What to Do After a Car Accident in Canada

If you're reading this soon after a crash, take a breath. You don't have to do everything at once, and you don't have to do it perfectly. Here's what matters most, roughly in order.

In the first minutes

• Check for injuries — yours and anyone else's. Call 911 if anyone is hurt.
• Get to safety if you can, and turn on your hazard lights.
• Call the police if there are injuries, significant damage, or you're unsure. Many provinces require reporting above a damage threshold, and a police report helps later.

At the scene, if you're able

• Exchange names, licence, insurance, and plate numbers with the other driver(s).
• Take photos — the vehicles, the positions, the road, the weather, any visible injuries.
• Note the time, location, and the names of any witnesses.

If you can't do these things because you're hurt or shaken, that's okay. Your health comes first, and a lot can be reconstructed later.

Even if you feel fine

See a doctor. Adrenaline hides pain, and some of the most common accident injuries — whiplash, concussion, soft-tissue damage — can take hours or days to show up. A medical record from early on protects both your health and your claim.

In the days that follow

• Notify your own insurer promptly — most policies require it within a set time.
• Keep every receipt, appointment, and conversation in one place.
• Write down how you feel, day by day. Memory fades; a record doesn't.

What happens next depends heavily on which province you were in — the insurer, the forms, the deadlines, and your rights are different everywhere. That's the part people most often get wrong, and it's exactly what we built our provincial guides to handle.