Driver’s Toolbox: Accidents Happen

A Checklist To Help Stay Organized After An Accident

Nobody wants to have an accident, but despite the best efforts of professional truck drivers operating amidst largely untrained passenger car drivers, being involved in an accident is virtually inevitable.

Hopefully, through the use of defensive driving skills, you’ve managed to mitigate the direct effects of the accident. However, a professional driver needs to use defensive skills to manage the after-effects of an accident as well.

While law enforcement and first responders do a great job processing the scene of an accident, it’s extremely rare that they are on-scene when the accident happens, or in the first few minutes after the accident, so there knowledge of the events is limited to the end result of the accident, and to conflicting eyewitness accounts of the event.

To protect yourself and your carrier from the liability arising from a potentially erroneous accident report, it’s necessary to collect and record as much information as possible, immediately following the accident, without interfering with first responders or law enforcement.

Here’s a handy checklist to guide you through the post-accident process:

1. Assess your own medical condition to ensure you can safely exit your truck
2. Provide emergency medical assistance to anyone else who is injured or ill.
3. Take any necessary emergency action to prevent further injury or property damage.
4. Secure the scene to preserve the evidence for study.
5. Collect contact information and statements from any witnesses.
6. Take photos and/or diagram the accident scene.
7. Record the date, time, location, weather, visibility/etc. at the time of the accident.
8. Record your truck’s operating status (loaded/empty, etc.) at the time of the accident.
9. Cooperate with law enforcement and first responders by sharing information.
10. Do not surrender the original copies of your notes, photos, etc. unless authorized by your carrier.