Why Do I Need A Police Report

If you’re ever in a car accident, you need to take the proper steps to ensure that your vehicle is repaired and that your medical bills are paid. Most officers will write a police report after talking to the drivers who are involved in the accident. This report is important because it’s what will be given to the insurance company to determine any policy rate changes and to determine who will pay for the injuries or repairs after the accident.

Keep in mind that there are two different accident reports that an officer can complete. The first report that is done is the one completed when the officer responds to the scene. It’s basically a report that indicates the names of the people who were involved in the incident, birthdays, addresses and the insurance information. It also gives a general description of what happened and the damage done to the vehicles. This is considered the official report. There is also an unofficial report. This is one that is created by one or more people involved in the accident. At times, a police officer might not be sent to an accident if there were no injuries involved. This is when the unofficial report comes into play as you will need to file what happened with the insurance company regardless of whether an officer was on the scene or not.

Officers are sent to accident scenes in a variety of circumstances. They are sent primarily if there are any injuries involving the people in the car or anyone who is standing in the area of the car when the accident happens. Another common reason is if the accident is blocking traffic. Other reasons include if a driver is intoxicated or if someone is being disruptive.

The officer will examine the accident before talking to the drivers of the vehicles. Most of the time, the officer will talk with the witnesses or get the numbers of the witnesses to contact them later. Other people in the car will also be spoken with about what happened. The accident scene will be secured before the cars are towed or driven away if the damage is not severe. An official report is not usually completed at the scene of the accident. The officer will gather enough information that is needed to write the report at the office. Reports include the date and time of the accident. This is important to have for insurance purposes as the company can look up the policy to see whether it was in effect or not at the time of the accident. Photographs of the accident are taken, and you can take pictures as well to give to the insurance company.

Information about the condition of the vehicles and the people involved is written in the report and then given to the insurance company. The company will base any amount of money given for the people involved in the accident by the severity of the injuries and the severity of the damage to the vehicles. An officer might go to the hospital after the accident scene is cleared to find out the condition of the people involved. This information plays a role in the amount that the insurance company gives to the people in the accident. If there are no severe injuries, then a minimal compensation amount is disbursed. However, if there are severe injuries, especially those that require surgery or even result in death, then the compensation would go up with the family being eligible in most situations to get medical bills nad pain and suffering amounts paid after a settlement.