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After an Accident

What should I do right after a car accident in Texas?

Accidents Suck. Lawyer Up.

Get medical care first, even if you feel fine — some injuries take days to appear. Don't admit fault or give recorded statements to any insurer. Photograph the scene, vehicles, and injuries, get the crash report number, and talk to a lawyer before an adjuster talks to you.

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At the scene

Get to safety and check for injuries. If anyone is hurt, call 911 and say so — that determines what gets dispatched. Texas law requires drivers to stop and to render reasonable aid to anyone injured.

Get law enforcement out if you can. A crash report is not required in every fender-bender, but it is valuable: it records the date, location, vehicles, drivers, witnesses and the officer's observations in one document created at the time.

Photograph more than you think you need. All vehicles from several angles, including undamaged sides. Final rest positions before anything moves. License plates. The other driver's license and insurance card. Skid marks, debris, fluid, damaged guardrails. Traffic signals and signs, and what the sightlines actually looked like. Weather and road conditions. Your visible injuries, then again over the following days as bruising develops.

Get witness contact information yourself. Independent witnesses matter enormously and they scatter fast. A name and cell number is enough. Do not assume the officer collected it.

Say very little. Exchange information and cooperate with police. Do not apologize, do not speculate about what happened, and do not say "I'm fine." Courtesy at a crash scene gets quoted back as an admission.

The same day

Get medical attention even if you feel okay. Adrenaline hides injuries, and the gap between the crash and your first visit is the single most common thing used to devalue a claim.

Report to your own insurer. Most policies require prompt notice, and you may need your own PIP or UM/UIM coverage — especially if the other driver turns out to be uninsured. Report the fact of the crash. That is different from giving a recorded statement.

The first weeks

Keep everything. Bills, discharge instructions, prescriptions, mileage to appointments, repair estimates, the rental receipt, and a short daily note on pain and what you could not do. That last one is hard to reconstruct later and is genuinely persuasive.

Stay off social media about it. Insurers look. A photo of you at a birthday party gets offered as proof you are not in pain, with no context about what it cost you the next day. Privacy settings are not a real defense.

Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer, and do not sign a broad medical authorization.

Watch the deadline

Most Texas injury suits must be filed within two years. If a government entity is involved, a much shorter notice deadline applies first — 90 days for the City of Houston, six months under the Texas Tort Claims Act. Identify that early, because it is not recoverable once missed.

What to do

Your next steps

At the scene

Document everything

Vehicles, positions, plates, signals, conditions, injuries, and witness phone numbers you collect yourself.

Same day

See a doctor

Even if you feel fine. The gap between crash and first visit is what gets used against you.

Same day

Notify your own insurer

Report the crash. That is not the same as agreeing to a recorded statement.

First weeks

Keep records and stay quiet online

Bills, mileage, a daily pain note. Nothing about the crash or your activities on social media.

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