A Dallas car accident lawyer helps you handle the police report, the insurance claim, and the legal deadlines that follow a crash in Dallas, Texas. This page covers what Texas law actually requires at each step, from the duty to report the crash to what happens if the other driver had no insurance.
What Should I Do Right After a Car Accident in Dallas?
Right after a Dallas car accident, check yourself and any passengers for injuries, move your vehicle out of traffic if you can do so safely, and call the police. While you wait, exchange names, contact information, and insurance details with the other driver, and photograph the vehicles, the damage, and the scene itself. Note the location, the time, and what you remember about how the crash happened, since those details are easier to lose later than they seem now. If anyone is hurt, get medical attention. Avoid discussing who was at fault with the other driver, and do not admit fault yourself; fault in a Dallas crash is worked out from the evidence, not from what either driver says at the scene. Once the scene is handled, your next steps are finding out whether the crash has to be reported to police and how to get a copy of the report once one exists.
Am I Required to Report My Dallas Car Accident to Police?
Yes. Texas law requires the driver of a vehicle involved in a Dallas crash that causes injury, death, or damage severe enough that a vehicle cannot be normally and safely driven to notify the police immediately, by the fastest means available (Tex. Transp. Code Section 550.026(a)). Because Dallas is a municipality, that notice goes to the Dallas Police Department. Once police are notified, the investigating officer is required to write a formal report if the crash caused injury, death, or property damage of $1,000 or more, and that report has to be filed electronically with the Texas Department of Transportation within 10 days of the crash (Section 550.062(a)-(b)). That report is what later becomes available as the CR-3.
How Do I Get a Copy of My Dallas Crash Report (CR-3)?
You can buy your Dallas crash report, known as the CR-3, through TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System for $6 for a regular copy or $8 for a certified copy. The report is released to anyone directly concerned in the crash, which includes the drivers involved (Tex. Transp. Code Section 550.065(c)(4)). Not every crash results in a written police report: an officer is only required to write one when the crash caused injury, death, or at least $1,000 in property damage, so a minor crash may never generate a CR-3. That does not mean you cannot file an insurance claim. You can still start a claim using what you gathered at the scene, including photos, the other driver’s insurance information, and your own account of what happened; a CR-3 makes a claim easier to document, but it is not the only way to document one.
What Are the Most Dangerous Streets for Car Accidents in Dallas?
The City of Dallas’s own traffic-safety data points to a specific set of corridors rather than a single most-dangerous street. In its March 2024 Vision Zero update, the City reported that seven percent of its streets account for 57 percent of its severe crashes, a group it calls the High Injury Network. That network includes corridors such as Ferguson Road, Gaston Avenue, Malcolm X Boulevard, Harry Hines Boulevard, Buckner Boulevard, West Mockingbird Lane, and Camp Wisdom Road, among others the City has listed for safety work. The network covers city streets, not the controlled-access main lanes of highways like US 75, IH-35E, or the Dallas North Tollway. Citywide, TxDOT counted 165 fatal crashes, 172 deaths, 883 suspected serious injury crashes, and 24,677 total crashes in the City of Dallas in 2025. The City’s network records where severe crashes concentrate. It does not decide who was at fault in any one of them.
What If I Was Partly at Fault for My Dallas Car Accident?
Yes, you can still recover damages in Texas even if you were partly at fault, as long as your own share of responsibility was not more than 50 percent; if it was, Texas law bars you from recovering anything (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 33.001). Below that 50 percent line, your recovery is not an all-or-nothing question. The court reduces the damages you can recover by a percentage equal to your own share of responsibility for the crash, and reduces it further by the dollar amount of any settlements you have already received from other parties (Section 33.012(a)-(b)). So a driver found 20 percent responsible for a Dallas crash recovers damages reduced by that 20 percent, not barred from recovering at all. Who is assigned what percentage of responsibility comes down to the evidence: the police report when one exists, photos and witness statements from the scene, and each insurance company’s own review of how the crash happened.
How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Dallas?
