Know your rights: Road Collision

After a long day of work, you begin to pack your things and prepare to go home. You look out the window and notice water running down on the glass. You think to yourself, it’s raining again, which has been for the past few days. Dismissing the thought, you hop into your car and begin the drive home.

As thunder and lightning appear in the dark black sky, you could hear the downpour getting stronger. It’s already poor visibility and you slow down just to be safe. As you continue driving and as fast as the flash of lightning, you feel a jolt and at the same time a loud thump from the back of your car. You quickly stopped and as you look in the rear-view mirror, you notice another car behind you. It appears you were just rear-ended by the car. You pick up your umbrella and brave the strong rains outside. The driver of the other car does the same and you both evaluate the situation. You notice that the front end of his car has collided with the rear end of yours. You ask yourself, what now?

These incidents are very common today. Everyday, as hundreds of thousands of cars traverse the roads of the Philippines, a collision is bound to happen. But it is best to know what you should do next in case you are unfortunate enough to be involved in a collision.

First things first, you have to assess the situation if there is a medical emergency. If there is a medical emergency, it is best to go to the hospital first and seek medical attention. If there are none or the medical needs have already been attended, make sure to take photos of the collision and should both of you settle the issue right then and there then all is well. But if there is no settlement, then the next step would be to coordinate with the local police or traffic officers. Normally a traffic or police officer would be nearby but if there are none then the best thing to do would be to go to the nearest Traffic Enforcement Unit of the Philippine National Police. There you can give a detailed narration of what happened and provide the necessary documentation (Dashcam videos, registration, and insurance). From there, they will give you a police report for which you can use in the next steps.

Once you have the police report, you can then file a claim with your insurance company (assuming your vehicle was insured under a comprehensive coverage policy). However, if your car was not covered, then you will need to send a demand letter to the other party for the repair of the damages caused. If the other party settles the bill, then all is well. But if the other party refuses, then you will need to file a case against the other party for the payment of the damages, medical bills, and other expenses resulting from the collision.