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Utah driving lesson · Crashes, Insurance & Your Record

What to do after a crash

A 3-minute lesson from the Utah course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.

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Read time
3 minutes
Course unit
Crashes, Insurance & Your Record
Checkpoint questions
6
Source pages
74

If you're involved in a crash, the law expects you to stop, help anyone hurt, report serious crashes, and share your information. Leaving the scene is punished severely, and it becomes a felony when someone is injured.

Know the rule

If you are involved in a crash, stop immediately.

Handbook p. 74 ↗

Penalties for not remaining at the scene:

  • License suspended or revoked for up to one year
  • Jail sentence of up to one year
  • Fine of up to $2,500, or both jail and fine
Handbook p. 74 ↗

Know the rule

Failing to stop at the scene of an injury crash is a third-degree felony.

Handbook p. 74 ↗

Know the rule

You must give reasonable help to anyone injured, including taking or arranging to take them to a doctor or hospital if treatment is clearly needed or they ask. Avoid moving anyone who seems seriously injured unless it prevents further injury.

Handbook p. 74 ↗

Know the rule

If only property is damaged and no one is hurt, move the vehicle out of the travel lanes as soon as possible: to a shoulder, the nearest suitable cross street, or off the freeway to an exit ramp shoulder or frontage road. Stay there until all requirements are met.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
$2,500

Total property damage (or any injury or death) that requires you to notify law enforcement (911) immediately; applies to all crashes, even with no other driver involved

Handbook p. 74 ↗

Exchange with the others involved:

  • Your name and address
  • Vehicle registration number
  • Insurance information, including the agent's or provider's name and phone number
Handbook p. 74 ↗

Hit an unattended vehicle and can't find the owner? Leave a note with:

  • Name and address of the driver of your vehicle
  • Plate number of the vehicle that caused the crash
Handbook p. 74 ↗

Know the rule

If you give this information to a police officer at the scene, you don't have to give it to the other people involved.

Handbook p. 74 ↗

Know the rule

You may be asked to give insurance information to the Financial Responsibility Section of the Driver License Division.

Handbook p. 74 ↗

Put it into practice

You back into a parked car in a lot and no one is around. You stop, look for the owner, and when you can't find them, leave a note with your name, address, and your plate number where it will be seen.

Check your understanding

Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.

If you are involved in a crash, what must you do first?
  1. Call your insurance company first
  2. Leave to get help if unhurt
  3. Wait for the other driver to stop
  4. Stop immediately

Answer: Stop immediately

If you are involved in a crash, you must stop immediately.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
You must notify law enforcement (911) immediately if a crash results in:
  1. Injury, death, or at least $2,500 in property damage
  2. Any damage at all, however minor
  3. Only if a vehicle is undrivable
  4. Only if someone is unconscious

Answer: Injury, death, or at least $2,500 in property damage

You must notify 911 immediately for a crash involving injury, death, or at least $2,500 in property damage.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
Failing to stop at the scene of an injury crash is classified as:
  1. A class B misdemeanor
  2. A third-degree felony
  3. An infraction
  4. A class A misdemeanor

Answer: A third-degree felony

It is a third-degree felony to fail to stop at the scene of an injury crash.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
What information must you exchange with others involved in a crash?
  1. Only your name
  2. Only your insurance company's name
  3. Nothing is required if no one is hurt
  4. Your name, address, vehicle registration number, and insurance information

Answer: Your name, address, vehicle registration number, and insurance information

You must exchange your name, address, vehicle registration number, and insurance information.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
If you hit an unattended vehicle and cannot find the owner, you must leave a note with your name, address, and plate number.
  1. True
  2. False

Answer: True

If the owner of an unattended vehicle can't be found, you must leave a note with this information.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
After a crash with only property damage and no injuries, what does Utah law allow the driver to do?
  1. Move the vehicle out of the travel lanes
  2. Leave once the vehicles are out of traffic
  3. Skip exchanging information if damage is minor
  4. Drive home and report it later

Answer: Move the vehicle out of the travel lanes

In a property-damage-only crash you may move the vehicle out of the travel lanes, but you must remain at the scene until all requirements are met.

Handbook p. 74 ↗
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