What role do police officers carry out in the event of a car accident?

Question

What do they look for? What is the purpose of their investigation, and what are they investigating? Do they go near the body (if dead) or talk to witnesses?

ANYTHING about what police officers do at a car accident scene would be extremely helpful to know. Thank you

Answer 1

There are several things police officers do at the scene of a car accident, depending on the severity of the accident.



They obtain all information related to all the parties that were involved, names, address, vehicle information, insurance information etc. they will interview those involved as well as any possible witnesses. They will coordinate any ambulance or wreckers that may be needed.



They also will determine if any laws were broken by any of the parties involved and if there were, they may issue a citation or arrest the individual.



Since officers are usually the first ones on the scene,



Police officers also make sure that the area stays from other vehicles traveling in the immediate area do not have an accident as well..

Answer 2

They do a lot of things.



And what they do depends on the severity of the accident.



Regarding fatality accidents....completely different ball game from your average fender bender. Many states have specialty accident Reconstruction teams that can come in and investigate the accident. In my state, the accident reconstruction team does not come in on all fatality cases but does come in on the more severe ones. Even if the specialty team does not come in -- there is an investigative procedure that is followed - photos taken etc. Way too much to go into here.



In your run of the mill accident - the officer will speak to the drivers, any witnesses and look at the damage. The officer will usually not give a ticket unless someone is hurt -- or you really show you fanny. The officer does write up his report about the accident. The officer can also call for tow trucks and/or ems if needed.

Again - way too much to go into in this limited amount of space. But that's the cliff notes version.

Answer 3

They write up the accident report.