you didn't create this thread to be arm-chaired

Originally Posted by dark0821

its just the airbag hit my knee dead on... and since my right knee was above my left knee at the time... my left foot at the point of the impact was fully depressing the clutch...my right knee took the full impact of dash panel that was pushed out by the airbag

yes I see the Lancer has knee air bags and always wondered how effective they are...so it looks like it did its job and the warnings about not sticking your feet up on the dash as a passenger are warranted so your foot isn't sent through the windshield in an event like this

speedy recovery...glad a witness and dashcam will sort out most of the headache for the vehicle coverage

[parm104]

PM Sent.