How to Read Your California Police Accident Report

Page One

Top Section/Location Section

• “Special Conditions” includes a number of circumstances that may apply to your accident, including a late report, fatality or emergency vehicle involved.
• Includes the number of people injured and whether the accident was a hit and run.
• Location/time of accident and appropriate court district.
• Report number should match on all pages.
• Investigating officer’s ID number is listed here.

Party 1 Section

• The form has room for up to three involved parties (drivers of vehicles, bicyclists, pedestrians, etc.) If your accident involved more than three parties, the officer will attach additional pages.
• Driver’s license information is listed here, if applicable. (Left blank for pedestrians, etc.)
• Air Bag section indicates whether an air bag was installed and whether it deployed or should have deployed – which could lead to a claim against the manufacturer.
• Safety Equipment box indicates whether seat belts or helmets were appropriately used.
• Demographic and contact information – make sure this is accurate!
• Direction of travel and speed limit. Note that the listed speed limit should be the limit that applies to the vehicle in question – for instance, some highways have lower speed limits for heavy commercial trucks. This can help us understand whether a vehicle was speeding.
• Vehicle information including year, make, model and license plate.
• Contact information for the owner, if the owner is not the driver.
• Any known mechanical defects are listed here. This can be relevant to an insurance claim in a number of ways. The insurance will not pay to repair a prior defect, and an owner who negligently failed to repair a dangerous mechanical issue may be found at fault.
• Vehicle damage, as assessed by the officer at the scene, is described here.

Party 2 and 3 Sections

• Investigating officer fills out in the same manner as Party 1. Again, additional pages may be used if there are more than three parties.

Bottom Section

• Investigating officer’s name and ID number are listed as “Preparer’s Name.”

Page Two

• All information in top section should match other pages of the report.
• Property Damage section includes contact information for owner of the property, whether the owner was contacted and a description of the damage.
• Next section is a legend used to fill out Page 1 and Page 3.

Traffic Collision Coding

• This section describes the circumstances that led to the accident, which can be critical for determining fault. If you disagree with the investigating officer, call an attorney right away!
• The officer marks an X in each section as applicable.
• Leftmost columns describe the crash as a whole. If a driver broke a traffic law or made another error, that should be listed in part A or B under Primary Collision Factor. (“Other improper driving” will be explained on an attached narrative page.)
• Weather, lighting, road surface, road condition and traffic controls are all described here.
• Second column describes the type of crash and the vehicles involved, plus what pedestrians were doing if applicable.
• Right columns are marked with an X for each party involved. For instance, if party 1 is a driver who was talking on a cell phone at the time of the accident, there would be an X in the 1 column to the left of Cell Phone Handheld In Use.
• Movement Preceding Collision indicates what each vehicle was doing before the accident.
• If any party was fatigued or under the influence of drugs, that information is in the bottom right section.

Page Three

• This page describes injured parties, passengers, and witnesses to the accident.
• Top section should match all other pages of the report.
• Injured persons should be listed first, followed by witnesses and uninjured passengers.
• Each section includes the person’s name and contact information as well as a description of their injuries and where they were treated.
• Top-right section describes the person’s involvement in the accident – should match Page 1.
• Contact information for witnesses can be a critical part of an insurance claim!
• Investigating officer’s name and ID number are at the bottom.

Page Four

• This page is the investigating officer’s diagram of what happened during the crash. Make sure it is accurate!
• The diagram should only contain factual details of the accident, not the investigating officer’s opinions.
• Again, the top section should match all other pages of the report.
• Investigating officer’s name and ID number are at the bottom.

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