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After a car accident in Philadelphia
Find the right place to request your crash report, explore local law firms and get your next steps organized in Philadelphia.
By SettlementLift. Published · Updated .
Finding the right local record
Philadelphia’s Department of Records separates crash reports from police incident, fire and EMS reports and links an online public-safety report service. Its crash-report application includes eligibility documentation. Choose the crash report category and check the current instructions for the copy you need.
Philadelphia: Public safety reports ↗Special hauling permits
Philadelphia’s special-hauling process asks for the carrier’s USDOT number, dates, origin, destination, route, dimensions and load information. The city explains that the route and travel date can affect partner approvals, including PennDOT requirements. These details can guide an attorney’s records questions when an oversized or heavy load is involved. A normal truck trip should not automatically be treated as a special-hauling move.
Philadelphia: Special hauling permits ↗A separate national fatal-crash measure
Our NHTSA FARS extraction for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania city-code area records 132 fatal crashes, 136 fatalities and 10 fatal crashes involving a large truck in 2024. It uses the first annual release dated April 1, 2026. The city-code area is not the county or metropolitan area. State and local publications may differ in definitions and release dates; do not add their counts, replace one with the other or treat a difference as an error.
NHTSA: 2024 FARS national CSV archive ↗How to read a city count
The figures describe records assigned to the exact FARS city code, rather than every crash associated with a mailing address or surrounding county. Records with unknown or other location codes may not be assigned to this city. A zero in a truck subset means no matching records in this extraction, not proof that no truck accident occurred. Counts alone do not measure comparative driving risk.
NHTSA: FARS analytical user manual ↗Keep the report and your own documents together
Save the agency and report reference, original photos you already have, insurer correspondence and receipts. For a truck crash, record identifiers visible in existing images and ask a lawyer whether other records need preservation. Do not return to an unsafe scene or assume truck involvement establishes responsibility.
Questions about attorneys and financial options
Ask whether a lawyer handles the particular accident and jurisdiction, who would work on the matter and how fees and expenses are calculated. Ask about applicable deadlines directly. If you are waiting for a case to resolve, compare billing arrangements and funding alternatives using written costs. Neither the local crash count nor a lawyer’s advertised result predicts your recovery.