You’re on the ground. The SUV that turned left across your lane is stopped 40 feet ahead, hazards on. Your leg hurts. Your helmet visor is cracked. People are gathering. Someone asks if you’re okay. Your bike is leaking fluid onto Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
What you do in the next 24 hours will shape your claim more than anything your attorney does in the next 24 months.
That’s not a scare tactic. It’s how Georgia motorcycle accident claims actually work. Evidence disappears. Witnesses leave. Injuries that feel minor at 3pm become surgical emergencies by midnight. The insurer for the driver who hit you is already building a file – before you’ve even left the scene. Every hour you wait to document, report, and get evaluated is an hour that works against you.
Georgia operates under modified comparative fault (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). If the other side can prove you were 50% or more at fault, your claim is worth zero. Not reduced – eliminated. The evidence you collect or fail to collect in the first 24 hours is what determines that fault percentage.
Here’s what to do, in order, starting now.
Scene Safety and the 911 Call
Don’t move unless you’re in immediate danger from traffic. Adrenaline masks injuries. Riders who jump up to check their bike sometimes discover hours later that they have fractured vertebrae or a lacerated spleen.
Call 911 immediately. Georgia law requires reporting any accident involving injury or property damage exceeding $500 (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-273). Given that even minor motorcycle repairs typically start at several thousand dollars, virtually every motorcycle crash meets this threshold.
When you call, state three things:
“There’s been a motorcycle accident at [exact location]. I’m injured. I need police and an ambulance.”
Don’t minimize. “I think I’m okay” becomes a quote in the insurance file. “I’m injured” establishes the baseline. If you’re not sure whether you’re injured, you’re injured – adrenaline is doing its job, and you won’t know the real answer for hours.
Stay at the scene until law enforcement arrives. Leaving before the officer arrives, even to drive yourself to the hospital, can be characterized as leaving the scene – a separate offense under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-270 that can complicate your claim and potentially result in criminal charges if anyone else was injured.
When paramedics arrive, let them evaluate you. If they recommend transport to the emergency room, go. Don’t refuse because you feel okay or because you’re worried about your motorcycle. Your bike can be towed. Your ruptured spleen can’t wait.
What to Document Before You Leave the Scene
If you can move and use your phone, document everything. If you can’t, ask someone – a witness, a passenger, anyone – to do it for you. What you capture in the next 30 minutes may be the only visual evidence that exists.
The crash scene itself:
Photograph the position of both vehicles before they’re moved. Wide shots showing the intersection or roadway layout. Close-ups of skid marks, debris, and any road defects. Traffic signals or signs relevant to the crash. Weather and lighting conditions. Any obstructions to visibility – parked cars, hedges, signs.
The other vehicle:
Damage points. These tell the story of impact angle and force. License plate. Make, model, color. Any pre-existing damage (so the driver can’t later claim you caused additional damage).
Your motorcycle and gear:
Damage to the bike from multiple angles. Helmet damage – cracks, scrapes, impact points. Damaged riding gear – jacket, gloves, boots. This matters for two reasons: it proves you were wearing protective equipment, and it documents the force of impact.
Your injuries:
Visible injuries right now. Road rash, swelling, bruising, bleeding, torn clothing. Even if injuries seem minor, photograph them. Bruising intensifies over 24-48 hours. Early photos establish the timeline.
The other driver’s information:
Name, license number, insurance company and policy number, phone number. Georgia law requires drivers to exchange this information (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-273.1). If the other driver is uncooperative, the police report will contain it.
Witnesses:
Get names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the crash. Witnesses leave. Once they’re gone, they’re nearly impossible to find. Even a name and partial phone number is better than nothing.
One mistake riders make: they take 5 photos when they need 50. Storage is free. Shoot everything. Redundancy isn’t waste – it’s insurance against a blurry shot being the only one that captured the critical detail.
The Police Report: What It Is and What It Isn’t
The responding officer will create a Georgia Motor Vehicle Crash Report (form GDOT-523). This document becomes the evidentiary backbone of your claim.
The officer records: date, time, location, parties involved, witness information, vehicle damage, road conditions, and – critically – a preliminary fault determination. That fault determination is not legally binding. But insurers and juries treat it as near-gospel. Overturning an officer’s fault assessment is possible but expensive and difficult.
What you say to the officer goes into this report. Be careful. Provide required information – name, license, registration, insurance. Provide basic facts – your direction of travel, the other vehicle’s action, your immediate response. Stop there. Don’t speculate, don’t assign fault, don’t volunteer a narrative. The detailed guidance on what to say and what never to say is covered in our police interaction guide (Post #3).
To obtain your crash report, use BuyCrash (buycrash.com), Georgia’s official system. Cost is approximately $10. Reports are typically available 3-7 business days after the crash. Get it as soon as it’s available. Read it immediately. Errors and omissions in the report need to be identified early – your attorney can address them, but only if they know about them.
