If you are involved in a New York car accident, it is important to understand what New York State law requires you to do.

According to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, the following are some actions you must take:

When in a Car Accident, Stop and Exchange Information

You must stop and exchange information with the other drivers involved in the accident.

• For property damage only
  Exchange your driver license, insurance and registration information with the other drivers.
• For a parked vehicle or other property damage or injury of domestic animal
  Locate the owner and contact the police.
• For property damage that is $1001 or more
  All the drivers involved must file a report (MV-104) of the motor vehicle accident with the DMV within no more than 10 days after the accident. If you fail to report the accident, the DMV can suspend your driver’s license.
• If a person is injured or killed
  Notify the police immediately. All the involved drivers must file an accident report with the DMV. It is a crime to leave an accident scene where personal injury or death occurred. The accident will appear on all the drivers’ records. However, the record of the accident will not indicate who was at fault.

Seek Medical Attention

If you or anyone else is seriously injured, call 911 and seek medical attention right away. Keep records of medical treatment that you have received.

Take Pictures of the Accident Scene

If you are able to take pictures of the accident scene, do so. Many people have cameras on their mobile phones. Take pictures of the vehicle damage, skid marks or other details that could provide relevant evidence in your accident case.

Talk to Witnesses

Get the names and contact information from any witnesses who saw the accident.

File a Report with Your Insurance Company

Let your insurance company know that you were involved in the accident and how it occurred. Be honest in your description of what happened.

If You Suffered Significant Injury, Contact a Lawyer and Limit Your Discussion About the Accident

You should only discuss the accident with your lawyer, the police and your insurance company. Do not discuss the accident with other drivers’ insurance companies or other parties unless your attorney advises you to do so.

At Sackstein Sackstein & Lee, LLP we have decades of experience and focus our practice primarily on personal injury cases.

Around 4:15 a.m. on Saturday October 21, a three-car crash took place on the westbound Cross Bronx between Third Avenue and the Bronx River Parkway when a teen driver lost control of his vehicle.

Various news outlets reported about the accident, including ABC 7 , which described the teen driver speeding and weaving through traffic until he reached a halt in traffic and was unable to stop. Teen driver, Carlos Pereyra Batista struck the rear end of a tractor-trailer and then Batista’s 2002 Honda Accord smashed into a guardrail, bounced off it and collided into a Toyota RAV4 before rolling to a stop in the westbound lane. Eighteen-year-old Batista died at the scene of the crash. His 17-year-old male passenger was in critical condition and emergency personnel transported him to St. Barnabas Hospital. He was upgraded to stable condition and expected to survive.

The tractor-trailer driver, a 66 year-old-man was not injured and neither was the 29-year-old man driving the Toyota. They remained at the accident scene until police arrived.

It is a tremendous tragedy when a teenager dies in a car crash. You think the young person has his whole life ahead of him and then within moments he is gone. Such tragedies are felt deeply and especially by the families. The NY Daily News reported that Batista’s family ran a Dominican food stand in Mott Haven and he was often there helping them. The family was devastated when they arrived at the accident scene.

As of October 19, traffic accidents have claimed the lives of 23 drivers in 2017, which is a 12 percent decrease from 2016, when 26 drivers died in car crashes.

Teens and Teen Driver Car Accidents

Teenagers are more at risk for dying in car accidents than from any other cause of death. The 16-19 year old age group is about three times more likely to be in a fatal crash than drivers who are 20 years and older.

For Serious and Fatal Car Crashes Seek Legal Help

When someone else is a fault in a serious injury or fatal accident, you have the legal right to pursue compensation for damages. Sackstein Sackstein & Lee, LLP offers a free consultation to discuss your accident and determine whether you have grounds for pursuing compensation.

On April 23 at 4:25 a.m., a 33-year old Long Island woman hit a 44-year old man as he crossed Suffolk Avenue close to Applegate Drive in Central Islip. Pedestrian Jose Lino Martinez was taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore where doctors pronounced his death.

CBS New York reported that according to the Suffolk County police, driver Vierka Batista-Coronado allegedly struck the pedestrian and fled the accident scene. She currently faces charges of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death, which is a class D felony.

Pedestrian Accidents in New York City

Metro areas are often dangerous places for pedestrians. However, a report released by Next City in 2017 indicates New York City is now one of the safest metro areas for pedestrians in the country. It ranked 95^th out of 104 metro regions.

Even so, it pays to take precautions. A NYC pedestrian safety study released by NYC DOT (Department of Transportation) stated:

• Pedestrians are 10 times more at risk for death than a motor vehicle occupant in a crash.
• Driver inattention is the cause in 36% of crashes that caused pedestrian death or injury.
• Unsafe speeding is twice as deadly in pedestrian-vehicle crashes.
• Major street corridors are two-thirds more deadly for pedestrians in crashes than smaller local streets.
• 79% of crashes killing or seriously injuring pedestrians involved private vehicles — not taxis, trucks and buses.

Compared with the other boroughs, Manhattan has four times as many pedestrians killed or severely injured per mile of street.

Of pedestrians killed in Manhattan, 43% lived in other boroughs or outside NYC.

After a Serious Accident or Fatality, Contact an Accident Lawyer As Soon As Possible

Protecting your legal rights is vital when you suffer injury or a loved one dies in a pedestrian accident. For more than 65 years, Sackstein Sackstein & Lee, LLP has successfully handled accident cases and we know how to protect your rights and help you seek compensation.