Route and roadway notes can preserve context, but they do not establish what caused a crash, responsibility, or a claim outcome.

Describe the conditions without assigning blame

  • Date, approximate time, route, intersection or landmark, direction of travel, lighting, weather, surface, lane, trail, and traffic-control observations
  • Visibility equipment, clothing, bicycle lights, vehicle lights, construction, parked vehicles, vegetation, and other conditions personally observed
  • Photographs, video, map reference, agency report number, and whether a detail came from a firsthand observation or another source
  • Conditions that changed before they could be recorded, left as unknown rather than recreated from memory

Use broader safety data carefully

The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Safety Data Maps provide broader roadway-safety information. A map can supply context for a location, but it does not determine what happened in an individual event.

Questions arising from a bicycle crash may be considered in a North Carolina bicycle-accident claim, which requires a fact-specific review.

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