What do I do in the first 32 hours after a truck accident?

Chapter 01

What should I do in the first hour after a truck accident?

In the first hour, make sure people are safe and get the facts that decide everything else. Your driver helps anyone hurt and calls 911. He turns on the flashers and sets out the warning triangles within 10 minutes (the rule on warning devices). Your first job is to get four answers on the phone. Did anyone die? Was anyone taken away for treatment? Will any vehicle be towed because of damage? Did the police write your driver a ticket? Those answers tell you whether the crash counts and whether a test is due.

Here is how that looks in real life. Say you run three trucks. On Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., your phone rings. It is your driver, on the interstate in the rain, two States from home. A pickup cut into his lane and braked, and your truck hit it from behind. He is shaken but not hurt. He called you first, because every truck carries your crash card. It has your number, your testing company’s number and a short list of what to do after a truck accident. The testing rule expects that. You must give drivers post-accident instructions before they drive (the testing rule).

You ask the four questions, one at a time. Nobody died. Paramedics check the pickup driver at the scene, and he goes home with his wife. So nobody was treated away from the scene. But the pickup’s rear axle is smashed, and it will leave on a tow truck. Your tractor’s radiator is crushed, so it cannot drive either. The police are there, and the officer is still writing.

Now you know the crash counts. Under the federal rules, a truck crash on a highway counts as an accident if it ends in one of three ways (the federal definition). Someone dies, at the time or within 30 days. Someone is hurt and, because of it, “immediately receives medical treatment away from the scene”. Or a vehicle has “disabling damage” and is towed away. Owners call this a DOT recordable accident, because you must record it. Disabling damage means the vehicle cannot leave the scene the usual way, even after simple repairs. Damage that can be fixed for now at the scene, without special tools, does not count. Neither does a flat tire alone, or a broken headlight, taillight, turn signal, horn or wiper. Crashes that happen only while people get in or out of a parked truck, or while cargo is loaded or unloaded, do not count either.

What if the man in the pickup had gone to the hospital for an x-ray? That still would not be treatment. FMCSA said so in guidance in 2022: an x-ray or a scan only looks for an injury, but a prescription counts as treatment (FMCSA’s 2022 guidance). That guidance is not law, and it runs until February 25, 2027. In May 2025, FMCSA proposed writing it into the rule (the 2025 proposal). As of September 22, 2026, we found no final rule. In your case it does not matter, because the tow makes the crash count.

Before the vehicles and debris are cleared, ask your driver for photos. He should shoot every vehicle from all sides, the damage up close, the road, the skid marks, the signs and the weather. He should photograph the other driver’s license, plate and insurance card, and the seal on your trailer. He should get the officer’s name, the police department and the report number. Witnesses leave fast, so he should ask for their names and phone numbers at once. Tell him to answer the police plainly and truthfully. Arguments about fault are for the insurers.

Chapter 02

Does this crash mean a post-accident drug test?

It does if someone died. Otherwise, only if the crash counts and your driver gets a ticket for a moving violation. It counts when someone was treated away from the scene at once, or a vehicle was towed. The ticket must come within 8 hours for the alcohol test, and within 32 hours for the drug test. Do the alcohol test within 2 hours, and stop trying after 8. Do the drug test within 32 hours. Write down why a deadline was missed (the testing rule). Your driver may not drink for 8 hours after it (the rule on alcohol after a crash). A refusal counts as a positive, and that driver may not drive for you (the refusal rule).

At 8:15 p.m., the officer hands your driver a ticket for following too closely. That settles it: both tests are due, and the clock started at 7:00 p.m. You call your testing company on the number from the crash card and ask for a collection site that is open tonight. The police let your driver go at 9:30 p.m., and he gives both samples at 10:40 p.m. The alcohol test missed the 2 hours. So that same night you write a short note and sign it. It gives the time of the crash, when the police released him, how far the site was and when the test was done. FMCSA can ask to see that note (the testing rule).

The rest is a longer story. What if the police tested him? What do you report to FMCSA, how long do you keep each paper, and what changes when the ticket comes the next morning? Our page on post-accident drug and alcohol tests walks through the whole test, from the first call to the result in your file. Whether to fight the ticket itself is a separate decision, told in our guide on fighting or paying a CDL ticket.

Chapter 03

Who do I call about the truck, the load and the insurance?

That night, call three people: your insurer’s claims line, the tow company that took the truck, and the broker whose load is on it. Your insurer needs the police report number and the photos. The tow company must tell you where the truck is, what storage costs and how to get it back. The broker needs to know the load will be late, and how you will get it moving again. What a tow company may charge after a police call depends on State and local rules.

