Detroit Police change from written reports hopefully means less errors in traffic crash reports
Detroit is going electronic, and that means Detroit car accident (UD-10) reports will now be submitted to the state electronically, instead of manually written by police officers as previously done.
Since the transition, Detroit police are now taking non-injury accident reports after hours. You can call the Telephone Crime Reporting Unit at (313) 267-4600 to submit your car accident report. Detroit police officers will continue completing accident reports during the day.
This is being done so Detroit police can spend more time patrolling, and less time doing paper work (such as writing up car accident reports). But as a Detroit car accident lawyer who has seen now hundreds of police reports, I believe this change should also benefit car accident victims.
Let’s just say it isn’t uncommon to see errors in many UD-10 police reports. Hopefully, there will be less errors going electronic. Errors on police reports have caused untold aggravation for lawyers helping people injured in Detroit. I often see the cars switched or occupants, especially passengers, left off the police report completely. The biggest problem is that too many Detroit police give people a cursory once over, and mark no injury on the police report, and do not ask questions to elicit if people are in pain or feel in shock.
Once the adrenaline wears off, or as the day progresses and the pain gets worse instead of going away, the “no injury” code on the police report is used by defense lawyers and insurance companies to question whether the accident victim was “really hurt.” So, from my perspective as a lawyer, anything we can do to produce fewer errors on accident reports can really help. Too many people get really hurt by police reports in the City of Detroit with errors.
Another plus is that accident data to the State of Michigan from the Detroit Police Department will improve, due to increased accuracy. If Detroit car accident data is more accurate, that means the state can better measure and assess safety and traffic issues.
As Detroit accident lawyers, we applaud the DPD for taking steps to improve accuracy in police reports, and to get more officers on the streets protecting residents and drivers.
– Steve Gursten is one of the nation’s top accident lawyers. He is head of Michigan Auto Law, which has an office in Detroit. Steve frequently writes about Detroit car accidents and safe driving, and is available for comment.
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Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. Call (248) 353-7575 for a free consultation with one of our Detroit accident lawyers.
