Do I need to call the police if I’m in an accident?

It depends.

Very Minor Car Accidents Do Not Need to be Reported to the Police in Texas

If you have been in a Texas car accident, you may not be required to report it to the police if the accident was minor. In some cases, a small scratch or scuff can be worked out between the drivers.

However, you are required by law to report it if the accident resulted in:

• Apparent damage of $1,000 or more
• Bodily injury, or
• A death

Driver’s Crash Reports Can Be Filed for Minor Vehicular Accidents

Even if you do not need to file a police report because no one was hurt and the damage was less than $1,000, after an auto accident in Texas, you may want to file a Driver’s Crash Report, known as a Form C-2.

Anyone can complete to report and record the details of a crash. This may be helpful to record your side of the story in case you report the accident to insurance, or decide to file a lawsuit.

Even if you are partly at fault for a Texas car accident, in Texas you can still recover slime compensation for your injuries and damage as long as you were not mostly responsible (Texas Courts put the number at less than 51% at fault.)

Therefore, you still might want to file a C-2 (Driver’s Crash Report) to record your story.

Note, as of Sept. 1, 2017, Texas no longer maintains records of C-2 driver’s crash reports. Anyone who completes a C-2 driver’s crash report should save a copy before submitting it.