You Can Get a Copy of the Police Report if You Request It
Video Transcribed: How do you read a motor vehicle collision report in the state of Oklahoma? Hey everybody, Christopher Stevens here, a certified paralegal with the Wirth Law Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma working in personal injury law alongside a Tulsa personal injury attorney. And today we’re going to be walking you through how to read a motor vehicle collision report in the state of Oklahoma.
Now, if you were the victim of a motor vehicle collision or any party involved, you may get a copy of the police report if you request it, and the front page is going to look pretty similar to this. Up in this corner, you’ll have the responding agency, so whether it is Oklahoma Highway Patrol or Tulsa Police Department, that’ll be where you can get the information there.
And you’ll also have your case number here, which is a specific identifier for each report. On the front page, you will have usually two drivers. You will have the person who the police believe were at fault and the person who the police believe was the victim.
Most of the time, these are identified as, the at-fault party is unit number one, and the victim party, unit number two. There you will find the person’s contact information, insurance information if available, also who the owner of the vehicle was, not just the driver. So that portion will give you quite a bit of the information that you will need, especially if you’re looking to file a claim.
The next page we will be discussing is this page here. At first glance, it might seem pretty overwhelming, there is a lot of information on here covering all kinds of minute detail. The primary area that I look for when looking at a police report is this section right here.
That is where the officer will list what they believe were the underlying factors that led to the motor vehicle collision. One thing you always want to look for if you’re one of the units involved is you would like to see a 98.
98 means no unsafe, unlawful contributing factors. In this particular instance, we have a 13, they were following too closely for the human element. So you can find up here for each unit, what the officer thought.
Next, we will have the narrative page. On the narrative page, the officer will lay out a brief description of their observations of what occurred. They might also list any witness statements or any other pertinent information that they feel needs to be added to the report.
Finally, we have a diagram of the collision. The vast majority of the time, the officer will list out a brief diagram showing the streets, showing the placement of the vehicles, and also how the collision itself occurred.
As always, if you find yourself looking for a personal injury attorney in Tulsa in which you need to seek legal help concerning your automobile accident, feel free to contact a Tulsa Automobile Accident Attorney. We can be found at wirthlawoffice.com
