The four-part crash file 01CRASH RECORDpolice report · photographs · SR-102MEDICAL RECORDexam notes · imaging · treatment logs03LOSS RECORDwages missed · receipts · repair bills04STATEMENT RECORDyour dated notes, kept contemporaneously ONE FOLDER · FOUR PARTS · KEPT TOGETHER

Fig. 1 — The four-part crash file: crash record, medical record, loss record, statement record.

The record is what ties injury to collision

An injury claim is built from records made at the time — not from memories reconstructed later. The crash file this desk defines has four parts, and each one is a document class, not a feeling:

  • The crash record — the police report, photographs of the vehicles and scene, and the SR-1 report to the DMV. On freeways and unincorporated county roads the police report is the CHP's form 555; on San Diego city streets it is a San Diego Police Department report.
  • The medical record — exam notes, imaging, and treatment logs, made week by week. The first entry starts the chain; the San Diego Soft Tissue Desk covers the injury side in depth.
  • The loss record — missed work, out-of-pocket costs, and the receipts and stubs that prove them.
  • The statement record — your own contemporaneous notes: what happened, what hurts, and how it limits you. Memory fades; a dated note does not.

At the scene: what to capture

After safety and medical needs, the scene work is evidence work. Photograph the vehicles from all four corners, the damage to each, the license plates, the intersection or roadway, and anything that marks positions — skid marks, debris, traffic controls, the weather and light. Vehicle Code §20002 requires drivers in a property-damage collision to stop and exchange identification and vehicle information; where injury or death is involved, §20001 and §20003 add the duties to stop, identify, and render aid.

Witnesses matter: a name and a way to reach them, written down at the scene. The police report is the anchor document, but the photographs are yours, and they do not wait for anyone's schedule.

The reports that exist — three separate documents

  • The police report — written by the agency that responded, on the CHP-555 form for state highways and unincorporated areas, or the city's form on San Diego streets.
  • The SR-1 — the driver's own written report to the DMV, required within 10 days where the collision involves injury, death, or property damage over $1,000 (Vehicle Code §16000). It is separate from the police report and is filed whether or not police responded. See the reporting file.
  • The law-enforcement report duty — Vehicle Code §20008 requires a written report to the CHP or the city police within 24 hours for collisions involving injury or death, unless the officer investigated at the scene.

Medical documentation: days, not weeks

Symptoms that declare a day or two after a crash are a familiar pattern — stiffness and pain often build after the adrenaline of the scene clears. The first medical evaluation starts the documentation chain; the records that follow, week by week, are what carry the injury from "reported" to "documented."

Photographs are documents. Date them, keep the originals, and photograph the damage before repairs — the repaired vehicle cannot testify.

What documentation is not

Documentation is not the claim itself. It does not decide fault or value; it is the evidence those decisions are made from. The claims file explains the structure the documentation feeds.