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Houston has more car accidents than any other city in Texas. TXDOT reported over 58,000 crashes in the city, and that number doubled in the Houston area. Do you need a Houston crash report? Here is how to get a Houston accident report.
If you have been in a car accident in Houston with injuries or property damage over $ 1,000. The odds are that an accident report will be part of a claim.
Understanding how to obtain and interpret a crash report is crucial. It can be helpful when filing a claim for an accident.
This guide will show you how to get your Houston accident report, understand it, and use the information. It also covers costs.
To get a copy of a Houston car accident report, you must provide the Houston Police Department or the DOT with as much of the information below as possible.
Here is the form you must fill out.
The cost for an accident report is six dollars for a regular copy or eight dollars for a certified copy. Our personal injury law firm suggests getting a certified copy if you expect to make an injury claim. Getting a Houston accident report today is easy online if the police report is ready.
If your case gets to court, some parts of the crash report may be admissible as evidence. Getting a certified copy helps in that event.
To purchase an accident report in Harris County in person, you have a few options.
To purchase an accident report in person in Harris County, you have several options for locations:
These locations will be able to assist you with purchasing a Harris County accident report in person.
Mail in the request form and include a six-dollar money order and a self-addressed and pre-stamped envelope. Send the filled-out form and the 6-dollar money order to:
Houston Police Department, Attn: Records Division
1200 Travis, Houston, TX 77002
You can buy the HPD crash report online from the Texas Department of Transportation by following this link https://cris.dot.state.tx.us
To obtain a crash report from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, there are two available options:
Keep in mind that there are associated fees for acquiring crash reports. In Harris County, the cost is $6.00 per report. However, the fee increases to $8.00 if you require a certified copy.
Please note that this response provides a comprehensive answer to the question and is not a direct quote from any specific source.
In certain situations, accident reports may not be readily accessible to the public due to specific circumstances. One such circumstance may arise if there is a fatality involved in the accident. In these cases, authorities often prioritize notifying and communicating with the deceased individual’s family and loved ones before releasing any information to the public.
Accident reports may not be available immediately if a criminal investigation is connected to the incident. In these situations, police need time to investigate, collect evidence, and thoroughly examine the circumstances of the accident. This investigation process is necessary to determine potential criminal liabilities and safeguard the legal proceedings’ integrity.
Accident reports may be delayed in both cases. Authorities prioritize ensuring that accurate and complete information is provided. Waiting gives them time to finish their investigations and give a detailed report to the public.
If you can’t find accident reports easily, be patient. There might be special reasons, like deaths or investigations, that need more time before the reports can be shared with the public.
In Texas, if the crash results in an injury or death or where the vehicle involved has more than $ 1,000 in damages. According to Texas law, the investigating officer should turn in the written crash reports within ten days of the wreck. If you are injured in an accident, you should always wait for the police to arrive. Harris County Sheriff’s Office or Harris County law enforcement may write up the police report.
Six to eight days is the average wait for a report to be completed and available. The Texas Department of Transportation gets reports from all over the state for collisions on public roads in Texas. Usually, you must wait at least a week before the crash report is ready. HPD incident reports are available through TXDOT.
If the accident involved a fatality, the reports would always take longer, as the investigation is more thorough. In some cases, the accident report may be ready in five days. But, for non-fatal accidents, the reports should be ready in a week or less.
Texas crash reports, and Houston police incident reports contain much helpful information if you make a personal injury claim. The basic information includes the vehicles, people, insurance, date, and location.
A crash report can include witness comments, scene details, tickets issued, and the officer’s opinion on the cause of the crash. This information can be found under the section labeled “factors and conditions.” For instance, if you were in a rear-end accident, the officer will likely list failure to control speed as a factor.
A t-bone accident occurs at an intersection when a driver ignores right-of-way rules or traffic signals. Disregarding a signal can be written up as:
Distracted driving is another common factor listed as a potential cause of a collision. The factors are driver inattention (no 20) or distraction in a vehicle (no 19).
Hit-and-run accidents are common and will result in a citation and serious injuries.
Head-on accidents are written up on the crash report as either nos 69 to 71 as wrong-way accidents.
Speeding is a very common infraction and is listed as no 60 unsafe speed or no 61 speeding over the limit.
Texas has a standard form used to report all accidents in the state. The form is called CR-3.
The crash report has information about the accident, like people, cars, insurance, who is at fault, and other details.
The images below highlight what to look for in the accident report and where that information is listed.
If a police officer gives you a ticket or finds you at fault in an accident, it doesn’t mean your insurance company will agree. Your insurance company will make their own decision when you file a claim for injury or damage. They will make their own decision when you file a claim for injury or damage.
If you were in a car accident that wasn’t your fault or your vehicle was damaged, the insurance company will review the crash report. This report helps them understand what happened and determine who is at fault.
Based on this information, they will decide how to handle your claim. It is important to provide accurate and detailed information to the insurance company. Although you can make a car accident claim without a Houston crash report, having one helps.
If the crash report blames you for the accident, the other party’s insurance adjuster might deny your claim. This could happen even if the report is wrong.
However, a Houston crash report may also have enough admissible evidence that an adverse adjuster may accept the claim. The adjuster will usually accept a claim when the crash report contains the following:
If you are denied compensation for injuries from a car or motorcycle accident or cannot agree on a fair settlement, you may need to go to court to settle the matter. In this case, Texas crash reports can come into evidence, but they may be partially redacted.
Insurance is almost always redacted before a jury sees a report in a trial.
Whether an officer’s opinion on the cause of a crash in a report is accepted depends on their qualifications and the investigation they conducted.
Consult a Houston personal injury law firm for more information about crash reports and trials.
Our personal injury lawyer in Houston, TX, at Baumgartner Law Firm, helps clients in Texas receive the compensation they deserve. The lawyer specializes in assisting clients with injuries. They work with clients to ensure they are properly compensated for their injuries. Clients in Texas can rely on our lawyers to fight for their rights and get the compensation they deserve. We have recovered millions of dollars and represented thousands of accident victims.
Since 1985, our firm has limited the practice to serious injury cases and produced exceptional results for car accident cases in Houston. in the following areas:
Our founder Houston personal injury attorney, Greg Baumgartner, has over 35 years of experience and has been peer-reviewed preeminent for decades.
Our experienced car accident lawyers in Houston have been helping victims for over three decades.
Call (281) 587-1111 or complete the online case evaluation request.
Baumgartner Law Firm
6711 Cypress Creek Pkwy
Houston, Texas 77069
(281) 587-1111
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