To be able understand any police report, you need the state Overlay Sheet.

Here, we have them all. Now you will be able to decipher every code of the report.

To understand the report, you first need an overlay sheet. Every state has one sheet, but every locality or jurisdiction can change the way they write the reports. Below you will find a list of the most common overlay sheets in the United States.

Once you obtain a copy of the report, and before you fax it to your claim adjuster, you must be able to understand exactly what the report says. In the following example, there is no indication of fault, or other circumstances that could have contributed to the accident. However, the codes on both sides of the report will tell a different story. How do you know what these codes mean? We look at the Overlay sheet, the problem is that most states do not provide them. You must ask for them!

The Overlay Sheet is used to interpret the codes written on the Police Traffic Collision Report. You are supposed to place the Overlay on top of the report making the numbers on the both sides match. The you can compare the codes to the meaning of the overlay sheet for Driver 1 and Driver 2 (and or Driver 3).

Here is the Washington State Overlay Sheet to interpret any accident reported by the state patrol:

Let us then being our review of this accident. The first section of the first page looks like this:

The right side of the police report has three boxes that repeat themselves. They are numbered 1, 2, and 3. They repeat themselves repeatedly for different categories. These numbers are to the left of the boxes. They represent the unit or vehicle number noted in the actual report. The number to the right of the box represents the category noted in the Overlay Sheet. These very first boxes on the right side of the report correspond to category 27, 28, and 29 on the overlay sheet, correspond to Contributory Circumstances. This category is essential to your accident. Here is where you find out what people did wrong according to the police. In this case, unity 1 has been tagged with the number 7. In the overlay sheet category 27, number 7, corresponds to following too close. Category 28, number 18, corresponds to corresponds to none (or nothing). Finally Category 29, number 01, corresponds to Under Influence of Alcohol!

So, the driver of Unit One was under the influence of alcohol! You will not see on this police report anything regarding this. So if you do not know how to read a police report, you will not be able to use this to your advantage.

You can continue down reading the police report on both the right and left sides, per unit number, and see what the police actually wrote about the accident.

Page 2 of the police report looks like this:

The narrative of the police reads:

“All 3 vehicles were north bound on Argonne. Units 2 and 3 were stopped for traffic backed up for a red light. Unit 1 one did not stop on time then rear ended unit 2, which rear ended unit 1.”

The police makes statements who hit who, but the details of the accident are all missing. There is no indication of alcohol, drugs, or medications in this narrative, but we know that in contributory circumstances, unit one had some alcohol charges.

This is why you need to learn how to read your police report. In the following links, you will find a list of the overlay sheet of all states: (note that some overlay sheets are contained within the police report).

After you have the overlay sheet and fax the police report to the claim adjuster, the next step is to take good accident photos.

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