12 News published guidance on how to safely help others if you witness a crash, reporting that first responders encourage witnesses to call 911 and wait for professional help. That is the whole of what has been reported; the guidance is directed at bystanders who come upon a collision, not at any one incident.
Arizona law does not require a bystander to physically intervene at a crash scene, and attempting a rescue without training can create new hazards. Calling 911 and waiting for professional responders is both the safest choice and the most useful one. Drivers involved in a collision have separate obligations; A.R.S. § 28-661 requires a driver involved in a crash resulting in injury or death to stop at the scene, give identifying information, and render reasonable assistance. For injured people, independent witnesses often decide a case. Insurers routinely dispute who had the green light or who drifted across the line, and Arizona applies pure comparative fault under A.R.S. § 12-2505, meaning a recovery is reduced by the injured person's percentage of responsibility. A neutral account from someone with nothing to gain can hold that percentage down. Anyone who stops should give their name and phone number to police and write down what they saw while memory is fresh.
What a Bystander Can Do Without Making Things Worse
The advice reported by 12 News is narrow for a reason. Call 911 first and give a precise location, including direction of travel and the nearest cross street or mile marker. Stay out of live traffic lanes; secondary collisions injure people who stopped to help. Do not move an injured person unless there is an immediate danger such as fire, because spinal injuries are not visible from the outside and movement can deepen them. Turn on your hazard lights and stay where dispatch can find you.
If you can do it safely, note what you observed before responders arrive: signal colors, the direction each vehicle came from, weather, road conditions, whether anyone got out of a vehicle. You are not deciding who is at fault. You are recording what you saw, which is a different and more valuable thing.
Why Witnesses Carry Weight in an Arizona Injury Claim
Crash claims frequently come down to two drivers telling incompatible stories, with a police report that lists both accounts and resolves neither. An insurance adjuster who has no independent evidence will often assign a share of fault to the injured person, because under A.R.S. § 12-2505 every percentage point shifted away from their insured reduces what they pay. Pure comparative fault means an injured person can still recover even if partly responsible, but the award drops in proportion.
If you were hurt and someone stopped, get their contact information yourself if you are able, or ask a family member to. Witness names sometimes appear in the police report and sometimes do not. A statement taken in the first weeks is worth considerably more than one taken a year later, when the witness remembers only that there was a crash.
The Deadlines That Run Regardless
Arizona gives most injured people two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit under A.R.S. § 12-542. If a government entity or employee may be responsible, such as a city vehicle or a road maintenance issue, a written notice of claim must be served within 180 days of when the claim accrues under A.R.S. § 12-821.01, and missing that notice can end the case before the two-year period matters.
When someone dies, the wrongful death statutes at A.R.S. § 12-611 through A.R.S. § 12-613 govern who may bring the claim and what the surviving family may recover, and A.R.S. § 14-3110 addresses claims that belonged to the person who died. These are separate causes of action with separate rules, and families are frequently given incorrect information about them by people who are not lawyers.
If you were hurt in a collision anywhere in the Valley, our Arizona car accident attorneys can explain how fault, insurance, and these deadlines apply to your situation.