You will probably have a number of emotional and intellectual responses to a car crash. You will feel anxious while waiting for the police to arrive, even if you know you weren’t at fault. You might start trying to estimate how much your medical care or car repairs will cost you. You may feel angry at the other party if they did something obviously wrong, like running a red light.
Many people also don’t feel sure about what steps they need to take. You might think about moving your vehicle, but you may also worry about whether moving it will affect how the officer analyzes the scene of the crash. Should you try to move the vehicles involved in a collision while waiting for police officers and other first responders?
Do your vehicles inhibit the flow of traffic?
To determine if you should move your vehicle, you need to ask yourself a few questions. The first question is whether trying to move the vehicles is even necessary. If both vehicles skidded off onto the shoulder after the crash, traffic can likely proceed in an orderly fashion without you moving your vehicle at all.
However, if you are in the middle of the intersection or if you block both lanes of traffic, you may need to move your vehicles to facilitate the flow of traffic. You may also want to move the vehicles and any debris as far off the side as possible for crashes that occur on high-speed roads, like freeways.
Is it safe to move your vehicle?
Sometimes, the damage to a vehicle could become far worse if you move it without making repairs first. Other times, re-entering the vehicle could be a risk in itself, especially if there is smoke coming from the vehicle.
You will have to make a determination about whether it is safe and practical to move the vehicle without professional help. If it is, moving the vehicle is usually one of the first things you should do. There’s another step to take before you do that, however.
How can you document the scene before moving your car?
Hopefully, your mobile phone has some charge in it after you called emergency responders and didn’t suffer significant damage in the crash. It can be a crucial tool by allowing you to capture both video and photos of the scene of the crash, the locations of the vehicles in the extent of the damage before you move the vehicle.
If you can’t take images with your own device, ask a passenger or a witness to borrow their phone. You can email the files to yourself or upload them to a file-sharing service for quick access.
Documentation of the scene of the crash before you move the vehicles can become important if the other driver tries to deny their responsibility for your injuries and losses after a major car crash.
