General Duties

• According to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), an accident report should be filed within five days of any incident in which injuries occur or if damages total more than $1,000, but not if it occurred on a private road, parking lot or driveway. If your accident fits one of these criteria, you should call the police, who will come out and file an accident report. You will receive a copy to send to your insurance company.
  
  

File Yourself

• If the police were not called after an accident, your insurance company may inform you of your duty to file it yourself before a claim can be processed. That means you will need to have collected information directly after the crash regarding other drivers, their insurance and contact information as well as witnesses. You can access the state's standard auto accident reporting form online. Print the form, fill it out completely, sign it and mail a copy to the police in the municipality where the accident occurred, your insurance company and the state.
  
  

Report to State

• The police will send a copy of each accident report it files to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which monitors vehicle crash data. You should do the same for the state so it has a clear picture of the accidents that occur in the state. Traffic engineers with the RMV use this data with traffic pattern studies to determine how roads and intersections can be made safer through stricter regulations and new designs.
  
  

Moral Duty

• Besides information gathering and reporting duties that you'll need to fulfill after an auto accident, you'll also be responsible for upholding a societal duty, or moral obligation, to administer aid to the injured as quickly as possible. Immediately check on everyone involved, after an accident, to make sure no one is injured. You may think the driver in front of you just wants to remain in her vehicle, but she may instead be badly injured or suffering a heart attack.