Your Legal Duties in the First Twenty Minutes

Everyone knows you are supposed to stop. Fewer people know exactly what the Vehicle Code requires after that, and the specifics are worth carrying in your head, because you will not be at your most organized when you need them.

Stop

Stop at the scene, or as close to it as you can safely get. Where there is injury or death, Vehicle Code section 20003 sets out what the driver must do; where there is property damage, section 20002 governs. Leaving is where an ordinary collision becomes a criminal matter.

Exchange information

Vehicle Code section 16025 requires drivers involved in a collision to exchange specified information with each other. In practice that means:

• Name and current residence address.
• Driver's license details.
• Vehicle registration information.
• Evidence of financial responsibility — the same evidence section 16028 requires you to carry.

Photograph everything rather than transcribing it. Photograph the other vehicle's plate and VIN plate too, which is the detail people wish they had later.

Render aid

Where anyone is injured, section 20003 also addresses reasonable assistance, including arranging transport for medical treatment where it is apparent that treatment is needed or where the injured person requests it. Follow the emergency dispatcher's instructions and do not move an injured person unless leaving them creates a greater danger.

Report

Two separate reports can be in play. Law enforcement may take one at the scene. Separately, section 16000 requires a report to the DMV within ten days where there is injury, death, or property damage above the published threshold — regardless of fault, and regardless of whether an officer attended.

What not to do

Do not settle it at the roadside with cash and a handshake. Injuries surface later, damage is routinely worse than it looks, and you have given up the documented record that protects you. Do not argue about fault either — it is not decided at the scene by the people in it.

Afterwards

Tell your carrier promptly even if you do not intend to claim. Notice obligations are in the policy, and a late notice is a problem you create for yourself. If the crash has left you looking at your coverage and wondering whether it was ever right, that is a good moment to have it reviewed.