In Texas, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a car accident injury claim in court (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 16.003(a)). A crash that injured a child is the exception a Dallas parent should not assume away: the two-year clock does not run while the injured person is younger than 18, so a child’s own claim can still be open long after the crash (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 16.001(a)(1), (b)). That two-year clock is a deadline to have your lawsuit filed, not a deadline to settle with an insurance company, so it keeps running during negotiations unless something stops it. If the crash caused a death, a different two-year clock applies to a wrongful death claim, one that runs from the date of death rather than from the date of the crash (Section 16.003(b)); that is a distinct claim from the injury claim described on this page. That two-year clock also does not apply if a governmental vehicle was involved: a governmental unit, which includes DART, is entitled to receive notice of a claim against it not later than six months after the day that the incident occurred, and a city’s own charter notice period controls where one applies (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 101.101(a)-(b); Tex. Transp. Code Section 452.052(c)). Because a deadline that has already passed cannot usually be fixed later, confirm which deadline applies to your crash early rather than assuming the two-year rule covers every part of your case.
Does My Insurance Cover Me If the Other Driver Is Uninsured?
Yes, by default: Texas law requires every auto insurance policy issued in the state to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, unless you rejected that coverage in writing (Tex. Ins. Code Section 1952.101(b)-(c)). If no one named on your policy signed a written rejection, that coverage is already part of your policy, and it is what responds when the driver who hit you has no insurance or not enough insurance to cover your damages. If you did reject the coverage in writing at some point, the law treats that rejection as carrying forward: your insurer does not have to offer the coverage again on a renewal or reinstated policy with the same or an affiliated insurer, unless you later request the coverage in writing. That means two Dallas drivers with the same insurer can end up with different coverage simply because one of them signed a rejection form at some point and never asked to add the coverage back. Checking your own declarations page, or asking your insurer directly, is the way to know which branch of this rule applies to your policy.
Did you ever sign a written rejection of uninsured motorist coverage?
That rejection only carries forward to a renewal or reinstated policy from the same or an affiliated insurer, and only until you ask for the coverage back in writing; a policy from a different insurer has to include the coverage again.
Who Handles Dallas Car Accident Cases at Culver Legal?
Culver Legal’s Texas-licensed lawyers handle Dallas car accident claims, starting with the practical steps: getting the CR-3 if one exists, gathering medical records and property-damage information, and identifying every insurance policy that might apply, including your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. From there, the work is dealing with the insurance company’s adjusters, tracking the two-year deadline to file suit, and deciding when a claim needs to move from negotiation into a lawsuit. If a claim cannot be resolved with the insurer directly, a lawsuit over a Dallas car accident is filed in the Dallas County civil courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still file a car accident claim in Dallas if there’s no police report?
Yes. Not every crash results in a written police report, since an officer only has to write one when the crash caused injury, death, or at least $1,000 in property damage. Without a report, you can still start an insurance claim using what you gathered at the scene: photos, the other driver’s insurance information, and your own account of what happened. A report simply makes a claim easier to document.
Who decides fault after a Dallas car accident?
Fault is worked out from the evidence, not from what either driver says at the scene. The police report, when one exists, along with photos, witness statements, and each insurer’s own review, all feed into that determination. Texas law then lets you recover damages reduced by your own share of responsibility, as long as that share is not more than 50 percent.
Do I have to report every Dallas car accident, even a minor one?
Texas law requires you to notify police immediately after a crash that causes injury, death, or damage severe enough that a vehicle cannot be normally and safely driven. A crash that does not meet that threshold, like a low-speed fender-bender with no injuries, does not trigger that immediate-notice duty, though you still have to stop and exchange information with the other driver.
What if the other driver didn’t have any insurance at all?
Texas requires every auto insurance policy issued in the state to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, unless the policyholder rejected that coverage in writing. If no one named on the policy signed a written rejection, that coverage on your own policy is what responds when the other driver has none. Check your declarations page or ask your insurer to find out whether you have it.
A Dallas car accident claim comes with real deadlines and real paperwork, and getting it right from the first call to police can shape what happens later. Culver Legal’s Texas-licensed lawyers are available to talk through what your crash involves, and we work on contingency: no fee unless we win, and no case costs charged if there is no recovery. Case expenses are advanced by the firm and repaid from the recovery, and if there is no recovery, no case costs are charged. Attorney responsible for this page: Thanos Simoudis, licensed in Texas, primary office Los Angeles, California. Call (214) 269-1184 for a free case review, or send us the details and we will call you back. More on Dallas personal injury claims.
