POLICE ACCIDENT REPORTS

(Are they reliable?)

 

Q.  What do insurance adjusters and police officers have in common?

 A.  Like all human beings, despite extensive training, and often years of experience, they sometimes make mistakes.

 I have often been astounded at the insurance industry’s willingness to accept flawed accident reports as fact. In the following paragraphs I will attempt to provide you with some indicators that may be helpful to you in interpreting the quality and accuracy of a law enforcement accident investigation.  To accomplish this goal it is necessary to have a discussion of police accident investigation training, assignment procedures, reporting procedures and perhaps surprisingly…attitude.

Police Training

The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (usually referred to by their acronym, POST) set minimum guidelines for most peace officer training throughout the state.

The Basic Academy Course proscribed by POST for new peace officers requires a minimum 664 hours of instruction.  The training block for accident investigation within this course is 12 hours.  It is important to note that these are minimum requirements.  Some agencies exceed these requirements by a considerable margin.  The Oakland Police Department Basic Academy is currently 1051 hours with 21 hours devoted to accident investigation, while the California Highway Patrol Academy is currently 1223 hours with 86 hours devoted to accident investigation.  With more than 588 law enforcement agencies training under POST guidelines an analogy might be made to Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.

Reporting Procedures

Several years ago police accident reporting was largely standardized by the California Highway Patrol through the State Wide Integrated Traffic Reporting System (this system is widely known through its acronym, pronounced “switters”).  This system provides a wealth of statistical data regarding traffic accidents and is available through their web site at www.chp.ca.gov/html/switrs.  Most of the data in this system is collected from reporting agencies throughout the state that have adopted the standardized State of California TRAFFIC COLLISION REPORT form.  In the case of the few agencies that continue to use their own reporting forms, all the same statistical information is provided to SWITRS.

Now that we have recognized there is a standardized reporting system in place, the question becomes which accidents are reported?  And, more importantly, which ones are investigated?  A citizen reporting a traffic accident to police in many cities will simply be told to exchange information with the other parties if there are no injuries requiring emergency medical service (EMS).  The same instructions are given to those reporting traffic accidents on private property (e.g. supermarket parking lots).  Many police departments simply will not investigate non-injury accidents unless there is a crime involved (e.g. hit & run, DUI, etc.).

 A few years ago I had occasion to investigate an accident in San Francisco involving two large commercial vehicles and seven additional passenger vehicles.  This accident encompassed the length of two city blocks and caused tens of thousands of dollars in property damage.  The only injury was my client driver’s complaint of pain.  San Francisco police officers were on scene to direct traffic, but no accident report or investigation was undertaken because there was no serious injury. 

It should be obvious based on this anecdote that law enforcement officers are generally not very interested in areas such as subrogation and apportionment.

The bottom line is that often those police departments that will respond to a non-injury accident simply record the driver’s names and addresses.

Accident Investigations

As we have learned from the above discussion, there is a significant range of training between various police agencies.  There is also an obvious range of experience within any given agency.  Not to be overlooked are the specialized Accident Investigation Units and Traffic Divisions found in many larger police departments.  Members of these units are often schooled in advanced accident investigation courses. During my tenure as a supervisor in the Oakland Police Department Traffic Division, all the traffic enforcement officers (primarily motorcycle officers) had attended a POST approved advanced accident investigation course.  Many of them had also completed accident reconstruction courses at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL.

Of course the flip side to these highly trained and motivated investigators are the overworked “beat officers” who might give an armed robbery or burglary in progress priority over the proverbial “fender-bender”.  While that may be overstating the obvious, the “beat officer” generally does a yeoman’s job of handling traffic accidents, though they often do not have the time to devote to in-depth investigations.

Finally, there are individual officers, as well as entire departments, who believe that a traffic accident is a “civil problem”, not a “police problem”, and thus should only be handled in the most cursory manner.

Suggested Areas of Review

The next time you have occasion to review a law enforcement accident report take a few extra moments to review the following areas:

·         Are the date, time and location correct?  Check these items against other information in the report such as on diagrams, or in statements.

·         What is the difference between the time of occurrence and the time reported?  Often this may be well over an hour.  The longer the time the more likely for changes in traffic conditions and weather, movement of vehicles and debris, the potential for principals or witnesses to leave the scene, etc., etc.

·         If the reporting officer references Vehicle Code sections in the report be sure and look up the section in your copy of the Vehicle Code.  You may be surprised how often an incorrect or less appropriate section is listed.

·         If there is a sketch or diagram included as part of the report confirm that the depicted streets are named correctly and that the vehicles are travelling in the compass direction indicated elsewhere in the report.  Is the diagram reasonably proportional?  How did the officer arrive at the point of impact?  Are all the lanes of traffic and traffic controls depicted?

·         Summary statements are now generally used by all reporting agencies.  Although these statements may have quotation marks at the beginning and end, they are usually but a synopsis of what the person has related to the officer.  I recommend at least a follow-up telephone call to all persons giving summary statements in order to obtain more detailed information.

·         Should you discover an error in an accident report that you believe significantly bears on your claim, do not hesitate to contact the reporting agency and request a correction.  The supervisor or reviewing officer, listed at the bottom of the report is usually the most appropriate person to start with.

It Is Up To You

Accident reports from law enforcement agencies are a valuable tool to the insurance industry if used and interpreted correctly.  This discussion is in no way meant to be a criticism of any law enforcement officer or agency.  It is hoped, as noted in the answer to the opening question that you will recognize that these reports are prepared by human beings of varying education and experience, and that you the insurance professional have gained some insight that will help you in successfully completing your tasks.

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