Acc Crash Investigation Best Practices

---
name: acc-crash-investigation-best-practices
description: |
  Use this skill to investigate a crash effectively. Covers preservation of evidence, witness statements, dashcam review, and reporting timeline.
---

# Crash Investigation Best Practices

A thorough internal crash investigation protects the carrier, supports insurance defense, and feeds the FMCSA Crash Preventability Determination Program.

## Timeline of investigation
- **Minute 0**: driver reports the crash; safety director notified
- **Hour 1**: dispatch + safety director coordinate response
- **Day 0-1**: evidence preservation (vehicle, scene, witnesses)
- **Day 1-3**: driver interview, witness statements, police report request
- **Day 3-7**: dashcam footage review, ELD data pull, vehicle inspection
- **Day 7-14**: preventability assessment, lessons learned
- **Day 14-30**: written investigation report

## Evidence to preserve
- Vehicle: photos, damage measurements, mechanical condition
- Scene: photos of road, conditions, debris, skid marks
- Witnesses: contact info, written statements
- Driver: written statement, condition assessment, ELD data
- Police: police report (request immediately)
- Dashcam: footage from before, during, after
- Other vehicle: photos, damage, location
- ELD data: 12 hours before, the crash, after

## Witness interview principles
- Conduct ASAP while memory is fresh
- One-on-one (no group interviews)
- Open-ended questions
- Document specifics (time, place, direction, speed, weather)
- Get written + signed statement
- Don't ask leading questions

## Driver interview
- Compassionate but thorough
- Open-ended initially ("tell me what happened")
- Specific follow-up questions
- ELD data + dashcam reviewed together
- Identify any HOS issues (driver tired? Last break?)
- Identify any vehicle issues (mechanical problem? Warning lights?)
- Identify any external factors (weather, traffic, animal, debris)

## Vehicle inspection post-crash
- Inspector examines damage area
- Look for pre-crash mechanical condition issues
- Inspect brakes, tires, lights, steering, suspension
- Document condition before any repairs
- Photos of every angle and component

## Preventability assessment
- Could driver have reasonably avoided this crash?
- Was there warning?
- Was there time/space to react?
- Was the driver alert and engaged?
- Document the determination with reasoning

## Reporting
- DOT-recordable crashes reported to insurer within 24-48 hours
- FMCSA preventability filing within 30 days (if applicable)
- Internal lessons-learned distributed to other drivers within 60 days
- Compass Accidents module retains full investigation file

## Common errors
- Investigation not started promptly (evidence degrades)
- Witnesses not contacted while available
- ELD data not preserved (overwritten by newer data)
- Preventability determination not documented (regret later)
- Carrier doesn't feed lessons learned to other drivers

## CFR citations
- **49 CFR Part 385 Subpart C**
- **FMCSA Investigation Procedures**

## How Compass surfaces this
Searchable in Compass Ask. Runs against carrier fleet data when invoked from the relevant tracker. Read-only; no actions without explicit user approval.


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## Built by X3 Compass

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X3 Compass turns these skills into a complete operational platform: driver qualification files, drug & alcohol consortium, MVR pulls, hours-of-service tracking, hazmat shipping, IFTA filing, FMCSA audit prep, and DataQ dispute drafting — all CFR-cited, all in one place.

*This skill is published under the X3 Compass open skills initiative. Contributions welcome at https://github.com/x3fleetsafety/skills*