KEYE-TV - Search Results
The following is an archived video story. The text content of that video story is available below
for reference. The original video has been deleted and is no longer available.
Round Rock Police: We're Not Always Responsible For Traffic Crash Reports
If you're in an accident, police officers are not required to fill out a report even if you are injured. Officers we spoke with say it all comes down to funding. Police say it simply takes too much time to fill out accident reports.
Tera Lynn Gonzales says an accident report would have made all the difference in her situation. She was involved in an accident at A.W. Grimes Blvd. and Gattis School Road on Sept. 29. Even though she was injured there was no police report. “It’s just been a nightmare,” she says. “Now I’m getting a claim from progressive saying I owe them $20,000 for repairs on the guy’s vehicle.”
Tera specifically asked for an accident report but didn’t get one. Officer Dee Carver with the Round Rock Police Department says it’s become common practice not to write accident reports unless there is a death or a driver is suspected of a crime like a DWI. “Every year, especially now with these trying economic times we have to think of more efficient ways to do business,” Carver says.
She says by not filling out accident reports, Round Rock PD has managed to save thousands of hours.
Instead, officers fill out an exchange of information form and drivers involved fill out a crash report form. “It’s the responsibility of the driver to ensure that the information gets provided to the state,” Carver says.
Round Rock is not alone -- other Central Texas police stations are doing the same.
Local insurance agents say it really comes down to your word against the other driver and the more information they have the better it is for claims adjustors to try and contact the person and figure out who is at fault.
As for Tera, she says an accident report would have made all the difference in her situation. “I’m just hoping that for other people that get in an accident in Round Rock that there be some kind of investigation done,” she says.
By Lydia Pantazes
Round Rock Police: We're Not Always Responsible For Traffic Crash Reports
If you're in an accident, police officers are not required to fill out a report even if you are injured. Officers we spoke with say it all comes down to funding. Police say it simply takes too much time to fill out accident reports.
Tera Lynn Gonzales says an accident report would have made all the difference in her situation. She was involved in an accident at A.W. Grimes Blvd. and Gattis School Road on Sept. 29. Even though she was injured there was no police report. “It’s just been a nightmare,” she says. “Now I’m getting a claim from progressive saying I owe them $20,000 for repairs on the guy’s vehicle.”
Tera specifically asked for an accident report but didn’t get one. Officer Dee Carver with the Round Rock Police Department says it’s become common practice not to write accident reports unless there is a death or a driver is suspected of a crime like a DWI. “Every year, especially now with these trying economic times we have to think of more efficient ways to do business,” Carver says.
She says by not filling out accident reports, Round Rock PD has managed to save thousands of hours.
Instead, officers fill out an exchange of information form and drivers involved fill out a crash report form. “It’s the responsibility of the driver to ensure that the information gets provided to the state,” Carver says.
Round Rock is not alone -- other Central Texas police stations are doing the same.
Local insurance agents say it really comes down to your word against the other driver and the more information they have the better it is for claims adjustors to try and contact the person and figure out who is at fault.
As for Tera, she says an accident report would have made all the difference in her situation. “I’m just hoping that for other people that get in an accident in Round Rock that there be some kind of investigation done,” she says.
By Lydia Pantazes
Social