Is this the right procedure to do if I get into an accident?
Posted by PerformanceFar7245@reddit | driving | View on Reddit | 16 comments
I've been looking around to see what to do if I get into an accident and this is what I've seen so far: move the car to the side of the road if damage is minor, call the police and let them decide if they need to come, exchange information with the driver, and document the scene. One other thing I've heard mentioned is do not admit any sort of fault even saying sorry.
I also have four questions.
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What exactly should I document? Should I just take a video of the entire scene or should I do more documentation?
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What do I do if the driver getting out of their vehicle is very angry? I don't know how to deal with angry drivers after a car crash.
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When exchanging information how much info from the other driver do I need? Do I just need their insurance card or more than that?
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Is there anything I haven't mentioned/asked about that is important to know about the car crash procedure?
Deb1268@reddit
These are all great recommendations and it's good to be thinking of this before it happens to you. One thing I will add from my personal experience is you could be very shaken up and unable to think clearly once involved in an accident. I had my phone in my hand, brought up the keypad to call the police and couldn't figure out what to do. Did I need to call them if there are no injuries? Could I just call the non-emergency number? I should have known as I had gone over this with my teen grandson and told him to always call the police (not wanting him to be taken advantage of in this situation) I didn't call and it worked out ok. My car was totalled, the other driver was 100% at fault. But I was surprised at how I froze and was unable to make a decision in the moment
Complex_Solutions_20@reddit
Most insurance cards I have seen have a checklist on the back of them.
Everything. Video or photos, anything you can do to later prove how it happened, how it came to rest, where it was, etc.
If the other person is angry/aggressive, do what is necessary to protect yourself. Ideally, lock yourself in your car and call 911 but if windows are broken out or there's a fire you may have to try and just stay away (but nearby) while calling for help.
When I've had to file a claim it wanted as much as I had. Other car description, license plate, other driver's insurance, license, phone number, address, police city/state, police-report number, and descriptions of what happened.
When I ended up in a minor crash we first determined nobody was seriously injured, then snapped a couple photos of the cars as they came to a stop in the intersection. Then agreed on driving to a side-road out of the way of the main rush hour traffic. Once safely out of the way, we took pictures of each other's driver's license and insurance information, phone numbers, along with the vehicles (with license plates visible) and damage from all angles (and photo of the police car that responded, in case I had to figure out what unit responded to the crash). The police also wrote up a report that contained each others' vehicles, license, address, phone-numbers, insurance, and a statement of what the officer observed and who he was citing for what infractions. Everyone got copies of the information-exchange incident form from the deputy when they were completed.
PerformanceFar7245@reddit (OP)
Thank you for the info. I had no idea the information I needed was on the back of my insurance card but when I looked it was there.
bothunter@reddit
I also recommend a defensive driving course. My friends make fun of me for my driving style, but the only thing I've ever hit in my 25 years of driving was a parking support column. (I was an idiot and the garage was 100% empty too -- never let your guard down)
Complex_Solutions_20@reddit
NGL it was also kinda a fun course...the one I did used ex-police cars modified to disable ABS (to make mistakes more obvious) and also had us trying some stuff on a skid pad - took several tries to get over the "OMG we're going sideways thru a parkinglot and going to die" because although I was good at low speed skid recovery playing in the snow its a whole other ballgame when you are doing like 30mph and start going sideways, along with practicing highway speed swerves and recovery without over-correction. Stuff there's zero way to do safely on public roads/lots.
So far, knock on wood, none of the crashes have been our fault, all have been squarely 100% on the other people...and aside from the wrong-way-driver interstate head-on crash all have been relatively minor.
_eg0_@reddit
(country Germany) You forgot the most important thing. Secure the scene of the accident. If your car is on the road or parked on the shoulder set up a warning triangle. 50m for City streets, 100m for country roads and 150m for highways.
Generally you only need the name and address. Make sure it's the correct one. Ideally from a drivers license. Take many pictures for the insurance companies. Not just from your car. A police statement about the course of accident also is a huge help.
Deescalate as much as possible until police arrives. Remember, the other person might have had a bad day already which might have contributed to the accident and it just got worse.
I think the best is to say nothing besides helping, de-escalation and things you want to say to the police for the police report.
If legal, get a DashCam.
trixicat64@reddit
_eg0_@reddit
1 you are right, ID/Passport
bothunter@reddit
Hahaha. Nobody does that in America! We just leave our cars in the lane of traffic and stand around hoping nobody crashes into the wreck. If the hazards still work, great! That's all you need!
_eg0_@reddit
I was also shocked when I saw an American posting a picture on a car subreddit where some had found an OEM first aid kit in their German car and everyone acted surprised. We few Germans where like: "wait, you guys don't get to fail mandatory inspections because your first aid kit was out of date?"
