Emergencies · medium
You are the driver in a collision in which another motorist appears to be injured. What does the law require of you at the scene?
- A Stop immediately, remain at the scene, and call for emergency help; do not move a seriously injured person unless leaving them creates a greater danger such as fire Correct
- B Drive to the nearest police station to report the crash in person
- C Leave your details on the other vehicle's windscreen and drive on
- D Move the injured person to the roadside first, then call for help
Why A is correct
A crash with injuries carries three absolute duties: stop, stay, and summon aid. Leaving the scene of an injury crash is among the gravest traffic offences on the books, and the duty to remain exists so that the injured person is not alone with their emergency. Within that duty sits a specific limitation on good intentions: a person with a possible spinal or other serious injury should not be moved by untrained hands unless leaving them in place is the greater danger — a burning vehicle, or traffic that cannot be kept away from the scene.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Drive to the nearest police station to report the crash in person
- Reporting at a station is the procedure for a crash you were not part of, or for property damage in specific circumstances. An injury scene you caused or participated in holds you there, at the scene, until the duties are discharged.
- C. Leave your details on the other vehicle's windscreen and drive on
- A note on a windscreen is the hit-and-run protocol for an unoccupied parked car, not for a crash with an injured human being. The presence of injuries escalates every duty: stop, stay, call, help.
- D. Move the injured person to the roadside first, then call for help
- Moving an injured person without need is how a survivor of the crash becomes a paraplegic after it. Untrained movement of someone with a spinal injury can convert a recoverable one into a permanent one, which is why the default is to leave them where they lie, keep them warm and calm, and let the paramedics move them with equipment.
On the road
A two-car intersection crash, one driver conscious but unable to move her leg. The other driver stops, dials emergency services, keeps her talking and still, and stands in the lane directing traffic away with his hazard lights blinking. Paramedics find a stable patient, witnesses in place and the scene controlled — everything the stop-and-stay duty exists to produce.
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Sources
- Section referenced: Colorado Driver Handbook — Accidents: Duties After a Crash
- Colorado Driver Handbook, January 2025 (DR 2337) — English PDF · Spanish PDF
- Retrieved 2026-10-17 from Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles
Every question on this page is written in our own words and is not copied from the handbook. Reviewed by Ethan Wen on 2026-10-18.