Washington, DC Car Accident FAQs

Serious injuries deserve experienced attorneys

The questions below are the ones our intake attorneys receive most often after a collision in the District. The answers are specific to DC law, which differs from Maryland and Virginia on several points that matter. If your situation is not covered here, contact our attorneys and ask directly. Fees are contingent, and nothing is owed unless we recover.

Do I have to report a crash in the District?

Yes, in most circumstances. Under D.C. Code § 50-2201.05c, a driver who knows or has reason to believe their vehicle has been in a collision must stop immediately. Where someone is injured, that driver must call or have someone call 911, remain until law enforcement arrives, and provide identifying information to both the police and the injured person. Where property is damaged and its owner is absent, the information and the location of the collision go to law enforcement or 911. Leaving is a criminal matter, not merely a claims problem.

How long do I have to bring a claim?

Most injury claims allow three years from the date of the injury under D.C. Code § 12-301. Several categories run shorter. Wrongful death allows two years from the date of death. Assault, battery, and related intentional torts allow one year. If the District government is a defendant, written notice must reach the Mayor within six months under § 12-309, long before the filing deadline arrives. Identifying which filing deadline applies is a question to settle in the first weeks, because the shortest one may already be running.

I was partly at fault. Do I still have a case?

Possibly, but this is where DC differs most sharply from most of the country. The District follows contributory negligence, meaning a claimant who bears any share of responsibility can be barred from recovering entirely. There is a statutory exception: pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable users are judged under a modified standard that permits recovery unless their own negligence exceeded the combined negligence of the defendants. Whether contributory negligence or the vulnerable user standard applies to you depends on how you were traveling when the collision occurred.

How do I get the police report?

The Metropolitan Police Department prepares a PD-10 traffic crash report. It may be requested by involved parties or by their attorneys, in person, by email, or by mail, with a completed application form and government-issued identification. Third parties must go through the department’s FOIA office. Mail-in requests take several weeks. Write down the six-digit CCN the responding officer gives you at the scene, because it makes the request considerably easier.

The other driver has no insurance. What now?

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy becomes the primary avenue. This is also the route in many hit and run cases where the driver is never identified. Coverage disputes with your own carrier follow different rules than a claim against the driver who hit you, since your policy imposes a duty to cooperate that you do not owe the other side. Reporting requirements and deadlines under your own policy are frequently shorter than the statutory ones, a point covered among common accident claim questions.

Should I give the other insurer a recorded statement?

No statute requires it. Your own policy obligates you to cooperate with your own carrier, and that obligation does not extend to the company insuring the person who hit you. Recorded statements are taken to develop fault arguments, and in a contributory negligence jurisdiction a speed estimate offered from memory can end a claim. Declining politely is not a refusal to cooperate, and dealing with insurance companies rarely goes worse for a claimant who takes time to answer carefully.

What is my case worth?

No attorney can answer this at the first call, and any who does is guessing. Value depends on the strength of liability, the seriousness and permanence of the injuries, available coverage limits, and the quality of the medical record. Anyone quoting a figure before treatment concludes is describing an average rather than your case. Valuation questions of this kind recur often enough that they are collected separately in our personal injury FAQs. Several of the mistakes that weaken a claim reduce value long before anyone discusses a number.

What if the crash happened outside the District?

The law of the place where the collision occurred generally governs. Maryland also applies contributory negligence, and Virginia does as well, but deadlines and damages rules differ across all three. A crash handled in Arlington or Northern Virginia proceeds on a two-year deadline rather than three. Where a crash crosses a jurisdictional line during a single trip, the analysis becomes more involved, and further car accident answers address those situations.

Speak With a Washington, DC Personal Injury Attorney

Partner Kim Brooks-Rodney is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has twice been named among Washington’s best lawyers by Washingtonian Magazine. Questions like these rarely have a single answer that fits every file, which is why the details of your own crash matter more than any general rule. Claims involving truck collisions and other commercial vehicles raise further questions still. Contact our attorneys to discuss what happened. Fees are contingent, and nothing is owed unless we recover.

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