Last reviewed: November 2026
No Credit Card Required
Printed from checkflow.io/templates/transport-logistics/vehicle-accident-reporting-checklist
This free vehicle accident reporting checklist is for fleet managers, drivers and the people who handle one collision involving a vehicle driven for work, in the US or the UK. One run starts from the date and time of the collision. The driver makes the scene safe, checks for injuries, exchanges details, takes photos and witness details and says what happened without admitting fault. In the first hours the vehicle is recovered if it cannot be driven, the collision is reported to the police where the law requires it, and the driver is looked after. The driver’s written report, the insurer told within the policy’s notice period and the check on the health and safety regulator follow, with a check of the state’s own rules and the FMCSA accident register in the US, and post-accident drug and alcohol testing for a CDL driver. The vehicle is inspected, repaired and returned to service. The collision is investigated through the journey, the driver and the vehicle, and a named person signs off the findings before the driver review, the lessons shared, the costs and the closed file.
This checklist runs one road collision involving a vehicle driven for work, from the scene to the closed file: the driver’s steps at the scene, the police, insurer and regulator reports, the vehicle’s repair, the investigation, the driver review and the lessons. Its first tasks fall due within the hour.
An injury on your own site, away from the public road, runs in the Workplace Accident Investigation Checklist, which covers RIDDOR and OSHA reporting for workplace injuries. Daily checks, defects and the return to service after any repair are in the Fleet Vehicle Inspection Checklist. A US motor carrier checks its accident register, with the rest of its FMCSA records, in the DOT Compliance Audit Checklist, and sets up a new CDL driver’s qualification file and drug testing with the Commercial Driver Onboarding Checklist. An employee hurt in the collision may need the Workers’ Compensation Claim Checklist in the US.
Covers: the scene, the first hours, the police, the insurer, the regulator, the US state and FMCSA checks, recovery, inspection and repair, the investigation, the driver review, the lessons and the costs.
Planned around: the date and time of the collision.
Output: every report made on time, a repaired vehicle, signed-off findings and a closed file.
Covers: an injury or near miss at work away from the public road, the evidence, the causes, and RIDDOR or OSHA reporting.
Planned around: the date of the accident.
Output: a report on the causes and the actions. A collision on a private site road can belong there.
Covers: the daily walkaround, periodic inspections, defect reporting and the return to service.
Planned around: each shift and the inspection interval.
Output: safe vehicles with the records kept. This checklist relies on it after the repair.
Seven phases take one collision from the scene to the closed file, about four weeks later. The first task records when the collision happened: the scene and first-hours tasks fall due within hours of it, counted in calendar hours so they fall at weekends too, and the rest in working days. One answer on the first task says where it happened and what kind of vehicle it is, and sets the police and regulator notes for Great Britain, Northern Ireland or the US, with the state report, the FMCSA accident register and CDL post-accident testing where they apply. Other answers add the details exchange, the injury record, the vehicle’s recovery and the driver’s training. The investigation sign-off in Phase 5 is assigned to one person, and nothing after it can be completed until they do.
The driver’s first hour. The fleet manager starts the checklist when the driver calls in and fills in the first task: when the collision happened, where, the vehicle and who handles each part. The scene tasks are the driver’s, done at the scene or ticked as soon as they safely can be. In Great Britain and Northern Ireland the duty to stop and give details is the driver’s own, by law.
Get the vehicle moved, report to the police where the law requires it, and look after the driver. For a US driver who needs a CDL, the post-accident testing decision and the tests come in this phase, because the rule sets limits of 8 hours for alcohol and 32 hours for drugs.
The driver’s written report, the evidence kept before it is lost, the insurer told within the policy’s notice period, and the checks on what the health and safety regulator and, in the US, the state and the FMCSA rules need. The first answers set which of these appear.
The vehicle is inspected before it is used again, repaired with the insurer’s agreement and returned to service with the defects cleared. A replacement keeps the work moving in the meantime.
Find out why it happened, looking at the journey, the driver and the vehicle, as HSE’s guidance on driving for work does, and agree actions to stop it happening again. The investigation sign-off at the end is assigned to one person, and nothing after it can be completed until they do.
The driver’s line manager goes through the findings with the driver and agrees what happens next: nothing further, coaching, training or a driving assessment, or a referral to HR under your own policy.
