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Challenging a Michigan accident report is sometimes the most important step you can take to protect your injury claim, your insurance rates, and your ability to recover fair compensation.
You trusted the officer at the scene to get the facts right. But when you finally read the accident report, the story it tells barely resembles what actually happened. Maybe you’re listed as the at-fault driver when the other car ran the red light. Maybe the diagram puts your vehicle in a lane you were never in. Maybe there’s no mention of the witness who saw the whole thing.
These errors are more common than most people realize. And in a state like Michigan, where fault determination can decide whether you receive a dime for your pain and suffering, a wrong report can cost you everything.
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A Michigan accident report isn’t just paperwork. It’s the document insurance companies, attorneys, and courts rely on to decide who caused the crash and who pays. When the report contains errors, those mistakes follow you.
The bottom line is that a single document, completed by an officer who likely arrived after the collision, can shape the financial and legal outcome of your case for years. That’s why correcting a police report after a crash matters so much.
In Michigan, every qualifying traffic accident is documented on a form called the UD-10 Traffic Crash Report. This is the standardized report that all law enforcement agencies in the state must submit to the Michigan State Police. Roughly 315,000 crash reports are processed through this system each year.
The UD-10 includes details like:
Here’s what many people don’t realize: the UD-10 manual itself acknowledges that officers are sometimes working with incomplete information. When direct evidence isn’t available, the manual instructs officers to use their best judgment based on their investigation and experience. That’s a professional way of saying the report may include educated guesses.
Those guesses carry enormous weight once they’re printed on the form.
At Ben Hall Law, we don’t just read accident reports. We deconstruct them. Ben Hall’s years as a police officer gave him firsthand knowledge of how crash investigations happen in real time, and where they tend to break down.
Our team conducts what we call a shadow investigation. We go back to the scene. We measure what the officer didn’t. We photograph evidence that may still exist. We pull surveillance footage from nearby businesses. We talk to witnesses the officer may have missed. And when the physics of the crash don’t match the officer’s version, we bring in accident reconstruction professionals who can prove it.
Your Report May Not Tell the Whole Story
Our team reviews accident reports for errors and builds an independent case. Let us take a look at yours.
Michigan’s no-fault insurance system means your own insurer covers your medical bills and lost wages through Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits, regardless of who caused the crash. But fault still matters, especially when your injuries are serious.
Under MCL 500.3135, you can file a third-party claim against the at-fault driver if your injuries meet the state’s serious impairment threshold. These claims are where fault determination becomes critical, because Michigan’s comparative negligence rules directly reduce your payout based on your share of responsibility.
Insurance companies know this. Adjusters are trained to use every available tool to push your fault percentage higher, and the accident report is usually their first and most powerful piece of ammunition. If the UD-10 says you were partially or fully at fault, that’s where the adjuster starts.
Disputing fault in your MI car insurance claim requires building an independent body of evidence that contradicts the report. This can include:
Each piece of evidence can shift the fault determination in your favor. And when the stakes involve tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation, even a few percentage points matter.
If you were hurt in a crash anywhere in the greater Lansing area, whether on Cedar Street, Saginaw Highway, or one of the busy intersections near the Capitol, the clock is ticking on your evidence.
Skid marks fade. Gouge marks in the pavement get paved over. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses gets recorded over within days or weeks. Witnesses move, forget details, or become harder to locate. The physical scene that could prove the officer’s report is wrong may not exist a month from now.
This is why we encourage people to reach out as early as possible. When our team gets involved quickly, we can:
Time is one of your most valuable resources in these situations, and it’s the one thing you can’t get back. Understanding your rights during a Michigan investigation is part of protecting your position from day one.
Let’s be clear: most officers do their best to file accurate reports. But the system itself creates conditions where errors are almost unavoidable.
Officers responding to crash scenes are often not the same officers trained in accident reconstruction. A patrol officer may have basic crash investigation training, but analyzing skid mark evidence, calculating vehicle speeds, or interpreting crush damage patterns requires additional coursework that many responding officers haven’t completed.
Add in shift fatigue, adverse weather, multiple simultaneous calls, and the pressure to clear the roadway for traffic, and it’s easy to see how mistakes happen. The question isn’t whether the officer intended to get it wrong. The question is whether the report accurately reflects what happened, and whether it fairly represents your role in the crash.
When we identify police officer negligence in reporting, we’re not attacking the officer’s character. We’re pointing out that the investigation didn’t go far enough to capture the full picture. And we believe every driver deserves a report that tells the truth.
Here are some of the most common questions we hear from people dealing with inaccurate crash reports.
You can contact the law enforcement agency that filed the report to request a correction for factual errors like wrong names, vehicle descriptions, or license plate numbers. However, changing the officer’s opinion on fault typically requires building independent evidence that contradicts the report. An attorney can present that evidence to the insurance company, in mediation, or in court.
There’s no specific deadline for disputing the report itself, but Michigan’s statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit is generally three years from the date of the accident. For no-fault PIP benefit claims, you typically need to file within one year. The sooner you act, the better your chances of preserving the evidence you need.
Yes. While a police report is technically hearsay in many situations, it’s routinely used by insurance companies to justify their fault determinations. In litigation, the officer may be called to testify about their investigation, and their report often forms the basis of that testimony.
Physical evidence can speak louder than any witness. Skid marks, vehicle damage patterns, debris fields, and electronic data from your vehicle’s event data recorder can all help reconstruct what happened. An accident reconstruction professional can analyze this evidence to provide an independent opinion on fault.
Not at all. While your own PIP coverage pays for medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault, fault becomes critical if you need to file a third-party claim for pain and suffering. Under Michigan law, being more than 50% at fault bars you from recovering non-economic damages. That makes the fault determination in the accident report a high-stakes issue.
Reconstruction professionals use physics, engineering, and the physical evidence from the crash to determine things like vehicle speeds, angles of impact, and the sequence of events. Their findings can directly contradict the officer’s narrative on the UD-10, providing powerful evidence for your claim.
If you’ve been injured in a crash and the accident report doesn’t match what really happened, don’t let someone else’s mistake define your case. At Ben Hall Law, we bring a perspective most firms simply can’t offer. Our founder’s background in law enforcement means we know exactly how these reports are built, where the weak points are, and how to challenge them effectively.
You shouldn’t have to pay for an officer’s rushed investigation or an insurance company’s willingness to take a flawed report at face value. We’re here to fight for the truth, and we’re here to fight for you.
Our Lansing car accident lawyers are experienced in handling disputed reports and complex fault scenarios. As attorneys who have worked both as a former Michigan prosecutor and in law enforcement, we know where these investigations break down.
Contact Ben Hall Law today for a free consultation. Let us review your accident report and help you understand your options.
Don’t Let a Wrong Report Cost You
Contact Ben Hall Law for a free review of your accident report and your options.
