I grew up here, and I've driven these roads my whole life. The merge from the 5 to the 805. The bumper-to-bumper crawl on the 15 heading north at 5 PM. The blind curves in Old Town where somebody is always in a hurry. If you drive in San Diego long enough, the odds catch up with a lot of people. And when a crash happens, it happens fast, and your brain does not exactly work at its best in the seconds right after.
So I wrote this down. It's the same rundown I give people who call my office scared and shaken. Not legal jargon, just what to actually do, in order, so that you take care of yourself first and don't accidentally hurt your own case in the process.
First: Get Safe and Check for Injuries
Before anything else, make sure you and everyone with you are okay. If your car is drivable and you're in a live lane on the 8 or the 163, move to the shoulder if you can do it safely. If moving the car is risky, leave it, turn on your hazards, and get yourself somewhere out of traffic.
Call 911. Even for what feels like a fender bender, get police out there. In San Diego that's usually SDPD, or CHP if you're on a freeway. A police report gives you an independent record of what happened, and that record matters a lot later when an insurance company starts telling a different story.
Here's the part people get wrong. Adrenaline hides pain. I've had clients swear they were fine at the scene and wake up the next morning barely able to turn their neck. Whiplash, concussions, and soft-tissue injuries often show up hours or a day later. If the paramedics want to check you out, let them. Saying "I'm fine" to a first responder can get quoted back to you by an adjuster weeks down the line.
Document Everything You Can
If you're physically able, your phone is your best friend at the scene. Take pictures and video of:
- All the vehicles, from several angles, including the damage and the license plates
- The whole scene, skid marks, debris, the intersection, traffic signals
- Any visible injuries
- The other driver's insurance card and driver's license
- Street signs or landmarks so the location is clear
Get the other driver's name, phone number, insurance company, and policy number. If there were witnesses, ask for their names and numbers before they drive off. Witnesses disappear, and a neutral person who saw the other driver run the red light can make or break a claim.
One thing to keep in mind about fault. California is a pure comparative-fault state. That means even if you were partly to blame, you can still recover, but your compensation gets reduced by your share of the fault. So do not apologize or say "it was my fault" at the scene, even reflexively. You may not know the full picture yet, and those words can be used to shift blame onto you.
Watch What You Say to Insurance Companies
You have to report the accident to your own insurer, and you should. But the other driver's insurance company is a different animal. Their adjuster may call you within a day or two, friendly and sympathetic, asking for a recorded statement or a quick signature to "speed things up."
Slow down. That adjuster works for the other side. Their job is to pay you as little as possible, and a recorded statement given while you're still rattled and don't yet know the extent of your injuries is a common way people undercut their own case. You are not required to give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement. You are allowed to say you'll follow up later, and you're allowed to talk to a lawyer first.
This is the single most common reason people call me. They feel like the insurance company is steamrolling them, and they're usually right. Dealing with adjusters is a big part of what a personal injury attorney does, and it's one of the reasons having someone in your corner early can change how the whole thing plays out.
See a Doctor, Even If You Feel Okay
Get medical attention promptly, and follow through with the treatment your doctor recommends. This matters for your health, obviously. It also matters for your claim. A gap between the accident and your first medical visit gives the insurance company an argument that you weren't really hurt, or that something else caused your injuries.
Keep every record. Bills, discharge papers, physical therapy notes, prescriptions, mileage to and from appointments. If you had to miss work, keep track of that too. In an injury case, damages can include medical bills, lost wages, future care you'll still need, and pain and suffering, depending on the facts. You can't prove any of that without documentation.
If your injuries are serious, especially back injuries or neck injuries, the future-care piece can be significant, and it's easy to settle too early before you know what your recovery really looks like. Once you sign a release, you're done. There's no going back for more.
Know the Deadlines
In California, the general deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is two years from the date of the accident, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Two years sounds like a long time. It isn't. Evidence fades, witnesses move, and building a solid case takes work.
And there's a trap here. If your crash involved a government vehicle, a city bus, a county truck, or a poorly maintained public road, the deadline to file a claim against a public entity can be much shorter than two years. In many of those situations you have a matter of months, not years, to put the entity on notice. If you think a government agency might be involved, don't wait. Talk to someone quickly.
When the Other Vehicle Wasn't a Car
Not every San Diego crash is car-on-car, and the type of vehicle involved changes things. A collision with a big rig on the 15 is a different case than a fender bender in a Ralphs parking lot, because commercial trucking has its own rules, its own insurance, and often more than one company that can be held responsible. If a semi was involved, our page on truck accidents walks through why.
The same goes if you were on two wheels or on foot. Riders and walkers tend to get hurt worse and get blamed more than they deserve, and I've seen insurance companies lean hard on that. If that's your situation, take a look at motorcycle accidents or pedestrian accidents. And if the other driver took off, a hit-and-run has its own set of steps, starting with reporting it right away so your own uninsured-motorist coverage may come into play.
Be Careful What You Post
I'll keep this one short. Insurance companies look at social media. A photo of you smiling at a barbecue in Balboa Park, posted while you're claiming a back injury, will get screenshotted and thrown at you, even if you were in pain the whole time and left after ten minutes. Until your case is resolved, it's smart to stay quiet online about the accident and your injuries.
How I Work With Clients
When you call my office, you talk to me, not a call center. I handle San Diego injury cases personally, and I practice alongside my father, Frank Crudo, who has been a San Diego attorney since 1975. Most injury cases I take on are handled on contingency, which means no fee unless we recover for you. The consultation is free and confidential, so there's no risk in just picking up the phone and asking a few questions.
I'm not going to promise you a specific result. Any lawyer who does that is not being straight with you, because every case turns on its own facts. What I can tell you is that I'll take the insurance companies seriously so you don't have to fight them alone, and I'll be honest with you about where your case stands.
If you've got questions about how any of this works, our FAQ page covers a lot of the common ones, and you can always reach out through our contact page.
A Quick Note
This post is general information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it doesn't make you my client. Laws change, and every situation is different. For advice about your specific accident, talk to a lawyer directly.
Talk to Someone Who Knows These Roads
If you've been hurt in a car accident anywhere in San Diego County, the sooner you get real answers, the better your options tend to be. Call Crudo Law at (858) 622-7280 or reach out through our contact page. The call is free, it's confidential, and there's no pressure. Let's figure out where you stand.