Medical Evaluation: The Clock Is Running
This is where most riders lose their claims. Not at the scene. Not in the courtroom. In the gap between the crash and the doctor.
If you were transported by ambulance, you’re already in the system. If you walked away from the scene, you need to get to an emergency room or urgent care facility within hours – not days.
Why the urgency? Two reasons, one medical and one legal.
The medical reason: Adrenaline and shock mask symptoms. Concussions don’t always present with headache or confusion – some manifest as irritability, sleep disruption, or difficulty concentrating that you might attribute to stress. Internal bleeding can be painless until it becomes life-threatening. Spinal injuries can worsen with movement if undiagnosed. Riders have walked around with fractured pelvises, thinking it was just bruising.
The legal reason: Georgia insurers argue causation gaps. If you crash on Tuesday and see a doctor on Friday, the insurer argues your injuries happened somewhere else between Tuesday and Friday. It sounds absurd. It works. The gap between crash and treatment is one of the most effective tools insurers use to reduce or deny claims. Our post on how treatment gaps affect your claim (Post #11) breaks down exactly how insurers exploit delayed treatment.
At the ER or urgent care:
Describe every symptom, even ones that seem minor. “My neck is a little stiff” matters. “My vision seems slightly off” matters. These become medical records – the documented link between the crash and your injuries.
Don’t tell the doctor “I’m fine, I just want to get checked out.” Tell them what happened and what hurts. All of it. The things you don’t mention don’t exist in the medical record, and if those symptoms become serious problems later, the insurer will argue they’re unrelated to the crash.
Ask for copies of everything: discharge paperwork, imaging orders, diagnoses, treatment recommendations. These are the foundation your attorney builds on. Our medical records guide (Post #6) covers how these documents become evidence and how to ensure they’re complete.
Everything Else Before the First 24 Hours End
Beyond the scene and the hospital, several things need to happen within the first day – and where you are in that timeline determines what to do right now.
Notify your own insurance company. Most Georgia policies require prompt notification – typically within 24-72 hours, though specific deadlines vary by insurer. Check your policy. Failure to report promptly can give your own insurer grounds to deny coverage. When you call, report the basic facts: date, time, location, other driver’s information. Don’t give a detailed narrative or recorded statement yet. If they ask for one, tell them you’d like to consult with an attorney first.
Do not speak with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. They will call. Possibly today. Their adjuster will sound helpful and suggest that a quick statement will speed things along. It won’t. It will give them ammunition to reduce your claim. Our post on insurance calls (Post #4) provides the exact script for handling these calls.
Preserve your gear. Don’t wash your riding clothes. Don’t repair your helmet. Don’t move or repair your motorcycle unless it must be towed for storage. Damaged equipment is evidence – of impact force, of what protective measures you took, of the mechanics of the crash. Store everything in a safe, dry place.
Start a written log. Date, time, what happened, how you feel. Pain level. What you can and can’t do. Sleep quality. Medications. This daily record becomes invaluable evidence of how the crash affected your daily life – the kind of documentation that supports pain and suffering claims months later.
Contact a Georgia motorcycle accident attorney. Not next week. Today or tomorrow. Evidence deteriorates, witness memories fade, and there are procedural deadlines that start ticking immediately – including Georgia’s two-year statute of limitations (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33) and shorter notice periods if a government entity was involved (six months for city/county claims under O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5). Early attorney involvement also means someone is preserving evidence professionally – requesting surveillance footage before it’s overwritten, interviewing witnesses while memories are fresh, putting the at-fault insurer on notice.
If you were injured in a crash on Macon’s roads, from Pio Nono Avenue intersections to I-475, Reynolds, Horne & Survant’s motorcycle accident team has handled over 10,000 personal injury cases across these corridors.
Right now, wherever you are in this timeline:
Still at the scene? Call 911 if you haven’t. Don’t move unless you’re in danger. Document everything with your phone. Exchange information. Get witness contacts. Let paramedics evaluate you.
Left the scene but haven’t seen a doctor? Go now. Emergency room or urgent care. Don’t wait until tomorrow. The gap between crash and treatment is the insurer’s favorite weapon.
Been to the ER and home now? Notify your own insurer. Don’t answer calls from the other driver’s insurer. Preserve your gear. Start your daily log. Call a motorcycle accident attorney.
24 hours already passed? You’re still within the window, but it’s narrowing. If you haven’t seen a doctor, go today. If you haven’t documented the scene, write down everything you remember – details, sequence, weather, road conditions, what the other driver did. Memory degrades fast. Get it on paper now.
Every step you skip is leverage the insurer gains. Every piece of evidence you capture is leverage you keep.
Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Georgia motorcycle accident law and is not legal advice. Every case is different. Consult a qualified Georgia motorcycle accident attorney to discuss your specific situation. Nothing in this article creates an attorney-client relationship.