Mental-Blueberry_666@reddit
LMAO we don't even have inspections anymore.
People kept going to the sketchy fly by night places that would give you a pass without even looking at your vehicle so they just gave up.
trixicat64@reddit
i already have 3 first aid kits in my car, 2 of them expired.
Austin_Native_2@reddit
This is my write-up for what I suggest for what to do after an accident. I'm in Texas (Austin). Here, we do not call the police unless it's truly deemed necessary. They don't care unless it's a really bad accident with injuries or where someone needs a citation etc. It's rare to ever see a LEO on scene of an accident here.
dutchman76@reddit
I would take photos as well as video, it was a giant pain in the ass to get my insurance co to even look at my dash cam video, their system only lets you send photos, my insurance was about to call it 50/50, so i sent screenshots from my video footage with a note, "no you really do need to look at my video, you'll see how wrong the other guy was".
tonydaracer@reddit
I've been involved in 2 crashes (not going to call them "accidents"). First one was 100% my fault, second was 100% the other person's. Both times insurance resolved the issue.
1.) Document as much as you can. Pictures of the scene, exact location, pictures of both vehicles. I understand this might be difficult to do, as it was with my first crash being on an active highway. Be as quick as you can but don't leave any details out.
2.) Unfortunately not a lot. Best you can do is keep your distance and not engage them. Even if it was 100% their fault, don't make them even angrier by trying to teach them anything. If they're upset, just leave them alone, and go on about your business. Document everything you can, and if they get in your way, remember that you can defend yourself if necessary.
3.) Everything. Get a picture of their driver's license. Get their insurance card. Get their phone number. Get their email. Likely, whichever insurance agency that takes the claim will need both of these, as they'll need the other person's address for verification purposes, phone number in case they need to contact them, and email to send financial compensation if necessary (or to further help identify if they need to figure out that the other person has active insurance). Obviously if they're angry there won't be much you can get from them, so getting their license plate should help, and filing a police report should help because the police will take their info and the insurance agency will use the police report in the claim anyway.
4.) Check for injury for both parties involved. Call an ambulance if you feel necessary to do so, but I would ask the other person first if they feel like they need one. My second crash, the other person called an ambulance right away (because I was on a motorcycle and flipped over their car). I rejected the ambulance at the scene but they hit me with the bill even though I never called them and I refused their services. Fortunately though, insurance covered the bill.
You're right about not admitting fault, to a degree. In my second crash, the driver immediately admitted fault to the police, so that helped speed things up. If they hadn't, then the process probably would've taken a few months instead of a few weeks. In my first crash, I admitted fault to the police, which I'm certain helped speed things up for the other driver. However, in both cases, fault was very obviously one-sided (first case was that I ran into the back of a car while legally split-laning, so obviously it's my fault for not paying attention. Second case, the driver pulled out in front of me and stopped and claimed they didn't see me, so very obviously they weren't paying attention). If there is doubt in who's at fault, then yes, you want to play your cards close to your chest, because the second you admit fault is the second that the insurance and police agencies conclude the investigation, and it would be incredibly difficult to rescind your statement from there.
This also brings up the topic of proper insurance coverage. Insurance is incredibly confusing, and unfortunately most people who do learn it's inner workings, do so the hard way (me). My first crash taught me that the term "legally minimum coverage" means whatever your state defines as minimum, which is usually just liability coverage. This means that, if you are involved in a crash and you're the responsible party, having only liability coverage means that your insurance will not cover any costs involved with your own vehicle, only the other party's vehicle. It's how I paid $350 out of pocket for a tow truck to haul my bike 5 miles to my house, and how I never got a replacement, because I only had liability and never questioned it. The other guy had his car repaired so at least I didn't have to worry about paying him for it, but I was out a bike because I didn't understand insurance, and didn't want to pay $100/month when they said I could pay $60/month. You want to ensure you have collision coverage, which will compensate you for damages to your vehicle. Understand deductibles. You will pay whatever your deductible is regardless, so make sure you set it to something you can afford at any given time. I have mine set at the highest, $1k, because I keep a hefty emergency account and keeping a high deductible gives me lower rates.
sleepsinshoes@reddit
1 take picture of other cars plate 2 call police 3 take pictures/video 4 if safe and able be done move cars out of traffic flow 5 exchange info ( if other driver is irate and being an ass sit in your car and don't engage) 6 talk to police when they arrive. 7 drive away report to insurance
If it's minor ( bump at a stop sign or whatever where cars are driveable)
1 take picture of plate 2 take pictures of vehicles and scene 3 exchange info 4 drive away report to insurance at some point