At 9:00 p.m., while your driver waits for the police, you call the claims number on your policy. Look in the policy for how and how soon to report a claim, and read that part tonight. If your liability cover, the cover for your own truck and your cargo cover sit on different policies, each may have its own claims line. Call each one. Give the date, time and place, the report number, the other driver’s details and the photos. Write down the claim number and the adjuster’s name. What happens with the claim after this first call is a longer story, told in how to manage a trucking insurance claim.

At 9:45 p.m., you call the tow yard. The police called that tow company, so you did not choose it. You ask four things. Where are the tractor and the loaded trailer? What does storage cost each day? What does the yard need from you to release them? And can you get a bill that lists every charge? What the yard may charge, and how you can dispute a bill, depend on the State and local rules where the crash happened, not where you live. Check that State’s rules, or ask the police department that called the tow. Storage adds up each day, so plan to move the truck out fast. Ask your insurer before the truck is repaired or sold for scrap.

At 10:15 p.m., you call the broker. Your agreement with the broker may say how soon you must report a crash or a delay, so check it too. You say the load is safe in a locked trailer at a tow yard, and that it will be late. The seal is still on, and your driver photographed its number. The broker tells the shipper and the receiver.

On Friday, you look at where your other two trucks are. Your third truck delivers nearby at noon, and it can run over empty. At 4:00 p.m., it picks up the trailer at the yard. Its driver checks the seal against the photo and takes new pictures of the load. The load reaches the receiver on Saturday morning, a day late. Had the cargo been damaged, you would tell the broker and your cargo insurer before anything was thrown away.

Chapter 04

What must I save and write down before the 32 hours end?

Save everything that shows what happened, and write the crash in your accident register. That means the ELD records for the day, the dashcam video, the photos, the witness list, your driver’s written statement and the police report number. The rules make you hand over all records about a crash when FMCSA or State officers ask, and answer their questions fully and truthfully (the register rule). The register itself is a short list. You keep each entry for 3 years after the crash.

On Friday morning, you download the ELD records for the day of the crash. The rules make you keep a driver’s logs and supporting papers for 6 months (the rule on drivers’ logs). You must also keep a backup copy of ELD records on a separate device for 6 months (the ELD rule). A claim about this crash may come later than that, so put a copy in the crash file too. Pull the dashcam video the same day. A dashcam may record over old video after a while, so save the clip before it is gone.

On Friday afternoon, ask your driver to write down what happened, in his own words, while he still remembers. Where was he going? How fast? What did the pickup do, and what did he do? He signs and dates it. Keep it with the photos, the witness list and the tow bill.

The police report may not be ready for a while. How to get a copy depends on the State and the police department, so ask the department how to order it. When it comes, check it: the right USDOT number, the right driver, the right truck. This report is also how the crash reaches your safety record. The State sends crash data to FMCSA, and from there it goes into your safety scores and your driver’s work history report (FMCSA’s 2023 notice). FMCSA says “fault is not a consideration” in whether a crash is reported. If the report has wrong facts, or you believe the crash was not preventable, read how to dispute a crash in DataQs.

Whether the State where the crash happened also wants a report from the driver or the owner, and how soon, depends on that State. Check its motor vehicle or highway patrol website.

Last comes the accident register: a list of every crash that counts, with a few facts on each (the register rule). For this one you write the date, October 8, 2026, and the nearest town and the State. Then you write your driver’s name, zero injuries, zero deaths, and no hazardous materials released. Fuel spilled from the trucks’ own tanks does not count as a release. Then you add copies of every crash report that a State, another government office or an insurer asks for. You keep the entry for 3 years after the crash.

You do not send the register to FMCSA. FMCSA said in September 2026 that the rule does not make carriers send these records to anyone (FMCSA’s September 2026 notice). But an auditor can ask for it, and it is on the list of records for the new entrant audit. Watch one date as well. If someone hurt in a crash dies within 30 days, the rules count it as a death (the federal definition), so you correct the entry.

Your truck carried no hazardous materials. If yours does, more rules apply. Some hazmat incidents must be phoned in to the National Response Center within 12 hours (the rule on immediate notice). A written report may then be due within 30 days (the rule on written reports).

At 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, the 32 hours are over. Your driver was tested, the note on the late alcohol test is in the file, the insurer has the claim and the load is on its way. The entry is in the register. The one thing you could not fix afterwards was a missed test. So check today that every truck carries its crash card: your number, your testing company’s number, the four questions and the photo list. Then the next call at 7:00 p.m. starts from a plan.

Want a team that takes that call at any hour, books the tests and keeps your records in order all year? Here is what we offer.