After a car accident in Tulsa: the scene, the report and the claim

What Oklahoma law requires at the crash scene

Stop at once, at the crash or as near to it as you can, without blocking traffic more than you must. Then stay until you have met the duties in 47 O.S. § 10-104:

• Give your details. Your correct name, your address and the registration number of the car you are driving. Show your driver license and insurance card if asked; section 7-601 lets anyone affected by the crash ask to see that proof.
• Help the injured. Give reasonable assistance, including getting a hurt person to a doctor or hospital when treatment is plainly needed or they ask.
• A parked car with nobody in it. Find the owner, or leave a note in plain view inside it with your name, address, insurance details and what happened (section 10-105).
• A fence, sign or pole. Take reasonable steps to find and tell the property owner (section 10-106).

Driving off after a crash that damaged only an attended vehicle is a misdemeanor: up to $500, up to a year in the county jail, or both. Section 10-103 also makes that driver liable in a civil suit for three times the damage. If someone is injured, a willful failure to stop is a Class B5 felony under section 10-102 as amended effective January 1, 2026.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, sections 7-601 and 10-102 to 10-106 (PDF).

Moving the car out of traffic when no one is hurt

Oklahoma has a move-it rule. Under 47 O.S. § 11-1001(B), the owner or driver of a vehicle blocking the regular flow of traffic must “make every reasonable effort to remove the obstructing vehicle or cargo from the roadway”. That section defines a highway as any public road, street or turnpike, so city streets count. The rule does not cover a crash where anyone is hurt or killed, and it does not excuse you from staying: pull onto the shoulder or into a nearby lot and wait there.

If the car cannot move, section 11-1002(B) lets officers clear a damaged vehicle to the nearest safe place. When it is safe, photograph where the cars stopped first; the Oklahoma Insurance Department's claim steps tell drivers to take photos of the scene.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, sections 11-1001 and 11-1002 (PDF); Oklahoma Insurance Department: How to File a Claim.

Call 911 or the Tulsa Police non-emergency line?

Call 911 when anyone is hurt. Section 10-107 of Title 47 requires a driver in a crash that injures or kills someone to notify the police at once, by the quickest means; inside Tulsa that is the Tulsa Police Department. The Insurance Department's claim guide draws the same line between a life-threatening injury and a crash with no emergency.

For damage only, call TPD's non-emergency number, 918-596-9222, the number its reporting page gives for anything that is not an emergency. The response costs you nothing: 47 O.S. § 10-118 bars any fee for police responding to or investigating a crash.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, sections 10-107 and 10-118 (PDF); Tulsa Police: Make a Police Report; Oklahoma Insurance Department: How to File a Claim.

When Tulsa Police does not send an officer

When bad weather floods dispatch with crash calls, TPD can switch on the Traffic Collision Response Restrictions in its Policy 110C. An officer is then assigned only to a crash with a death or injury, a drunk driver, a hit and run, or a City of Tulsa vehicle. Other drivers are told to trade information and to call back if someone refuses. An uninsured driver does not change that: “The mere lack of insurance or a driver’s license is not a refusal and an officer will not be assigned.”

The policy's list of what to collect from each driver: name, address and phone number; driver license details; tag number, state and year; insurance information; the vehicle's year, make and model; and the registered owner's name, address and phone.

Then report it yourself on TPD's online traffic collision report, which takes crashes inside Tulsa city limits but not injury crashes or crashes on interstates such as I-44 and I-244. You are Unit 1 and the other vehicle is Unit 2. TPD emails a report number once it accepts the report, review can take up to 48 hours, and TPD says to file within 24 hours.

Source: Tulsa Police Policy 110C, Traffic Collision Response Restrictions (PDF); Tulsa Police: Traffic Collision Report.

The written crash report Oklahoma law requires

Apart from any police report, 47 O.S. § 10-108 makes the driver send a written report to the Department of Public Safety when the crash was not on private property, someone was hurt or damage to one vehicle or other property is apparently over $300, and nothing has been settled within six months. A settlement, if reached, must be reported instead.

DPS then notifies the other parties, who have 20 days to give it what it needs to check whether they carried the insurance the law requires; a driver who did not faces DPS proceedings under the financial responsibility law. If you skip the report, section 10-114 lets DPS suspend your license until you file it. Your report stays confidential under section 10-115 and cannot be used as evidence at trial.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, sections 10-108, 10-114 and 10-115 (PDF).

Getting the collision report afterwards

For a crash Tulsa Police worked, request the report from TPD Records through its online Open Records Center or by mail; the wrecked car guide has the address. TPD's request form asks for the report number and refuses vague requests, so keep the number you were given. TPD says copy fees come from the Open Records Act, a mayoral executive order or city ordinance; the current order, Executive Order 2026-04, was signed July 29, 2026.

For a Highway Patrol crash, DPS sends report requests to Service Oklahoma's Collision Request for Records (form 303RM-C) or to (405) 522-7000. As of the May 2025 form, a report costs $7 and a certified copy $10, by mail or in person, and you may get only your own report unless a listed exception applies. Reports can take up to 30 days to reach the system.

