What to Do After a Car Accident in Lancaster, CA

What should you do right after a crash?

Work through these in order. The legal duties behind each step are summarized further down.

1. Stop. Driving away from a crash is a crime in California, whether or not anyone was hurt and whoever caused it.
2. Check for injuries. Call 911 if anyone is hurt. The law also requires you to give reasonable help to anyone injured, including arranging a ride to a doctor or hospital when treatment is clearly needed or the injured person asks.
3. Get out of traffic if no one is hurt. If the cars can be driven, move them to the nearest spot that does not block traffic: the shoulder, an off-ramp, a side street or a parking lot. Moving does not decide who was at fault.
4. Make yourself visible. Turn on your hazard lights. On CA-14, stay well away from moving traffic while you wait. The Highway 14 breakdown guide covers shoulder safety in detail.
5. Exchange information with every other driver: driver’s license, vehicle registration, insurance and address. Write down plate numbers and each vehicle’s make, model and color.
6. Take photos and notes. Photograph every vehicle, the damage and the plates. Note the road, the nearest cross street or CA-14 exit, your direction of travel and the time. Get names and phone numbers of witnesses.
7. Report it to the right agency. The table below shows which one.
8. Deal with the tow if your car cannot be driven safely. The tow section below covers your rights.

If you hit a parked car, a fence or other property and cannot find the owner, leave a note in a visible place with your name, address and what happened, then report the crash without unnecessary delay.

Who handles a crash on which road?

It depends on where the crash happened, not where you live. Two rules settle most cases:

• Freeways belong to CHP. Vehicle Code 2400 gives the California Highway Patrol primary jurisdiction over crashes on state highways built as freeways, including the parts inside city limits. Every crash on CA-14 (the Antelope Valley Freeway) is a CHP crash.
• City streets belong to the Sheriff. Lancaster and Palmdale contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for police service. The City of Lancaster names the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station as the traffic law enforcement agency inside city limits.

Where the crash happened	Who handles it	Office phone
CA-14, including inside Lancaster and Palmdale	CHP Antelope Valley Area	(661) 743-6060
Lancaster city streets, such as Avenue J or 10th Street West	LASD Lancaster Station	(661) 948-8466
SR-138 outside city limits, and county roads in places like Quartz Hill, Antelope Acres, Lake Los Angeles and Littlerock	CHP Antelope Valley Area	(661) 743-6060
Palmdale city streets	LASD Palmdale Station	(661) 272-2400
Rosamond and the rest of Kern County	CHP Mojave Area for traffic, (661) 823-5500; Kern County Sheriff’s Office	Kern Sheriff non-emergency: (661) 861-3110

Phone numbers are the agencies’ own listings, checked October 2026. For an emergency, call 911 instead.

The CHP Antelope Valley Area covers about 30 miles of SR-14 from Acton to the Kern County line and about 1,400 miles of unincorporated roads, including SR-138 and Angeles Forest Highway. Its office is at 2041 W Avenue I in Lancaster.

Rosamond is across the county line in Kern County, so Los Angeles County agencies do not handle crashes there. CHP’s Mojave Area lists Rosamond among the communities it serves. In Palmdale, city streets go to the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station, while CA-14 through Palmdale is still CHP.

What does California law require after a crash?

These are plain-language summaries. Follow the links for the full text, and talk to a lawyer if your situation is unusual.

If the crash	The law requires	Statute
Injured or killed anyone	Stop at the scene. Give your name, address, plate number and the owner’s name and address to the other people involved and to any officer. Show your license if asked. Give reasonable help to anyone hurt.	VC 20001, VC 20003
Killed anyone and no officer is there	Report it without delay to the nearest CHP or police office	VC 20004
Injured or killed anyone	Make, or have someone make, a written report to CHP, or inside a city to CHP or the city’s police, no later than 24 hours after the crash	VC 20008
Only damaged vehicles or property	Stop at the nearest location that does not block traffic. Find the owner and exchange details, or leave a written note and report it to the city police, or to CHP in an unincorporated area	VC 20002
Injured or killed anyone, or caused over $1,000 in property damage	File an SR-1 report with the DMV within 10 days	VC 16000

In Lancaster and Palmdale, “the city’s police” means the Sheriff’s station that serves the city under contract.

