CR-2 or “Blue Forms” are no longer required by the Texas DOT. They were used to keep track of any accidents that police officers did not write a crash report on, but they are no longer utilized or filed away. Some officers still hand out CR-2 forms, so if you do fill one out, you should just keep it in your personal files.
Why Aren’t CR-2 Forms Used Anymore?
CR-2 forms were once used to document accidents that local police or the Texas Highway Patrol didn’t have time to respond to. An officer on the scene may also have asked an accident victim to fill one out if the car damage was minimal or injuries weren’t very serious.
Basically, if an accident was very minor, an officer would rather the victim document and file it rather than having to create a full crash report.
In 2017, the Texas Legislature decided that CR-2 forms were no longer necessary.
TxDot explained the change on its website:
“Effective Sept. 1, 2017, per the 85th Texas Legislature Senate Bill 312, the Driver’s Crash Report (Form CR-2) is no longer retained by TxDOT. As of Jan. 1, 2019, the retention period expired for all CR-2 forms. As a result, TxDOT no longer has any Driver’s Crash Reports in its custodial records and no longer hosts or provides copies of the CR-2 form. Drivers involved in a crash not investigated by a police officer who were provided a CR-2 or similar local agency form should retain this information for their records. Please note that any CR-2 or similar local agency form submitted to TxDOT will be destroyed as required by our records retention policy.”
It’s not a change that affects accident victims all that much. The Blue Form couldn’t really serve as evidence in court or help with an insurance claim. The information was really only used for statistical purposes.
Nowadays, if you are in a serious accident, an officer should be writing up an official accident report that you can access online. It’s a report that can help you prove who was to blame for your car damage and injuries.
Who Should I Alert If I’m in a Texas Car Accident?
Contact 911 immediately if you are hurt. It’s a good idea to get a police response on the way even if you feel your accident is fairly minor.
If someone is injured or you have damage to your car that appears to exceed $1,000 in damages, you are required to report your crash to authorities. This is a state mandate laid out in Texas Transportation Code Sec. 550.001.
You should also contact your car insurance provider as soon as possible, even if you don’t feel you were at fault. You don’t want your insurer hearing about the accident from someone else or even the other driver.
What If My Texas Accident Turns Out to Be More Serious Than I Thought?
In some cases, victims walk away from accidents thinking they are okay. But the shock of what’s happened can mask the pain of a serious injury.
You may decline the involvement of police or fail to call an ambulance only to wake up the next morning in major pain. It’s why you should never comment on how badly you are hurt at the scene of an accident. You may say “I’m fine” only to have a doctor find a broken bone on an x-ray a week later.
These statements can be used against you later, so be careful only to share basic information with the other driver on the scene.
And if you do find that you’ll need to file an injury claim with the other driver’s car insurance provider, you’ll want to discuss your next move with a real Houston Car Accident Lawyer. Evidence may seem lost after you’ve left the scene of an accident, but the skilled attorneys at the Gutierrez Law Firm will still secure the proof you need to show what happened and who was to blame.
Reach out to us to schedule a free car accident consultation. It’s an easy way to learn about the tactics insurance companies will use to leave you without support and how to turn the tables on them and secure everything you need to fully recover.