Fig. 1 — The three deadlines: day zero, day ten, year two. Documentation runs the whole span.
Three deadlines structure the first two years
The calendar is not the claim — but the calendar structures the record, and the record supports the claim. Three dates bracket everything this desk covers.
Day zero — the scene
Safety first: move to safety where possible, call 911 for injuries. Then the evidence work — exchange driver, registration, and insurance information; photograph the vehicles from all four corners, the damage, the scene, and anything that marks positions. The duties to stop, identify, and exchange are in Vehicle Code §§20001–20003, and the full scene checklist is in the documentation file.
Day ten — the SR-1 is due
Where the collision involves injury, death, or property damage over $1,000, the written SR-1 report to the DMV is due within 10 days (Vehicle Code §16000) — filed whether or not police responded, and regardless of fault. See the reporting file.
The weeks between — documentation cadence
Between the deadlines, the cadence is documentation: medical evaluations as symptoms dictate (pain that declares a day or two after the crash is a familiar pattern, not an oddity), records kept week by week, repair bills and receipts kept, and notice given to insurers on the schedule the policy sets. The crash file is the folder everything lands in.
Year two — the filing deadline
A personal-injury lawsuit must generally be filed within two years of the injury (Code of Civil Procedure §335.1). Narrow exceptions exist — and whether one applies to a specific case is a lawyer's job, not this desk's. The deadline is the horizon the whole record points at: a claim fully documented on day 700 is a claim; on day 731, unless filed, it is a memory.
The calendar is not the claim. Meeting the deadlines preserves the record; the record is what any later decision is made from. Missed deadlines have consequences of their own — and they compound.