Fender-Bender on a Busy Arterial
4:30 p.m. on a busy urban arterial. You look down to change a podcast and rear-end the car ahead at a red light. Both cars are drivable; your bumper is hanging loose and your hood is slightly crumpled. Nobody says they are hurt, but the other driver is shaking and shouting, insisting you both stay exactly where you are, in the middle of the travel lane, to 'preserve the scene.' Cars are swerving around you. Your hazard lights work. There is a wide shoulder 40 feet ahead. The other driver says he'd rather not call the police and offers to settle in cash.
1. What do you do in the first sixty seconds?
Read the worked answer
Protect people first; the lane position is the least important thing on the scene.
- Hazards on. Check yourself and your passengers for injury, and ask the other driver about his - shock can hide pain.
- Nobody stands between the two vehicles or in the travel lane. With traffic swerving around you, a secondary strike is the most likely serious injury here.
- If there are no apparent injuries and both cars drive, move both to the shoulder 40 feet ahead, well off the travel lane, before any discussion. Secure or remove the hanging bumper so it does not become a road hazard.
- If a car could not be moved, or someone were injured, leave the vehicles and get everyone behind a barrier, then call for help - do not stand beside the cars.
2. Is he right that you must leave everything where it is? What information must be exchanged?
Read the worked answer
No. The legal duty is to stop, identify yourself, and render aid - not to block a live lane.
- Exact resting positions matter for a serious crash investigation; for a low-speed property-damage collision, clearing the roadway is the safer and expected choice, and the physical evidence can be photographed instead.
- Exchange: full name, address, phone, driver's license number, plate and registration, and insurance carrier with policy number - for both drivers. Note the time, location and conditions.
- Photograph both vehicles, both plates, the damage, the debris field, and the position of the cars before you move them if it is safe to do so. Get names and numbers of any witnesses.
- Do not move an injured person unless there is fire or another immediate danger.
3. He offers cash to keep the police out of it and is getting angrier. How do you handle it?
Read the worked answer
Be civil, get out of traffic, and do not trade your protection for a quick settlement.
- Move the conversation to the shoulder or a nearby lot. Arguing in a travel lane is the single most dangerous thing left on this scene.
- You are not obligated to accept cash, and a handshake settlement does not protect you: hidden damage can surface later, and an injury that appears the next day can still come back to you, with your insurer pursuing the money anyway.
- Call the police for a report. A report is required where anyone is injured or where a driver leaves without providing identifying information, and it also supports your insurance claim.
- If he becomes threatening, get in your car, lock the doors, and drive to a police station to report - but do not leave the scene of an injury collision. In a property-damage-only collision, complete the information exchange before you go.