In the moments immediately following a car accident, the instinct is to call the police.
That’s generally a good idea. The police who arrive at the scene will help manage the treatment of any injured people. They’ll ensure the scene is secure and can help get the traffic flowing again. They will also generate an official crash report.
An accident crash report can become the foundation of your eventual car accident claim. That is especially true if a citation is issued that clearly assigns blame for the accident.
What happens if the police report after a crash is wrong?
That could call into question your version of what happened in the accident and put your eventual settlement at risk. Fortunately, a police crash report is not the “final answer” when determining the facts of the case.
If there are discrepancies in a crash report that you’re involved with, you will benefit from speaking with an experienced Bardstown car accident attorney. A skilled lawyer will be in the best position to help you gather more supportive evidence with the goal of clearly establishing who was responsible for the accident and what you are owed.
What Is Included in a Police Crash Report?
Every driver should know that the police don’t respond to or investigate every car collision.
Typically, they will only be dispatched to the scene of an accident if there is an injury, a fatality, or property damage exceeding $500. In other words, they are not going to show up for a minor fender bender.
When the police do show up, they will ask questions of all parties involved in the crash to prepare their crash report. This is what you can expect to find in the report:
Basic Information & Environment
The crash report begins with the exact date, time, and location of the accident. It also includes any environmental conditions that might have contributed to the accident, such as rain, fog, and snow. They can also include lighting conditions, such as daylight or nighttime, as well as proximity to traffic control signals.
Basic information also includes the number of vehicles involved, whether it was a hit-and-run, and the responding officer’s name and agency ID.
Parties Involved & Vehicle Details
The crash report will include the information on all drivers, including names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and insurance information. The police officer will collect vehicle information, including year, make, model, VIN, and license plate number, for every vehicle involved in the crash.
If there were passengers involved in the crash, the police will detail where they were sitting in the car and whether they were wearing seat belts.
Injuries & Fatalities
The responding police officer will make a note of anyone who was hurt or killed and the severity of the injuries, such as incapacitating or non-incapacitating. If any of the parties were transported from the scene, the crash report will include the names of the hospitals or facilities to which they were transported.
Diagram & Narrative
There will be a section in the crash report where the responding officer can provide a hand-drawn or sketched visualization of the accident, including the roadway, vehicle paths, the point of impact, and the final resting positions.
Finally, the officer will include a written summary of the sequence of events leading up to and during the collision, based on what they’ve ascertained at the scene.
That will include any statements from all the participants and any witnesses.
Common Types of Errors Found in Kentucky Accident Reports
We put a lot of trust in the police officers. However, they are not infallible. There can be mistakes made on an accident report that would directly contradict your version of events and what you might tell the insurance company.
These are the common types of errors that you might find on an accident report:
- Misspelled names or incorrect addresses.
- Incorrect license plate numbers
- Incorrect Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN)
- Transposed digits in policy numbers.
- Mismatched weather or surface conditions
- Wrong time or location
- Incorrect fault coding
- Missing driver statements
- Inaccurate diagram
- Omitted witness information
If you spot any of these mistakes, you are entitled to dispute them and ask for a correction.
How to Challenge Disputed Facts and Fault Assignments
If no officer responds to the scene of your accident, you are required to file a civilian collision report.
That would only be your version of what happened, and it might not carry the same authoritative weight as a police crash report. If that police report is incorrect, you will need to gather supportive evidence to counter the errors. The evidence can include dashcam footage from your car or surrounding vehicles.
It can also include surveillance footage from traffic cameras or security cameras at nearby homes or businesses. You can use that information as an addendum to the police report.
If it seems overwhelming to gather evidence and dispute a police crash report, you can rely on the support of an experienced attorney to help make it happen. The legal team at McCoy & Hiestand, PLC has the investigative experience to thoroughly analyze police crash reports.
If we find a discrepancy, we know what is needed to correct that issue.
When we agree to take on a case, our clients benefit from all the resources our firm offers. If you’ve been involved in a car accident and need to make sense of a police crash report, you can call our office for a free consultation.
The sooner we talk, the sooner you can get answers about what should happen next.
