What to do after a car accident in Raleigh

Stop at the scene and call the police. North Carolina law puts both duties on a driver in a crash that injures someone, and every other step on this page comes after them.

This guide is written for crashes in Raleigh and the rest of Wake County, where NCDOT's county crash profile records 12,050 injuries in non-fatal injury crashes in 2024. The steps follow the order the decisions usually arrive in.

What does North Carolina law require at the scene?

1. Stop and stay. G.S. 20-166 requires a driver in a crash that injured someone to stop immediately at the scene, if the driver knows of the crash or reasonably would. The driver stays until an officer completes the investigation or authorizes leaving. The statute allows leaving only to call law enforcement, to get medical help or treatment, or to get out of significant risk of injury. A driver who leaves for one of those reasons returns within a reasonable time unless an officer says otherwise.
2. Give your information and help. The driver gives the injured person and the other driver a name, address, driver's license number and license plate number. The driver also renders reasonable assistance, including calling for medical help when it is apparent that help is needed.
3. Notify law enforcement. G.S. 20-166.1 requires the driver in a reportable crash to notify police by the quickest means of communication. Inside Raleigh city limits that is the Raleigh Police Department. Outside a city or town it is the State Highway Patrol or the sheriff's office or other qualified rural police.

G.S. 20-4.01(33b) defines a reportable crash as one that causes death or injury, or total property damage of $1,000 or more. A willful violation of the duty to stop after an injury crash is a felony under G.S. 20-166.

How soon does medical care need to happen?

4. Get checked the day of the crash or as close to it as you can. Tell every provider the injury came from a motor vehicle crash so the first record says so.
5. Finish the treatment your doctors order. Insurance adjusters read the gap between the crash and the first visit and the gaps between later visits. Based on my experience, you cannot have delays and gaps in medical treatment. A gap usually damages the value of your case.

The North Carolina Department of Insurance consumer guide says Medical Payments coverage, if you bought it, can help with doctor and hospital bills regardless of fault. Check your declarations page for it.

When does my own insurance company need to hear about it?

6. Notify your own insurer promptly. The Department of Insurance guide says the policy requires notice as soon as reasonably possible, including how, when and where the accident happened. It also says you cooperate with the investigation and authorize release of relevant records.

Your own policy matters even when the other driver caused the crash. G.S. 20-279.21 requires a North Carolina owner's policy to provide uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. Those are claims against your own insurer, and your own policy sets the notice terms for them.

Notice to your insurer is a different conversation from a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. That second conversation is covered at the end of this page.

How do I get the crash report in Raleigh?

7. Request the report from the agency whose officer came to the scene. The officer writes it within 24 hours under G.S. 20-166.1.

• A Raleigh Police Department crash report is available to people involved in the crash through the department's online Crash Report Database. The Police Records Division at 6716 Six Forks Road does not charge for crash reports at its counter.
• NCDMV holds reports written by the Highway Patrol or a sheriff's deputy. Request one on Form TR-67A by mail or at the Raleigh Central Services License Plate Agency at 4121 New Bern Ave., and expect a redacted copy as an individual.

Read the report when it arrives. Check the names and insurance details first, then compare the diagram with what happened. Officer reports are public records under G.S. 20-166.1, and a report written by someone who is not an officer cannot be used as evidence at a trial. The Wake County page covers the process for Cary and the county's other agencies.

What evidence is worth keeping?

8. Keep the evidence you control.

• Photographs of the vehicles, the road, the traffic signals and your injuries, taken before anything is repaired.
• The names and phone numbers of witnesses. The Department of Insurance checklist tells drivers to collect them at the scene.
• The other driver's insurance company and policy number as printed on the proof of insurance card.
• Every medical bill, record and receipt, along with a note of each day of missed work.
• The damaged vehicle, until it has been photographed and inspected.
• Dashcam video, and a request to nearby businesses for any camera footage, made early.

A short written account of the crash in your own words, made the same week, records details you would otherwise forget. Keep it private and share it with your attorney rather than an adjuster.

Why do early statements to an insurer matter so much in North Carolina?

9. Be careful what you say to the other driver's insurer.

North Carolina applies contributory negligence. If the injured person is found to share fault for the crash, the rule bars recovery from the other driver, and the contributory negligence page explains the exceptions.

The other driver's adjuster works for the other driver's insurer. In North Carolina, they look for any opportunity to raise the doctrine of contributory negligence. A recorded statement given in the first days after a crash, before the report is out and before the injuries are understood, is one place that opportunity comes from.

The duties in G.S. 20-166 and 20-166.1 run to the police and the people at the scene. Neither statute requires a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. Let an attorney review the claim before that conversation goes past basic facts, and confirm your filing deadline while you are at it.

My first meeting with a Raleigh or Wake County client is by phone or video, from the office in Graham, and there is no Raleigh office. The number is 336-221-8900.