Share what was learned, update the risk assessment or policy if it needs it, record the costs and the claim, and close the file with the records kept.
The first task’s answer on where the collision happened shows the matching note on the police task in Phase 2 and the regulator task in Phase 3.
| Where | At the scene | Reporting to the police | Health and safety reporting | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | Where someone else is injured, or another vehicle, a listed animal (horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog) or roadside property is damaged: stop, and give your name and address, the owner’s name and address and the registration to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask. | If those details were not given: at a police station or to a constable, as soon as reasonably practicable and within 24 hours. If someone else was injured and the insurance certificate was not produced: report it and produce the certificate. | RIDDOR does not apply to deaths and injuries connected with the movement of a vehicle on a road, unless caused by a train, a substance the vehicle carried, loading or unloading, or work on or alongside the road. | Road Traffic Act 1988 s170; RIDDOR 2013 reg 14(3) |
| Northern Ireland | Where someone else, or a listed animal (horse, cattle, ass, mule, hinny, sheep, pig, goat or dog), is injured, or other property is damaged (not the vehicle’s own, the driver’s or the owner’s): stop, keep the vehicle at or near the place for a reasonable time, and give your particulars to a police officer on demand and to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask. | Forthwith (straight away), at a police station or to a police officer, if the particulars were not given or anyone other than the driver was injured, producing the insurance certificate. | The 1997 regulations apply to a road vehicle accident only where the harm came from a substance the vehicle carried, loading or unloading, or work on or alongside the road. | Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 art 175; RIDDOR (NI) 1997 reg 10(2) |
| United States | Set by the law of the state where it happened. | Set by state law, which decides which crashes must be reported to the police or the state, and by when. | Federal OSHA: a death, in-patient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye from a motor vehicle accident on a public street or highway is not reported unless it was in a construction work zone (then within 8 hours for a death, and 24 hours for an in-patient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye), but is recorded if you must keep OSHA records. | State law; 29 CFR 1904.39(b)(3) |
The accident register task appears for a commercial motor vehicle under the FMCSA rules, and the two testing tasks for a vehicle whose driver needs a CDL. The test limits are 8 hours for alcohol and 32 hours for drugs: a citation must come within those times, and attempts to test stop at them.
| Accident (49 CFR 390.5T) | Driver cited for a moving violation? | Post-accident test (CDL drivers) | Accident register |
|---|---|---|---|
| A death | Either | Required for each surviving driver who was performing safety-sensitive functions | Entered |
| An injury treated away from the scene straight away | Yes | Required | Entered |
| An injury treated away from the scene straight away | No | Not required | Entered |
| Disabling damage, with a vehicle towed away | Yes | Required | Entered |
| Disabling damage, with a vehicle towed away | No | Not required | Entered |
| None of these (for example minor damage, no tow, no one treated away from the scene) | Either | Not required | Not an accident under 390.5T: not entered |
Where this comes from. Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (England, Wales and Scotland) and Article 175 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981; regulation 14(3) of RIDDOR 2013 and HSE’s examples of reportable incidents, which add that a site road the public do not normally use is not a road for the exemption; regulation 10(2) of RIDDOR (Northern Ireland) 1997; 29 CFR 1904.39; 49 CFR 390.5T for the definition of an accident (390.5 is suspended; 390.15 still refers to it, and the definition reads the same), which leaves out occurrences involving only boarding or alighting from a stationary vehicle or only loading or unloading cargo; 49 CFR 390.15(b) for the register, kept for 3 years, which applies to motor carriers in interstate commerce (390.3T; for a vehicle used only within one state, check your state’s rules); and 49 CFR 382.303 for post-accident testing, which applies to drivers who must hold a CDL (382.103) and not to a passenger car or multipurpose passenger vehicle unless it carries passengers for hire or placarded hazardous materials. All read on 9 November 2026. This checklist does not give legal advice; take advice on your own case.
The driver’s scene tasks, from making it safe to taking witness details, fall due within the hour, and the police report, the recovery and the driver’s welfare within the first hours, counted in calendar hours so a collision at the weekend is covered. Every task is assigned from the people named on the first task, so each step has an owner from the start.
