How to Document a Car Accident in Illinois: Photos, Notes & Evidence Checklist

There's a reason this page matters more in Illinois than in most states.

Illinois has no PIP. Nobody's insurer pays anything until fault is figured out. And under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116, if you end up more than 50% to blame, you recover nothing at all.

Which means your case isn't decided by how badly you were hurt. It's decided by what you photographed in the first ten minutes.

## ⚡ Quick Answer Document in three layers: the scene (wide shots before anything moves, skid marks, signals, sight lines), the people (driver info under 625 ILCS 5/11-403, witness name + phone + email, officer badge number), and the paper (crash report, medical visit, repair estimates). Illinois is an all-party consent state — ask before recording. Police reports are typically available in 7–10 business days.

📝 Turn your photos into an organized record with NowAccident → — free, three minutes.

The 12-photo checklist

Take more than feels reasonable. Storage is free. A missing photo is a fault percentage you can't argue with.

Your vehicle (4 photos)

1. All four corners from ~10 feet back
2. Every dent, close up
3. Odometer and dashboard warning lights
4. Interior — deployed airbags, damaged personal property

The other vehicle (3 photos)

1. License plate, clearly readable
2. All damaged panels
3. Any commercial markings, DOT number, or company logo

The scene (5 photos)

1. Wide shot of both cars where they stopped — before anyone moves them
2. Skid marks, debris fields, fluid trails
3. Traffic signals, stop signs, lane markings
4. Sight-line blockers: hedges, parked trucks, snow banks, construction barrels
5. Road surface, weather, standing water, lighting

The bonus shot everyone forgets: the scene from each driver's seat. What the other driver could and could not see is, very often, the entire fault argument. Nobody thinks to capture it. It wins cases.

What information must the other driver give you?

625 ILCS 5/11-403 requires a driver involved in a crash to:

• give their name, address, and vehicle registration number
• show their driver license on request
• render reasonable assistance if someone is injured, including arranging transport to medical care

Collect all of it. Then collect more:

If they refuse, call the police. It's statutory, not a courtesy.

Witnesses: how to keep one

Most witnesses evaporate. The ones who don't are the ones you made easy to reach.

• Name, phone, and email. All three.
• Ask one question: "What did you see?" Don't coach the answer.
• Note where they were standing or driving.
• Ask about a dashcam, and whether they'll save the file.

⚠️ The Illinois recording trap

Illinois is an all-party consent state under the eavesdropping statute, 720 ILCS 5/14-2. Recording a private conversation without everyone's consent is a criminal offense here — one of the strictest regimes in the country.

Do this: turn on the recorder, say clearly "I'm recording — is that okay with you?", and get the "yes" on the recording.

Do not skip that step because you're rattled. A recording obtained illegally is worse than no recording.

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How do you get the Illinois crash report?

The report is called an SR-19 Illinois Traffic Crash Report, and it comes from whichever agency responded.

Most reports are available in 7–10 business days. Passengers, injured parties, attorneys for any party, and insurance carriers are all entitled to obtain them.

Under 625 ILCS 5/11-408, the investigating agency must submit the report to IDOT within 10 days.

And a correction you'll need. You may read that you have to file an SR-1 within 10 days. You don't. Public Act 102-0560 repealed that duty in August 2021. See [what Illinois reporting actually requires](/illinois/what-happens-if-you-dont-report/).

What to write down the same day

Memory isn't a recording. It's a reconstruction, and it gets worse every time you use it.

Before you sleep, write:

• Time, date, exact location (cross streets, mile marker, direction of travel)
• Your speed, your lane, what you were doing in the ten seconds before impact
• What the other vehicle did, in sequence
• Weather, light, road surface
• Exactly what each person said — including apologies, in either direction
• Every symptom, however small, and when it started
• Responding officer names, badge numbers, and the report number

Then keep a daily symptom log. Not to exaggerate — the opposite. A log that records the good days alongside the bad ones is dramatically more credible than one that only records suffering. Adjusters and juries can tell the difference.

Medical documentation in a state with no PIP

Illinois gives you no automatic medical coverage. So the medical record does double duty: it proves you were hurt, and it proves the crash is what hurt you.

The enemy is the gap. Three days between crash and first visit reads as normal. Three weeks reads as "something else caused this."

• Go, even if you feel fine
• Say every symptom out loud, including the vague ones
• Keep the discharge paperwork and every referral
• Never skip a scheduled follow-up without documenting why

What not to do

• Don't post about it. Not the photos, not the frustration, not "I'm fine, just shaken up." All of it is discoverable.
• Don't give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer without understanding you're not obligated to.
• Don't sign an open-ended medical authorization granting access to your whole history.
• Don't repair the car before it's photographed and estimated.
• Don't speculate about fault out loud. "I might have been going a little fast" is a sentence a jury will hear.
• Don't delete dashcam footage, even unhelpful footage. Spoliation is its own problem.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to gather evidence in Illinois? No evidence deadline exists, but the lawsuit deadline is two years for injury (735 ILCS 5/13-202) and one year against a government entity (745 ILCS 10/8-101). Physical evidence disappears far faster — surveillance footage often within 7 to 30 days.

Can I record the other driver in Illinois? Only with consent. Illinois is an all-party consent state under 720 ILCS 5/14-2.

Is a police report required for an Illinois insurance claim? No. But without it, the burden of proving fault falls entirely on your own documentation — in a state where more than 50% fault means zero recovery.

How much does an Illinois crash report cost? Between $0 and about $20, depending on the agency. Illinois State Police direct requests are often free; Chicago Police reports typically run about $20.

Does dashcam footage help or hurt? It's neutral, which is the point. If it shows the other driver at fault, it's the strongest evidence you'll ever have. If it shows you at fault, it exists whether you like it or not.

📝 Photos scattered across a camera roll aren't a record. Make one with NowAccident — free.

Sources

• 625 ILCS 5/11-401, 11-402, 11-403, 11-407, 11-408
• Public Act 102-0560 (SB 2455) — repealed the driver's crash report requirement
• 720 ILCS 5/14-2 — eavesdropping; all-party consent
• 735 ILCS 5/2-1116 — modified comparative negligence
• 735 ILCS 5/13-202; 745 ILCS 10/8-101
• Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Transportation — crash report access

Disclaimer

This article is general information about Illinois law as of the last updated date. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Illinois eavesdropping law carries criminal penalties; do not record any conversation without consent. Confirm current requirements before relying on this article. Verify statutes at ilga.gov and consult a licensed Illinois attorney. Health statements here are general information, not medical advice.