Approximately 6 million car accidents occur in the United States every year. That translates to more than 16,400 traffic accidents every day, nearly 700 per hour and more than 10 every single minute. In other words, a traffic accident occurs somewhere in the US every 6 seconds. That troubling number means a lot of things, and one of them is that a lot of people need to figure out how to find traffic accident reports so they can protect and enforce their legal and financial rights and interests.
Unfortunately, too many people do not really know how to find traffic accident reports, and delays in this regard or even the failure to produce them can lead to several problems that include the denial of claims and even miscarriages of justice due to a lack of evidence. Everyone should know how to find traffic accident reports so that this doesn’t continue to happen.
If you’re not sure how to find traffic accident reports, then you need to take some time to learn a bit about this. Statistics published by Forbes also reveal that the average person in the United States will be involved in 3-4 accidents during their lifetimes, and post-crash is not the best time to try to figure all of this out.
The team at Auto Accident Report would like to introduce you to what it generally takes with regards to how to find traffic accident reports below.
Search Your Jurisdiction’s Records
Every jurisdiction in the United States has different laws and norms when it comes to traffic regulations and crashes. That also means that every jurisdiction handles the storage and availability of traffic accident reports a bit differently. Therefore, your first step in figuring out how to find traffic accident reports is to learn how things are done in your jurisdiction. That’ll involve some online searching and some digging.
Contact the Overseeing Police Department
If you’re unable to find an accident report online through your jurisdiction, then you should start to take things offline and contact the police department that reported to the scene of the crash and wrote the report. You can usually call them or go see them in-person, but you’ll need some specific information about the incident so that they can find it. This includes:
- Date of the accident
- Time of the crash
- Location of the collision
- Name of the officer if possible
- Names of parties involved if possible
From there, the police should be able to provide you with a copy of the report.
Pay a Service
If you’re still not finding success in figuring out how to find traffic reports, then you may need to take the next step and hire a service to search for the records for you. This will obviously involve some cost and some time, but most reputable services will be able to locate the records for you and deliver them.
Why You Need Your Accident Report
The reasons you need to do what’s necessary to find your traffic accident report if you’ve been involved in a crash are many in number. For instance, you’ll need your report if you’re going to file an insurance claim, and that’s usually one of the very first steps people take after this type of an incident.
Not to mention, you’ll also need the report if you’re going to pursue any type of recovery from the other person or people involved in the crash, particularly if that report states that you were not at fault or at least not the most at-fault party in any way. This is critical evidence and it will need to be at the ready as you move through this process.
Why Finding Traffic Accident Reports May Not Be Realistic
While we’ve covered how to find traffic accident reports above, we should also spend some time discussing why doing so yourself may not be all that realistic in some cases. If you’re looking for a report, it’s likely because you’ve suffered some sort of damage to your vehicle or to yourself. Perhaps a loved one was injured or something else took place, but regardless, you are most likely focused solely on recovering in that regard.
You don’t need to waste time trying to figure out government databases or paying someone to do your due diligence. You need to put all of your energy into getting better and to getting back on your feet as quickly as possible. Searching for these records can take time if you’re not sure where or how to look for them efficiently.
How Auto Accident Report Can Help
If you need help understanding how to find traffic accident reports and you don’t want to have to pay someone to do it, Auto Accident Report can help. You can search for your accident right here on our Web site, and it’ll cost you nothing. We do not provide it for you directly, but we will help you locate your accident report so that you can obtain it quickly and easily. You can do much more than that as well if you wish, and if you’ve been in a crash, now is not the time to look in several different places for help.
Not only will we help you find your traffic accident report free of charge, but we can also connect you with professionals who can help you move your claim forward. You may need to speak to an attorney about what happened and what your options are, and that too can take time if you’re going to be handling the research yourself.
Let us handle that for you. Go ahead and search for your accident to see if it’s available online. You’ll have your answer instantly. From there, access your accident report and reach out through us to an experienced attorney to schedule a consultation, as you’ll need to understand how to proceed as soon as possible before you make any mistakes that could harm your position.
We hope you enjoy a fast and comfortable recovery if you’ve been in an accident, and we look forward to helping you make yourself whole. Read our other blog articles to stay updated and in the know. We can help you in California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and most other places. Get started today!