One answer on the first task says where the collision happened and what kind of vehicle it is. Great Britain and Northern Ireland get their own police and RIDDOR notes; the US gets the state report check and the OSHA note, plus the FMCSA accident register for a commercial motor vehicle and post-accident testing for a CDL driver. The insurer is told within the period your own policy sets.
The vehicle is inspected, repaired and returned to service while the collision is investigated through the journey, the driver and the vehicle. A named person signs off the findings before the driver review and the lessons shared, and the costs and claims are recorded before the file is closed. Track every open collision in the Reports Grid.
CheckFlow does not report a collision to the police, an insurer or a regulator, or decide who was at fault: those stay with your drivers, your fleet manager and your insurer. CheckFlow makes sure every step is done in order, by the right person, with the record kept.
Run on-site injuries with the Workplace Accident Investigation Checklist, vehicle checks with the Fleet Vehicle Inspection Checklist, and a motor carrier’s self-audit with the DOT Compliance Audit Checklist.
Fleet Vehicle Inspection Checklist
Workplace Accident Investigation Checklist
DOT Compliance Audit Checklist
Commercial Driver Onboarding Checklist
Operator Licence Compliance Checklist (UK)
Describe the process in a sentence and the AI checklist generator drafts the phases and tasks for you.
The driver’s steps at the scene (make it safe, check for injuries, exchange details, take photos and witness details, and say what happened without admitting fault), the report to the police where the law requires it, the driver’s written report, the insurer told within the policy’s notice period, any health and safety, state or FMCSA reporting, the vehicle’s inspection and repair, an investigation of the causes with a sign-off, a review with the driver and the lessons shared. This template covers those steps for one collision.
Stop and make the scene safe, check for injuries and call 999 or 911 if anyone is hurt or the road is blocked, give and take details, photograph the scene and the damage, take witness details, and describe what happened without admitting fault. Then call the fleet manager, who starts this checklist. In Great Britain the duty to stop and give details is the driver’s own, under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.
Not always. In Great Britain, a driver whose vehicle injures someone else, or damages another vehicle, roadside property or certain animals (a horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog), must stop and give their details to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask. If they do not, they must report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and within 24 hours, as must a driver who did not produce the insurance certificate after injuring someone (section 170). Northern Ireland’s rule is Article 175 of the 1981 Order.
Not unless one of its exceptions applies. Regulation 14(3) of RIDDOR 2013 takes out deaths and injuries connected with the movement of a vehicle on a road, unless the person was hurt by a train, by a substance the vehicle carried, while loading or unloading it, or in work on or alongside the road. HSE’s examples point to the police, who have primary responsibility for enforcing road traffic law, and say a private site road the public do not normally use is not a road for this exemption.
Under 49 CFR 382.303, after an accident involving a death, for each surviving driver who was performing safety-sensitive functions. After an accident where someone was treated away from the scene straight away, or a vehicle was towed away with disabling damage, only if the driver is cited for a moving traffic violation within 8 hours (for the alcohol test) or 32 hours (for the drug test). Attempts to test stop at those limits. The rule covers drivers who must hold a CDL.
49 CFR 390.15 says a motor carrier keeps an accident register for 3 years after each accident: the date, the city or town and state, the driver’s name, the injuries and fatalities, and whether hazardous materials other than fuel from the vehicles’ tanks were released, with copies of the accident reports required by states, other governmental entities or insurers. It covers interstate carriers, and only accidents as 390.5T defines them: a death, an injury treated away from the scene straight away, or a tow-away with disabling damage.
This template tells drivers to describe what happened to the police and the other people involved without admitting fault, blaming anyone, offering to pay or signing anything except a police form. Who was at fault is settled later, by the insurers or the courts, not at the roadside. Your motor insurance policy may say what a driver must not say or agree to: check it, and tell your drivers.
Within the notice period in your own motor or fleet policy, which this template asks you to read and record rather than assume. The template sets one working day after the collision and says to move the date if the policy’s period is shorter. Pass any letter or claim from the other party to the insurer unanswered, and keep the police reference for it.
14-day free trial, no card required. The Business plan is $10 per user per month after the trial. Full details at checkflow.io/pricing.
14-day free trial, no credit cardFull refund in your first 30 daysUS hosting, EU on request
