When involved in a car accident in Tennessee, it could be in the victim’s interest to call the police. Besides potentially restoring order to the situation, the officers may take a police report. During litigation or when filing an insurance claim, a police report might prove valuable. Although an accident’s aftermath could be stressful and hectic, crash victims may still need to concentrate to properly file the police report.
How to file a police report
After calling the police to report the crash, an officer may soon come to the accident scene. The officer could then take the report based on the information provided by those he/she interviews.
Tennessee law mandates the involved parties file an “Owner/Driver Accident Report” when someone dies or suffers and injury in a car accident or the accident results in damage costing more than $50. Involved parties must file the report within 20 days to file the report when someone dies, is injured, or property damage exceeds $400.
The crash report must go to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The address appears on the relevant form.
Concerns about filing a police report
Not everyone may see the importance of filing a report for property damage, even when the damage might be several hundreds of dollars. Besides complying with the law, doing so could increase the chances all relevant information ends up logged. The police might be more thorough than citizens when it comes to taking information about a crash.
Even when the property damage is less than $50, filing a police report may still be worthwhile. What if an injury doesn’t manifest until weeks later? Having a police report already available might help after learning about injuries and taking immediate action to seek compensation.
Filing a police report after a car accident could protect an injured person’s interests while complying with state law. Persons injured in an auto accident may hire an attorney to represent them to insurance companies or in court.