What to Do in the First 48 Hours After a Car Accident in Hawaii

The first two days after a crash are mostly medical and administrative, not legal. Very little that matters legally has to be decided in that window. What does matter is that a handful of things are done while they can still be done — and that nothing is signed or agreed to before you understand it.

At the Scene, Hawaii Law Requires Specific Things

These are statutory duties, and they apply to drivers regardless of who caused the collision.

Stop and stay. Under HRS §291C-13, a driver in a collision resulting only in damage to a vehicle or other property that is driven or attended by any person must immediately stop at the scene, or as close to it as possible, and must remain there until the requirements of HRS §291C-14 have been met. Where the collision results in serious bodily injury or death, HRS §291C-12(a) imposes the same duty to stop and remain; a violation of that subsection is a class B felony under §291C-12(b).

Exchange information and help anyone hurt. HRS §291C-14(a) requires a driver involved in a collision resulting in injury to or death of any person, or damage to any vehicle or property driven or attended by a person, to give their name, address, and vehicle registration number, and on request and if available to show their driver’s license, to any injured person and to the driver, occupant, or attendant of the damaged property. The same subsection requires the driver to render reasonable assistance to anyone injured, including carrying or arranging to carry that person for medical treatment where it is apparent that treatment is necessary or the injured person asks for it.

Notify the police. HRS §291C-16(a) requires the driver of a vehicle involved in a collision resulting in injury or death of any person, or total damage to all property to an apparent extent of $3,000 or more, to give notice of the collision immediately, by the quickest means of communication, to the nearest police officer. The same subsection provides that a responding officer shall file a written report where it appears the collision caused injury or death or property damage apparently reaching $3,000. If the driver is physically incapable of giving that notice and another occupant is capable of doing so, §291C-16(b) puts the duty on that occupant.

The $3,000 figure is a threshold for the reporting duty. It is not a threshold for anything else, and it has nothing to do with whether a claim is worth pursuing.

Get Evaluated, Even If You Feel Able to Walk Away

This is practical advice rather than a legal requirement. Injuries that involve the neck, back, or head frequently present hours or days later, when adrenaline has worn off. There is a medical reason to be seen and a separate, secondary reason that matters later: a gap between the collision and the first medical record is the single most common argument an insurer makes that an injury was minor or came from something else.

Consistency matters more than speed. Attending the appointments that are made for you, and following referrals, produces a record that reflects what actually happened.

How the No-Fault Claim Gets Opened

Hawaii is a no-fault state for motor vehicle injuries, which means your own medical treatment is normally paid first by personal injury protection (PIP) benefits without anyone establishing who was at fault. HRS §431:10C-304(1) requires every PIP insurer to pay those benefits, without regard to fault, to the provider of services on behalf of persons who sustain accidental harm from the operation, maintenance, or use of the vehicle.

The statute names who is covered: any person including the owner, operator, occupant, or user of the insured vehicle; any pedestrian, including a bicyclist; any user or operator of a moped as defined in HRS §249-1; and any user or operator of an electric foot scooter as defined in the same section. The same paragraph carries an important exclusion — it does not apply to injury to or death of an operator or passenger of a motorcycle or motor scooter as defined in HRS §286-2, unless the motor vehicle policy expressly provides for it.

Which policy pays depends on where you were. Under HRS §431:10C-305(b)(1), PIP benefits are paid primarily from the insurance on the vehicle occupied by the injured person at the time of the accident, or, if the injured person is a pedestrian or bicyclist, from the insurance on the vehicle that caused the harm. If there is no insurance on that vehicle, any other motor vehicle insurance applicable to the injured person applies. The same paragraph provides that no person shall recover PIP benefits from more than one insurer for harm from the same accident.

Once a claim is made, the insurer is on a clock. HRS §431:10C-304(3)(A) requires payment of PIP benefits within thirty days after the insurer has received reasonable proof of the fact and amount of benefits accrued and a demand for payment. If it denies the claim in whole or in part, §431:10C-304(3)(B) requires it to notify the claimant in writing within thirty days, with the reasons. If it cannot yet pay or deny because it needs more information, §431:10C-304(3)(C) requires it to send an itemized list of the documents it needs within that same thirty days. Amounts still unpaid after the thirty days bear interest at one and one-half per cent per month under §431:10C-304(4).

What Not to Settle in the First 48 Hours

An adjuster may well call within a day or two. That call is normal and it is early by design; it is covered in detail in the guide on what the insurance adjuster’s first call is really for. Nothing in the first 48 hours requires you to accept a settlement figure, sign a release, or agree to a recorded statement before you understand what is being asked.

It is also too early to know what an injury involves. The extent of a soft tissue or head injury is often not clear for weeks, and the medical picture is what the claim is measured against.

Things Worth Doing While They Are Still Possible

None of these are legal requirements. They are simply things that stop being possible quickly:

• Photographs of both vehicles, their positions, the roadway, signals and signage, and any visible injuries
• Names and contact details for witnesses, who are otherwise nearly impossible to find later
• The responding officer’s name and the report number
• A note, written the same day, of what happened in your own words
• Bills, referrals, and out-of-pocket receipts kept together from the start

Vehicles get repaired or scrapped, businesses overwrite surveillance footage on a fixed cycle, and roadway conditions change. Evidence in a Hawaii injury claim is at its most complete on day one and gets thinner from there.

The Deadlines Are Longer Than 48 Hours — But They Are Running

Hawaii’s general deadline for injury claims is two years. HRS §657-7 provides that actions for the recovery of compensation for damage or injury to persons or property shall be instituted within two years after the cause of action accrued, and not after, subject to the exception in HRS §657-13. Motor vehicle claims also have their own limitations statute, HRS §431:10C-315, which sets the deadline at the later of several dates rather than a single one.

Those periods are not uniform and several claim types are shorter, so the guide to Hawaii filing deadlines by claim type sets each one out against the statute it comes from. If a government vehicle or a government-maintained road is involved, confirm the deadline early rather than assuming it is two years.

Where to Read Further

For how the no-fault system works once treatment is underway — what PIP covers, the $10,000 aggregate limit, and the four circumstances in which tort liability is not abolished — see how Hawaii’s no-fault insurance works when you are the one hurt. For the legal framework specific to collisions, including how fault is apportioned, see the page on Hawaii car accident claims and no-fault rules. For the elements every Hawaii injury claim has to prove, see the elements of a Hawaii personal injury claim.