The First 72 Hours After a Crash: What to Do, What to Skip, and Who Not to Talk To

Published January 12, 2021 · Injury Law Basics

It is a gray January afternoon on Wilmington Pike. Traffic stops short, you stop with it, and the pickup behind you does not. Ten seconds later your neck is stiff, your car is in pieces, and the other driver is walking toward your window saying he is sorry and asking whether you really need to call anyone.

What you do over the next three days will matter more to your injury claim than almost anything that happens over the next year. Insurance adjusters build their defenses out of the gaps people leave in those first 72 hours. This post walks through that window in order, hour by hour, so you know what to do, what to skip, and who you do not need to talk to.

Hour zero: at the scene

Call 911, even for a "minor" crash. Ask for police and, if anyone is hurt, for medics. A driver who wants to "handle it between us" often has a reason: no insurance, a suspended license, or something in the car. Ohio law does not leave the choice to him. Under R.C. 4549.02(A)(1), a driver involved in a crash on a public road must stop, remain at the scene, and give his name, address, the owner's name and address if he is not the owner, and the vehicle's registration number to anyone injured, to the other drivers, and to the police officer at the scene. If he tries to drive off, get the plate number and a description.

Get the report number. Before the officer leaves, ask for the crash or incident number, the officer's name, and the agency (Dayton Police, Montgomery County Sheriff, Kettering, the Highway Patrol). Write it in your phone. I spent 19 years as a Dayton police officer, and I can tell you the report written in that first hour is often the most relied-upon document in the whole case.

Photograph everything before it moves. All vehicles from every side, the final resting positions, debris, skid marks, the traffic signal or sign, the weather and the light. Take a slow video walk-around. If you are too hurt to do it, ask a passenger or a bystander.

Find the witnesses. People who stop to help almost always leave once police arrive, and they are often not listed on the report. Get a name and a phone number. Look around for cameras on gas stations, businesses, and doorbells.

Skip: apologizing, guessing about speed, or saying "I'm fine." Be polite and brief. Those words get repeated to an adjuster months later as admissions.

Hours 1 to 24: your body and your notes

Get checked the same day. Go to the emergency room, an urgent care, or your own doctor before you go to sleep. Adrenaline masks concussions, disc injuries, and internal injuries for hours. Tell the provider exactly how the crash happened and every symptom, including the small ones: headache, dizziness, numbness, trouble concentrating. If it is not written down in that first record, the insurer will later argue it came from somewhere else.

I know that in January 2021 many people are reluctant to sit in an emergency waiting room. Urgent care and a same-day call to your own doctor are reasonable alternatives. What matters is that a medical professional evaluates you promptly and writes it down.

Write down what happened that night. Time, place, direction of travel, what you saw and heard, what the other driver said, what the officer said. Keep the note private; it is for you and your lawyer. A note written within 24 hours is far more reliable than your memory at a deposition a year from now.

Skip: posting about the crash. Not a photo of the car, not a "thank God I'm okay." Set your accounts to private.

Day 2: the insurance calls start

Report the crash to your own insurer, facts only. Your policy requires prompt notice and cooperation, and you may need your own company for property damage, medical payments coverage, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage if the other driver's limits are too low. Give the when, where, and who, and say you are being evaluated for injuries. You do not need to speculate about fault or diagnose yourself.

Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. The call usually comes on the first or second day, and the adjuster will be friendly. You have no obligation to give the at-fault driver's insurance company a recorded statement, and a statement given while you are sore, medicated, and undiagnosed is a tool for paying you less. Say you are getting treatment and that you or your attorney will be in touch. Then hang up.

Do not sign anything. A blanket medical authorization lets an insurer comb through your entire medical history. A "property damage" release can contain language that ends your injury claim. Nothing in the first week needs your signature that cannot wait for a lawyer to read it.

Day 3: protect the evidence you cannot see

Preserve the vehicle. Your car, and the other driver's, very likely carries an event data recorder that captured speed, braking, and seat-belt use in the seconds before impact. When an insurer totals a car, it goes to a salvage auction, and the data goes with it. We explained how that works in our post on event data recorders. Tell your insurer and the tow yard in writing not to dispose of your car until it has been inspected.

Ask about the video. Many business camera systems overwrite themselves in a few days. If you can, walk into the gas station or store at the corner and ask the manager to save the footage from the date and time of the crash.

Start a symptom journal. A few lines a day: pain level, sleep, what you could not do, appointments missed at work. It becomes the backbone of the damages part of your claim.

Call a lawyer before you talk to any adjuster again. A short, free conversation lets a lawyer send preservation letters for the vehicle data, video, and 911 recording, take over the insurance calls, and tell you honestly whether you need help at all.

Why the order matters

None of these steps is complicated. The problem is timing. Video is overwritten, cars are crushed, witnesses scatter, and the first medical record is created whether or not you mention your neck. Each of those losses becomes an argument the adjuster will make later: there is no proof the light was red, no proof of the speed, no proof the injury came from this crash.

Our guide chapter on the first 72 hours after an injury gives a printable version of this checklist, and Gathering Evidence While It Still Exists explains how quickly each kind of evidence disappears and how a preservation letter protects it.

What this means for you

If you were hurt in a crash in the last few days, you have not missed the window. Get evaluated, write it down, decline the other insurer's recorded statement, and protect the car. Then make one phone call. Our Dayton car accident practice handles these cases from the first week forward, and I handle them with care.