The first days after a pedestrian crash can involve medical care, a police report, missing identification details, insurance calls, and evidence that may disappear. Start with safety and appropriate emergency help. Then preserve a factual record of the crossing, vehicle movement, people involved, and sources that may answer disputed questions.

Report the collision and identify everyone

G.S. 20-166.1 addresses notice, investigation, and reports for specified crashes. Record the responding agency, report number, officer names, and instructions for obtaining the report and any supplement.

  • Driver, vehicle owner, plate, vehicle identification number, insurer, and any employer or platform connection
  • Passengers, witnesses, responders, nearby businesses or residents, transit vehicles, road crews, and visible cameras
  • Exact time and location, each person’s direction of travel, traffic controls, and the observed point of contact

Attribute every statement to the person who made it. Do not turn several incomplete accounts into one apparent consensus.

Document the crossing and vehicle path

Photograph the marked or unmarked crosswalk, sidewalk, driveway, shoulder, median, refuge, stop bar, signal faces, signs, lighting, obstructions, construction, parked vehicles, and sight lines. Record the pedestrian’s path and the vehicle’s lane, turn, braking, steering, contact area, and final position without guessing speed or fault.

G.S. 20-173 addresses yielding at marked and unmarked intersection crosswalks when signals are not operating and at sidewalk or walkway crossings of driveways and building entrances. Other routes and signal conditions may involve different rules. Match the rule to the actual location and movement.

Preserve video and electronic evidence promptly

Identify business, residential, transit, traffic, doorbell, construction, dash, and vehicle cameras that may show the full approach and aftermath. A preservation request should identify the location, time range, and relevant view while avoiding unrelated private content. Also preserve original photographs, messages, dispatch information, and any signal or platform records that may matter.

Keep medical records and daily effects factual

Follow emergency and treating clinicians’ instructions. Keep the first reported symptoms, evaluations, diagnoses actually made, tests, treatment, restrictions, referrals, and follow-up in date order. Record specific changes in mobility, sleep, self-care, work, school, household activity, transportation, and help received from another person. Diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and medical causation remain questions for qualified clinicians.

Keep insurance questions tied to the actual policy

The North Carolina Department of Insurance after-an-accident checklist recommends calling police for injuries and collecting driver, vehicle, insurance, and witness information. Several policies or benefit systems may need review, but a policy label alone does not establish coverage. Before providing a recorded statement, authorization, examination agreement, release, or settlement, identify who is requesting it, the claim involved, its scope, and any stated deadline.

Escalate identification work when the driver leaves

For a departing driver, preserve any partial plate, vehicle description, distinctive damage, fragments, direction of travel, witnesses, and route video. The related hit-and-run identification guide explains the parallel evidence and uninsured-motorist questions. Rosensteel Fleishman Car Accident & Injury Lawyers also provides information about pedestrian-accident claims in Charlotte.

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