Don’t exchange information in the middle of the freeway

So you just got in an accident on the freeway. What should you do?

I saw something last week that blew my mind. It was Friday morning, just after 8:30 a.m., prime time for the commute. A small fender bender happened on southbound I-405 in Canyon Park. Two cars were sitting in the left lane.

What I saw next had me shaking my head. The two drivers standing between their cars are having a long discussion. I’m sure they meant well.

They were likely assessing the damage and sharing some information; that’s great — just don’t do it in the middle of the freeway.

If possible, move to the shoulder

If your car is drivable, move it to the shoulder.

“If your vehicles are driveable, we want you to move it to the shoulder, or you can move off to the next exit, just let us know where you’re going,” Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson said. “That’s the safest thing.”

Drivers might have different definitions of what’s drivable or not. I asked Trooper Johnson for his advice.

“Even if you’re leaking fluid, a lot of vehicles will drive a little bit, just to get it off the roadway,” he said. “That’s what we want people to do. There are some collisions where the vehicle is so heavily damaged it’s not going to move, and then we’ll come and we’ll push it.”

What if you think you’re injured?

“If you’re injured and don’t feel comfortable moving your vehicle, you’re not required to,” Johnson said.

If you can’t drive your car, call 911

Step one is to assess the people in the car, including yourself. If you’re OK, move the car to the shoulder and do the inspection there. Stay in your car if you can’t drive it. Then call 911.

“We don’t want you out of your car in a lane of travel,” Johnson said. “Even when you get moved to the shoulder, stay in your car until we get there and we can kind of protect the vehicles and individuals.”

And you won’t be messing with any investigation by moving your vehicle.

“I think there used to be, or maybe still is, the mindset where you have to leave the cars exactly how they ended up, otherwise the investigation won’t be correct,” Johnson said. “That’s not right. There’s no fleeting evidence in a collision scene.”

A trooper will take all the statements and file a report. Detectives don’t need a massive investigation on a minor crash.

“It’s not going to hurt anything, any part of the investigation or liability issues, if you move to the shoulder,” Johnson said.

In many cases, drivers talk on the shoulder and don’t even involve the police. A police report isn’t required for every crash.

But the big takeaway here is to never get out of your car on the freeway.

“We don’t want people on foot on a freeway outside their vehicles,” Johnson said. “It’s just not safe.”

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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