How to Read a Car Accident Report

After any Georgia car accident on public roads, three days later, the investigating police department will issue an official Georgia Motor Vehicle Collision Report. These reports contain an incredible amount of information and a skilled Atlanta car accident attorney can show you why. In the diagrams below, we will break this information down.

In a Georgia car accident report, the at-fault driver is listed as driver number one. I have numbered in red, key places to look for information about the crash.

1. The at-fault driver’s Georgia insurance company.
2. The at-fault driver’s Georgia insurance company policy number.
3. A 1 indicates that a DUI test was administered.
4. Test results for DUI were negative.
5. Contributing Factors Section: here the driver failed to yield right of way.
6. The officer’s narrative. Keep in mind that unless the officer witnessed the crash, he cannot testify about how or why the crash happened (unless he is qualified in collision reconstruction instead of just traffic investigation) Furthermore, the Georgia accident report is never admissible at trial.
7. The Citation: Here you will learn whether a ticket was given and what the offense was.
8. Weather Conditions. Here a three means it was raining and surface condition box tells us the street was wet.
9. Skid marks: Here a careful officer will record the length of skid marks at the scene. In some cases, we can use this evidence to calculate speed through a physics formula.
10. Damage to Vehicles. This is subjective but a 1 is no damage, 2 is slight, 3 is moderate, 4 is Extensive and 5 is on fire.
11. Injuries: Here, the officer will note if there were injuries and a four indicates no open wounds.