Do you need to file an SR-1 with the DMV?

Yes, if anyone was injured (however slightly) or killed, or if property damage was over $1,000. The DMV’s accident reporting page and Driver Handbook set out the rules:

• File within 10 days of the crash.
• Each driver files, whoever was at fault. That includes crashes on private property, such as a parking lot.
• You, or your insurance agent, broker or legal representative, can file it. Law enforcement does not file it for you.
• It is in addition to any police, CHP or insurance report.
• You can file it online. Paper takes longer.
• Not filing can lead to suspension of your driving privilege.

What about the tow?

If your car cannot be driven safely, the tow is the next decision, and California law gives you a say in it.

You can ask for your own tow company

When CHP handles the scene, its own policy manual tells officers to honor a driver’s or owner’s request for a specific tow company or motor club. The exceptions: when that is impractical, for example when the car is blocking a freeway off-ramp, or when the vehicle is being stored or impounded under the law. If you have no preference, the officer calls a tow from CHP’s rotation list.

On a Lancaster or Palmdale city street, ask the deputy whether you can call your own tow. If you have roadside coverage through an insurer or motor club, call them now; they may cover the tow.

Be wary of a tow truck you did not call

Under Vehicle Code 22513, a tow operator may not solicit work at a crash or a disabled vehicle unless law enforcement or a public agency asked for the tow, or the owner or driver called it or asked it to stop. Ask who sent the truck. If nobody did, you do not have to hire it.

Get a written estimate, and read it before you sign

When you or the driver call a tow company to a crash, the same law requires the operator to give you a written, itemized estimate of all charges before hooking up, if you are there. It must show:

• the company’s name, address, phone number and motor carrier permit number
• the tow truck’s license plate and the operator’s full name
• a price for each service: labor, special equipment, mileage from dispatch to return, and storage as a 24-hour rate

You sign it and get a copy, and the company cannot charge for anything beyond the estimate without your consent. Tows dispatched by a motor club, and tows done under a law enforcement contract, are exempt from the estimate rule. Do not sign anything you do not understand or anything with blank price lines. Ask first.

Take your belongings first

If it is safe, take what you need before the car leaves: registration and insurance papers, your phone, wallet, house keys, garage opener, medicine and child seats. If you forget something, Vehicle Code 22651.07 gives you the right to collect personal property from the storage yard at no charge during normal business hours, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except state holidays.

Decide where the car goes

Give the driver a full address: your home, a body shop, or the shop your insurer prefers. If an officer ordered the tow, the car usually goes to the tow company’s storage yard, and storage is charged by the day. The impound and release guide explains how to get it out.

A crash-damaged car, or one with a wheel that will not turn, normally rides on a flatbed. A car that ended up off the road, in a ditch or in soft sand needs accident recovery before it can be towed.

Know which fees the law limits

Vehicle Code 22524.5 says towing and storage fees after an accident must be reasonable. Fees no higher than what CHP or local police pay for similar service are deemed reasonable. Unless a law enforcement towing agreement sets them, these are presumed unreasonable:

• administrative or filing fees, except DMV paperwork and lien-sale fees
• security, dolly, load-and-unload and pull-out fees
• gate fees, unless you or your insurer ask for a release outside business hours
• storage above half the daily rate when the car is picked up in the first four hours
• storage for any day the yard fails to release the car after you asked and paid

The same law makes an insurer that covers towing and storage liable for the reasonable charges. California’s minimum liability insurance is $30,000 for injury or death to one person, $60,000 for injury or death to more than one person, and $15,000 for property damage. For what goes into a tow price, see how much a tow costs in Lancaster.