Source: Tulsa Police: Request TPD Records; Tulsa Police records request form (PDF); Oklahoma DPS: Open Records Request; Service Oklahoma: Collision Request for Records, form 303RM-C (PDF).

Crashes on I-44, I-244 and the turnpikes

TPD's online form will not take an interstate crash, and its reporting FAQ says: “If this took place on a state Freeway please call the Highway Patrol Office nearest you.” Turnpikes have Highway Patrol troops of their own. Call 911 for any injury; for damage only, call the troop for the road you were on:

Road	OHP troop	Phone
Interstates and highways in the Tulsa area	Troop B, Tulsa	(918) 627-3881
Creek Turnpike	Troop XE	(918) 355-9069
Turner Turnpike	Troop YB	(918) 968-3000
Will Rogers Turnpike	Troop XA	(918) 256-7476
Muskogee Turnpike	Troop XB	(918) 683-1782

Source: Tulsa Police: Make a Police Report, report FAQ; Tulsa Police: Traffic Collision Report; Oklahoma Highway Patrol: Troops.

Insurance claims after a Tulsa crash

Oklahoma requires liability insurance, which pays for harm its holder is found liable for. The Insurance Department sets out the two paths: if the other driver caused the crash, tell your insurer and claim with the other driver's company; if you caused it, claim your damage on your own policy and expect the other side to claim against it. Collision coverage pays for your car whoever was at fault, less your deductible when it was you. At the scene, the department's advice is short: “Do not admit fault at the scene, as the adjuster will determine negligence.”

The legal minimum is 25/50/25 under 47 O.S. § 7-103, and costs above a driver's limits are that driver's to pay. The insurance guide explains the minimums and lapses. If you cannot agree with an insurer, the department offers mediation; its Tulsa line is 918.295.3700.

Source: Oklahoma Insurance Department: How to File a Claim; Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, sections 7-103 and 7-601 (PDF).

If the other driver has no insurance

Uninsured motorist coverage, 36 O.S. § 3636, pays for injuries to the people your policy insures when the at-fault driver has no insurance, drives off, or carries limits lower than your claim. Every Oklahoma auto liability policy includes it unless the named insured rejected it in writing, so check your declarations page. It covers people, not cars. The Insurance Department puts it plainly: “It does not pay for damages to your car.” Collision coverage repairs the car; liability-only leaves nothing for it.

The uninsured driver has problems too. TPD Policy 112G tells officers to tow a vehicle in a collision that has no compulsory insurance, and a section 10-108 report lets DPS check each driver's insurance and act against one who had none.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 36, section 3636 (PDF); Oklahoma Insurance Department: FAQs, uninsured motorist coverage; Tulsa Police Policy 112G, Impounding Vehicles (PDF); Oklahoma Statutes, Title 47, section 10-108 (PDF).

How Oklahoma splits fault: 23 O.S. sections 13 and 14

Under 23 O.S. § 13, your own share of blame does not stop you recovering unless it is greater than the other driver's, or greater than everyone else's combined. Section 14 then cuts your recovery by your share. Found 20 percent at fault on a $10,000 loss, you would recover $8,000. If your share is the greater one, you recover nothing.

The Insurance Department does not decide fault; its FAQ says only a court with jurisdiction can. Until then, the adjusters on the claim weigh negligence.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 23, sections 13 and 14 (PDF); Oklahoma Insurance Department: FAQs, determining liability; Oklahoma Insurance Department: How to File a Claim.

Deadlines: two years to sue, one year for a City of Tulsa vehicle

Under 12 O.S. § 95(A)(3), a lawsuit for injuring personal property, such as your car, must be filed within two years. The same paragraph sets two years for an action for injury to the rights of another not arising on contract. If you were hurt, see a lawyer well before the second anniversary of the crash.

A City of Tulsa vehicle brings a shorter first step. TPD Policy 119 says city ordinances require TPD to investigate collisions involving City-owned vehicles. A claim against the City needs written notice within one year of the loss under 51 O.S. § 156, or it is barred for good. The City's Notice of Tort Claim form goes to the City Clerk, 175 East Second Street, Suite 260, Tulsa, OK 74103, with a copy of the title or registration for a damaged vehicle. Road damage is covered in the pothole damage guide.

Source: Oklahoma Statutes, Title 12, section 95 (PDF); Oklahoma Statutes, Title 51, section 156 (PDF); Tulsa Police Policy 119, City Vehicle Collisions (PDF); City of Tulsa Legal: Tort Claim Form; City of Tulsa: Notice of Tort Claim (PDF).

Where a wrecked car goes after a Tulsa crash

TPD Policy 112G says officers impound only when necessary. After a crash, it calls for a tow when someone died or suffered great bodily injury, when the driver was arrested or taken for medical care and cannot consent to leaving the car, or when the car has no compulsory insurance. Police tows go to a storage facility under contract with the City; the towed and impounded guide covers the lot and release.

Source: Tulsa Police Policy 112G, Impounding Vehicles (PDF).

If the car is not worth fixing

You can sell a damaged car as it is. Call (539) 271-2021 or use the sell-it-to-us form. We cover all of Tulsa and buy some cars ourselves, paying by check. If yours is not one we can buy, we say so and point you to a partner's free online offer.