The First 72 Hours After a Crash or Injury

The first three days after a serious injury are chaotic. You may be in pain or in a hospital bed, and your phone will not stop ringing. The decisions made in this window, often while you are least able to think clearly, shape everything that follows. This chapter of The DC, Maryland & Virginia Injury Guide takes you through it one step at a time. Nothing here matters more than your health, so if you have to choose, choose medical care.

Key points

• Call 911 and make sure a police report exists, then learn which agency wrote it.
• Exchange information, but do not talk about fault. In the DMV, a small admission can sink a claim.
• Photograph everything and collect witness names before people leave.
• Get medical care the same day and report every symptom.
• Tell your own insurer, and watch the PIP clocks in Maryland and D.C.
• Decline a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer, and sign nothing.
• If a bus, Metro, or a government vehicle was involved, a short notice deadline may already be running.

Step 1: Get safe, call 911, and let the police come

Move out of traffic if you can do it safely, turn on your hazard lights, and call 911. Ask for police, and for medics if anyone is hurt. Do this even if the other driver asks to "just handle it between us." A driver who wants to avoid the police often has a reason: no insurance, a suspended license, or something in the car.

The law expects drivers to stay. In Virginia, a driver involved in a crash that injures someone must stop as close to the scene as possible, report their name, address, license number, and registration number to the police or to the people involved, and give reasonable help to anyone injured (Va. Code § 46.2-894). If you fell in a store or apartment building, report it to the manager before you leave and ask that an incident report be written.

Step 2: Find out which police agency took the report

The DMV is a patchwork of overlapping police agencies, and the report will be filed with whichever one responded. Before the officer leaves, write down the agency name, the officer's name and badge number, and the report or incident number. That one note will save weeks later.

In general, you get a copy of the report by asking the records office of the agency that wrote it. Expect to give the report number, the date and location, and identification, and expect that the report may not be ready for several days. Some agencies charge a small fee, and federal agencies may route requests through a federal records process. If you are not sure which agency responded, the tow receipt, the hospital's ambulance record, or the officer's card usually tells you.

When the report arrives, read it closely: the narrative, the diagram, the listed contributing factors, and every driver's name and insurer. Mistakes are common and are far easier to correct early.

Step 3: Exchange information, and nothing more

Get the other driver's name, address, phone number, license number, plate number, and insurance company and policy number. Photograph the license, plate, and insurance card if they will let you. Give your own information the same way.

Then stop talking. Do not say "I'm sorry," "I didn't see you," or "I was in a hurry." In most states, words like that might reduce a claim. Here, under contributory negligence, they can be offered as proof that you were partly at fault, and that can be enough to defeat the claim entirely. Be polite, be brief, and leave fault for later.

Step 4: Photograph the scene before it changes

Your phone is the most important tool you have in the first hour. If you can, photograph or record:

• Every vehicle from all sides, up close and from a distance
• Where the vehicles came to rest, plus skid marks, debris, and fluid on the road
• Traffic signals, signs, crosswalk markings, bike lanes, and anything blocking the view
• The weather and lighting
• In a fall, the hazard itself, with something for scale, and any warning sign or the lack of one
• Your visible injuries that day, and again over the next week as bruising develops

A slow video walk-around with you describing what happened can capture details a still photo misses. If you are too hurt, ask a passenger, a family member, or a bystander.

Step 5: Find the witnesses and look for cameras

People who stop to help usually leave once the police arrive, and they are often missing from the report. Ask each one for a name and phone number. Then look around for cameras: storefronts, gas stations, doorbells, buses, and other drivers' dashcams. You do not need to collect the footage yourself, but note where it might be, because much of it is recorded over within days. Gathering Evidence While It Still Exists explains how that footage gets preserved.

Step 6: Get medical care the same day, even if you feel fine

Adrenaline hides injuries. Concussions, neck and back injuries, and internal bleeding can take hours or days to announce themselves. Go to the emergency room, an urgent care center, or your own doctor the day it happens, and tell the provider exactly how you were hurt and every symptom you notice. Insurers treat any delay as a sign you were not really hurt. Focus on Treatment First explains why follow-up care matters just as much.

Step 7: Tell your own insurer, and watch the PIP clocks

Your policy requires you to report a crash promptly. Give the basic facts (when, where, who, and that you were hurt) without guessing about fault or describing injuries you have not had diagnosed. Your own coverage can matter right away:

• Maryland: personal injury protection (PIP) is included unless it was waived in writing (Md. Code, Ins. § 19-506). A policy can set a deadline to file the PIP claim, but it cannot be shorter than 12 months after the crash (Md. Code, Ins. § 19-508). File early anyway.
• D.C.: PIP is optional. If it applies to you, you have 60 days after the crash to tell the PIP insurer whether you elect PIP benefits, and electing them can limit your right to sue the at-fault driver (D.C. Code § 31-2405). Talk to a lawyer before you make that choice.
• Virginia: medical expense benefits (often called MedPay) are optional coverage you may have bought (Va. Code § 38.2-2201). Check your declarations page.

Step 8: Decline a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer

Within a day or two, an adjuster for the at-fault driver will probably call. The adjuster will be friendly and will ask for "your side of the story" on a recording. You do not have to give it. A statement taken while you are medicated, exhausted, and undiagnosed is a tool for finding the one sentence that sounds like fault. Say that you are getting treatment and will be in touch, then end the call. Dealing With Insurance Adjusters covers what comes next.

Step 9: If a bus, Metro, or a government vehicle was involved, write down the numbers

Note the bus number, route, and operator; the Metro station, car number, and time; or the agency name and vehicle number on a government car or truck. Claims against governments run on their own short clocks. Written notice to the District of Columbia is due within six months (D.C. Code § 12-309), and Virginia counties, cities, and towns generally require a written statement within six months as well (Va. Code § 15.2-209). Why You Should Talk to a Lawyer Early lists the rest.

Step 10: Write it down, stay offline, and sign nothing

That night or the next morning, write out everything you remember: the time, the weather, where you were going, what you saw and heard, and what anyone said. Keep the note private. Stay off social media about the crash and your injuries, and ask family to do the same. And do not sign a medical authorization, a property damage release, or a settlement check from the other side before a lawyer reads it. Some releases end the injury claim along with the car claim.

Step 11: Call a lawyer while the evidence is fresh

You do not have to decide today whether to hire anyone. But a free conversation in the first few days lets a lawyer send preservation letters, handle the adjusters, and tell you honestly whether you need help at all. Depending on what happened, start with our pages on car accidents, pedestrian injuries, bicycle and scooter crashes, hit-and-run crashes, or Metro injuries.

Related reading

• Steps to take right after a car accident in the D.C. metro area
• Hit by a car in D.C.: police reports and PIP, step by step
• Why getting medical attention after an accident is critical
• Why the adjuster wants a recorded statement
• Maryland PIP: the no-fault coverage most crash victims forget
• Guide chapter 4: gathering evidence while it still exists

Responsible attorneys: Ryan C. Posey and Jacob M. Lebowitz. Posey Lebowitz PLLC, 3221 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007.