Accident - Call the Cops

Three months I was involved in a minor car accident in NW-Washington DC.

I am fine.

It happened at about 9:20AM. Without going into the details of the accident, who was at fault was a function of when the accident happened. I was sure it was the other driver's fault. The traffic pattern on that road changed every day and had he done what he did after 9:30AM, I would have been at fault. So the time of the accident was critical.

I called 911. Smart move as I found out later.

The cops came. But it turns out that in most of the Washington DC Metro area, you do not need to call the cops for non-injury accidents. The two parties exchange insurance information and the fault is assigned after the insurance companies assess the evidence. The policeman gave us a standard "information-exchange" form containing details. Once he verified the details, he let us go.

I made a mistake.

I filled in all details except the time and when the policeman pointed this out, rather than enter the time of the accident, I entered the time at that moment which was 9:39AM. So the insurance company for the other party laid the blame on me! To confuse the matter further, the other party had filled in a time of 9:29AM. So my insurance company laid the blame on the other party!

How do I prove definitively that it happened before 9:30AM?

Luckily I recollected that I had called 911 on my cellphone. I called up Verizon and it turns out that they have to log all 911 in a special system and it showed that the call happened at 9:24AM. This put the time of the accident before 9:24AM which proved that the other party was at fault.

The other party's insurance acknowledged this fact. Since my car was very old and had nearly 180,000 miles on it, the cost of repairs was more than the value of the car. So they chose to pay me some money and junk the car.

Bottom line, if you are conscious, please call the police as soon as possible to establish the time as close as possible.

Naturally the facts could have proved that I was at fault. The important thing is; we were able to established the TRUTH.