Many of us have grown accustomed to sharing almost every aspect of our lives on social media. It therefore shouldn’t come as a surprise that you or someone else would want to tell others if you were involved in a Williamsport car crash.
Although many people do it, some things just aren’t necessary or appropriate to post about. Your car accident is one of them. There are some definitive no-go topics that you should abstain from mentioning. A description of the top five social media tips to follow post-crash is below.
1. Don’t Describe the Accident
You may feel like it’s nothing big to recount your side of the story of what happened leading up to a crash. Our memories tend to get fuzzy the further removed from an incident you are. Traumatic events like car accidents can also impact our ability to remember a situation’s finer details.
You don’t want to inadvertently say anything that may deviate from what you told police officers occurred when they arrived on the crash scene. You also don’t want to leave open any door for the introduction of new facts that may impact liability determinations and otherwise complicate matters for your car accident lawyer.
2. Avoid Discussing Fault for Your Crash
Don’t make any comments that could be understood as assigning or accepting fault for your Williamsport crash. This means that you shouldn’t apologize on social media for the collision if you feel bad that you caused it, nor should you talk about what you or the other motorist did that resulted in its occurrence.
As uncomfortable as it may make you feel not sharing it publicly, doing so could seriously jeopardize your liability determinations in your car accident case, thus impacting the settlement that you’re eligible to receive.
3. Be Careful About Photos and Videos You Post
It’s always important that you take photographs of the crash scene, property damage, and injuries after an accident. However, you shouldn’t disseminate them on social media. It’s way too easy for someone to share them with others, which could lead to them getting in the wrong hands. This, like many other social media posting choices, could affect the liability determination and settlement offer in your case.
4. Keep Your Injuries and Prognosis Private
It’s important that you see a doctor and follow any treatment plan that they recommend after an accident. Aside from photographs of your injuries, you should also keep a log of how they impact you. However, you shouldn’t discuss the extent of your injuries, imaging studies performed and the respective results, the treatment that doctors have ordered, an upcoming surgery, or anything else related to your accident on social media.
Know that any photographs showing you engaging in physical activity or experiencing emotional highs may be used by insurers to contest liability. The same logic applies to previously posted information about your health or injuries.
You may want to discuss your social media activities with your car accident lawyer at your initial consultation for guidance in handling past and future postings like these. This type of social media content may adversely impact your ability to prove that your current injuries stemmed from your accident and how limiting or painful they are or will continue to be in the foreseeable future.
5. Avoid Discussing Impressions of Insurance Companies
Anything you say on social media can spread quickly. This includes information that you post for your friends to read on your feed and online company reviews or in discussion forums attached to blog posts or videos.
While your ability to recover compensation in a car accident case is contingent upon you being able to prove liability, the settlement amount you receive is largely discretionary. Economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages may be largely incontestable. Noneconomic ones, such as those tied to pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life, may be left more to chance.
Complaining about an insurer may not make them all too happy, and somehow not only affect their determination of liability, thus affecting how much in economic damages you can claim, but also motivate them to offer you far less in noneconomic damages than your situation warrants.
How Insurers Use Social Media Following an Accident
Insurance companies are in the business of making money. They’re not your friends. The less an insurer pays out on its claims, the more profits it makes.
Insurers spend a portion of their budget on looking up publicly-available information about claimants, which may involve looking to see if they have social media profiles. Insurance companies may then engage in various tactics, including checking to see how an accident has affected you:
- Looking at your posts, including your feelings, activities, and physical health
- Looking at posts your friends or family have made, showing or talking about you
A car accident lawyer like ours here at Stapp Law, LLC often advises their clients to change their social media profile privacy settings and avoid accepting new “friends” until their case wraps. They do this to minimize the chances of a nosy insurance adjuster prying into their business. That doesn’t stop insurers from looking at the information your friends and family may post about you and your situation, though.
Where To Turn for Social Media Advice Following an Auto Accident
Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and others provide a wonderful opportunity for individuals to connect and stay in contact with one another. There are plenty of downsides associated with social media, though. The chances of information that you share remaining private are low.
Don’t take your chances and post something on social media that could affect your ability to recover compensation in your auto crash case. Sit down and speak with one of our Stapp Law, LLC car accident lawyers about your intentions before making such a costly mistake. There’s no fee for scheduling your initial consultation.
