Right after a Houston car accident, get yourself and any passengers to safety, call 911 if anyone is hurt, and exchange information with the other driver before you do anything else. What you do in the next few hours and days, and how fast you act on the deadlines that follow, can shape whether you can recover for your injuries at all.
What should I do right after a car accident in Houston?
Once you and anyone with you are out of traffic, call 911 and tell the dispatcher clearly whether anyone is hurt. Under Houston Police Department General Order 600-09 (issued 2020), that detail matters: dispatchers send an officer to the scene only when certain conditions are met, injury among them, so saying someone is hurt affects whether an officer comes out at all.
While you wait, exchange names, contact information, driver’s license numbers, and insurance information with the other driver, and get the license plate and a photo of their insurance card if you can. Photograph the vehicles, the road, and any visible injuries, and get the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the crash.
Am I required to report the accident to police?
Yes, if anyone was injured or killed, or if a vehicle cannot be driven away safely, Texas law requires you to report the crash immediately, by the quickest means of communication; inside Houston, that report goes to the Houston Police Department.
In practice, Houston Police Department General Order 600-09 means an officer is dispatched only for certain conditions, including injury, an apparently intoxicated driver, a driver with no license or no proof of insurance, a vehicle that cannot be driven, a hit-and-run, a school bus, or a bicyclist or pedestrian involved. Outside those situations, a dispatcher typically tells you to report at a police station within 24 hours, or an officer on scene who does not open an investigation may hand you a Blue Form (TxDOT’s Driver’s Crash Report, CR-2) for you to complete yourself. If no one was hurt and every vehicle can still be driven safely, this immediate-report duty does not apply, though exchanging information with the other driver still matters.
How do I get a copy of my Houston crash report?
A Houston crash report, known as a CR-3, is purchased online through TxDOT’s crash report system or requested from the Houston Police Department Records Division by mail or in person, for $6 for a regular copy or $8 for a certified copy.
A CR-3 only exists if an officer actually investigated and filed one. If your crash was minor enough that no officer responded, there may be no CR-3 to request at all, only whatever you and the other driver documented between yourselves. Processing takes some time before a report becomes available, so request it as soon as you reasonably can rather than waiting.
Which Houston streets has the City flagged for serious crashes?
A small share of Houston’s streets accounts for a large share of its traffic deaths and serious injuries, on the City’s own counts rather than on a sense that some roads feel busier.
Houston’s Vision Zero Action Plan (November 2020) found that nearly 60% of the city’s traffic deaths and serious injuries occur on just 6% of its streets. The City’s Vision Zero Annual Report 2022 names specific locations it identified in 2021 as part of that high-injury network, including Martin Luther King Boulevard, Griggs Road and Calhoun Road; Shepherd Drive and Durham Drive between I-610 and I-10; Fondren Road between Braeswood and Airport Boulevard; Hillcroft Avenue between Bellaire and High Star; the Airline Drive and Montrose corridor; and Bagby Street, named separately for its 2014 to 2018 crash history. Separately, TxDOT counted 273 fatal crashes in the City of Houston in 2025.
Can I still recover damages if I was partly at fault?
Yes, as long as your own share of the fault is 50% or less; Texas law only bars you from recovering if your percentage of responsibility is greater than 50%.
Even when you do recover, the amount is reduced by your own percentage of fault, and reduced again by the dollar amount of any settlements already reached with other parties. Because that percentage decides so much, insurers often argue a crash victim was more at fault than they actually were. Photos, witness contact information, and the crash report from the scene are what make that percentage harder to inflate later.
How long do I have to file a car accident claim in Houston?
Texas law gives you two years from the day your claim accrues to file a car accident lawsuit, and in most crash cases that is the date of the collision itself. If you were younger than 18 years of age when the crash happened, Texas law does not count the time you were under 18 against that two-year period.
If it is not obvious when your claim accrued, for example because an injury was not diagnosed right away, confirm that date with a lawyer early rather than assuming. And if your crash involved a city vehicle, a METRO bus, or another government vehicle, a separate notice deadline applies that is far shorter than two years, so get legal advice quickly rather than treating the two-year period as your only clock.
What happens if the other driver has no insurance?
If the driver who hit you has no insurance, there is no liability policy standing behind them to pay your claim, which is exactly the gap Texas requires your own insurer to help cover.
You can still pursue the uninsured driver personally for your damages, but collecting from an individual with no insurance and often limited assets is frequently difficult in practice. That is why what your own auto policy provides matters as much as, or more than, what the other driver was carrying.
Does my own policy cover an uninsured or underinsured driver?
It depends on one thing: whether anyone named on your policy ever rejected uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in writing.
If no one ever rejected it in writing, Texas law requires your insurer to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in your auto policy, so you likely have a source to pursue when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough of it.
If someone did reject that coverage in writing at some point, that rejection carries forward automatically to every renewal or reinstated policy with the same insurer or an affiliated one, even years later, unless the named insured later requested the coverage back in writing. That means a current policy can lack this coverage because of a rejection signed long before your crash. Checking your declarations page, or asking your insurer directly whether uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is on your policy and whether a rejection is on file, is worth doing before you assume either way.
Have you checked whether a written rejection is still sitting on your policy?
A rejection signed years ago, on an earlier policy with the same insurer or an affiliated one, can still block this coverage today unless it was asked for again in writing.
When does a Houston car accident need a lawyer?
A Houston car accident tends to need a lawyer when more than one moving part is working against you at once, not simply because a crash happened.
That includes situations where the other driver was uninsured or underinsured and your own insurer is disputing the claim, where you are being told you were majority at fault and disagree, where a city vehicle, METRO bus, or other government vehicle was involved and a short notice deadline is running, or where your injuries turned out to be more serious than they first appeared. In any of those, the facts and the deadlines both move fast, and getting them right the first time is harder to do alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best car accident lawyer in Houston?
There is no single answer to that, since the right lawyer depends on the facts of your crash and whether you are comfortable discussing them candidly with that person. Look for a Texas-licensed lawyer willing to review your specific situation, rather than one who promises a particular result, since no lawyer can guarantee an outcome.
Is it worth getting a lawyer after a Texas car accident?
It depends on your situation, but a lawyer becomes more important when the other driver was uninsured or underinsured, when fault is disputed, when a government vehicle was involved, or when your injuries turned out to be more serious than they first seemed. A straightforward, minor, undisputed claim may not need one.
What should I avoid telling my lawyer after a Houston car accident?
Nothing. Conversations with your own lawyer are confidential, which is different from statements you make to an insurance adjuster or post on social media. Tell your lawyer everything about the crash, including the details that worry you, so they can prepare your case with the full picture rather than a partial one.
Do I have to call the police after every Houston car accident?
You must report the crash immediately if anyone is hurt or if a vehicle cannot be driven away safely. If neither is true, Texas’s immediate-report law does not apply, though exchanging information with the other driver at the scene is still worth doing.
If any of this sounds like your situation, it is worth talking it through with someone who can look at your specific facts rather than general rules. We work on a contingency basis: 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. 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 Houston personal injury claims.
