What to Do After a Car Accident in New York City

Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law section 600, a driver involved in an accident that causes property damage, personal injury, or death must stop at once, remain at the scene, and provide identifying information to the other driver, an injured person, or a police officer. The statute treats leaving before these steps are completed as a chargeable offense, and the seriousness of the charge rises when the accident involves injury or death. This duty applies regardless of who caused the collision.

Because the statute does not depend on fault, a driver who believes the crash was someone else's doing still has to stop, identify themselves, and stay until the exchange of information and any necessary aid have been completed.

Is calling the police always necessary?

New York Vehicle and Traffic Law section 605 requires a written report of an accident involving injury, death, or property damage above a statutory threshold to be filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles when a police officer did not investigate at the scene. When police do respond, the responding officer typically files that report instead, which creates an official record of the scene.

If police are not called, the driver's own reporting obligation does not disappear. A report filed directly with the DMV in that situation is generally due within 10 days of the accident.

What information has to be exchanged at the scene?

Vehicle and Traffic Law section 600 requires drivers to exchange name, address, and vehicle registration information, and to show a driver's license on request. In practice this exchange also typically includes insurance carrier and policy information, since that information is needed to satisfy the no-fault reporting steps described below. This exchange is a statutory duty, not a matter of discretion, even if both drivers agree between themselves that no report is needed.

What if someone is injured or a vehicle cannot be moved?

Vehicle and Traffic Law section 600 also requires a driver to render reasonable assistance to anyone injured in the accident, which can include calling for emergency medical help. New York traffic law separately encourages moving a vehicle out of an active travel lane when this can be done safely, to reduce the risk of a second collision, though this does not override the duty to remain at the scene and complete the required exchange of information.

Photographs of the vehicles, the roadway, and visible injuries, along with the names of any witnesses, are not required by statute, but this kind of documentation can matter later, since a claim is evaluated based on the evidence available at the time it is reviewed, not on memory alone.

How does no-fault insurance change what happens next?

New York Insurance Law Article 51 established a no-fault system under which a driver's own insurer pays for basic economic loss, meaning medical expenses and a portion of lost earnings up to the policy limits, regardless of who caused the accident. This coverage exists separately from any claim against another driver for pain and suffering, which remains based on fault.

Because no-fault benefits are paid by the injured person's own insurer, notice to that insurer has to happen promptly. Under the regulations that implement Article 51, notice of the accident and a completed application for benefits are generally due within a short window commonly described as 30 days, though a documented reasonable excuse for delay can sometimes be considered. Missing this window can affect reimbursement for medical bills even when the underlying injury claim is otherwise sound.

How do these reporting obligations compare?

Obligation	Who it applies to	Typical deadline	Governing law
Stop and exchange information	Any driver involved in an accident causing injury, death, or property damage	Immediately, before leaving the scene	Vehicle and Traffic Law section 600
Report to the DMV	A driver whose accident was not investigated by police and meets the statutory threshold	Generally within 10 days	Vehicle and Traffic Law section 605
No-fault notice and application	Anyone seeking first-party no-fault benefits from their own insurer	Generally within 30 days	Insurance Law Article 51 and its implementing regulations
Notice of claim against a public entity	Claims involving a city, county, transit authority, or other government body	Generally within 90 days	General Municipal Law section 50-e

What should be avoided after an accident?

Admitting fault at the scene is best avoided, since the full picture of how an accident happened is rarely clear in the first few minutes. Signing a release or accepting a payment from another driver's insurer without understanding exactly what it covers can also close off options that would otherwise remain available. Giving a detailed recorded statement to another party's insurance company before medical treatment has clarified the extent of an injury is another common misstep. New York law does not require anyone to speculate about causation or the extent of an injury before that information is actually known.

How does fault get decided in a New York car accident claim?

New York follows a pure comparative negligence rule under CPLR 1411. A person who was partly at fault for an accident can still recover compensation, reduced in proportion to their own share of fault. A claim is not automatically barred simply because more than one driver contributed to the collision, but the percentage of fault assigned to each driver directly affects the value of any resulting claim.

What deadlines apply to a car accident claim in New York?

Several different deadlines can apply to the same accident, and they do not run on the same clock. A report to the DMV, a no-fault application to an insurer, and a lawsuit against another driver each carry their own separate timing rules, and missing any one of them can limit or eliminate that particular avenue of recovery even if the others remain open.

The shortest deadline that applies to a given set of facts is the one that governs, regardless of how much time might otherwise seem available under a more general rule.

Claims that involve a public entity, such as a city bus, a public school vehicle, or another government owned vehicle, carry a much shorter notice requirement than the ordinary limitations period that applies between private drivers. Under General Municipal Law section 50-e, a notice of claim generally must be served on the public entity within 90 days of the incident, which is far sooner than the multi-year period that otherwise governs personal injury claims. Because this notice period moves so much faster, identifying whether a public entity was involved is one of the first things that determines how quickly action needs to be taken.

This article is general information about New York law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The law changes and how it applies depends on the specific facts. Speak with a lawyer about your own situation.