The hours after a crash are disorienting, and the decisions made in them shape everything that follows. This is the sequence, in order of importance.

Key points

  • Get medical help the same day even if you feel fine; symptoms often appear a day or two later.
  • Exchange details, photograph the scene and registration plates, and report the accident to the police, which the CTP claim requires.
  • Notice to the CTP insurer is due within nine months, or one month after first seeing a lawyer; three months for a hit-and-run.

1. Safety and medical help first

Move to safety if you can, call 000 if anyone is hurt, and accept medical help at the scene. If you decline an ambulance, see a doctor the same day or the next, even if you feel only shaken. Adrenaline masks injury; neck and back symptoms in particular commonly appear a day or two later, and the CTP scheme lets the notice deadline run from the first appearance of symptoms for exactly that reason. A medical record made in the first days is also the foundation of any later claim.

2. Exchange details

Queensland road rules require drivers involved in a crash to stop and give their name, address and registration to the other parties. Take the other driver's name, phone number, licence details, registration and insurer if they know it, and do the same for any other vehicle involved. Photograph their registration plate: it identifies the CTP insurer, which is who you will be claiming against.

3. Report it to the police

A CTP claim requires the accident to have been reported to the police. If police attended, ask for the event number. If they did not and someone was hurt, report the crash at a police station as soon as you can: that gives you the QP number the CTP insurer will ask for. Policelink (131 444) and online reporting are for crashes where nobody was hurt. Where the other vehicle drove off, reporting promptly is not only required, it is what allows a claim against the Nominal Defendant later.

4. Record the scene

Photographs of the vehicles where they came to rest, the damage, skid marks, road signs, weather and lighting. Names and numbers of witnesses. If there is dashcam footage, yours or anyone else's, save it now. If the crash happened near a business, note it: their CCTV may have caught it and is usually overwritten within weeks.

5. Do not discuss fault

Say what happened; do not say whose fault it was. Fault is decided later from the police report, the physical evidence and the witnesses, and a remark made at the roadside can be quoted back a year later. The same applies to the other driver's insurer if they phone you.

6. Follow the treatment

Attend the appointments, do the physiotherapy, take the referrals. Beyond being good for you, a treatment record that shows you did what your doctors advised is how the claim demonstrates that any lasting problem is the injury, not a failure to treat it.

7. Keep everything

Receipts for treatment and medication, travel to appointments, days off work, help you have needed at home. A short diary of symptoms and what you could not do. See our note on evidence for the full list.

8. Get advice before the deadlines, not after

A Notice of Accident Claim must reach the CTP insurer within nine months of the accident or of the first symptoms, or within one month of first seeing a lawyer, whichever is earlier. For a hit-and-run, the notice period is three months. The first consultation with us is free and usually takes twenty minutes; it tells you which deadline applies to you and whether the claim is worth running.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to report a car accident to the police to claim CTP? Yes. The Motor Accident Insurance Act requires the accident to have been reported to police, and the report accompanies the Notice of Accident Claim.

What if my injuries only appeared days after the crash? See a doctor as soon as they do. The nine-month notice period can run from when symptoms first appeared, and the medical record made then is the foundation of the claim.

Should I talk to the other driver's insurer? Give factual details only. Do not discuss fault or accept an early offer before getting advice.

Sources

  • Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 (Qld), ss 34 (report to police), 37 (notice of claim and time limits) — legislation.qld.gov.au
  • Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Road Rules) Regulation 2009 (Qld), s 287 (duties of a driver involved in a crash) — legislation.qld.gov.au
  • Motor Accident Insurance Commission, Can I claim? — maic.qld.gov.au
  • Queensland Police, Reporting a traffic crash — police.qld.gov.au