Texas Crash Report Codes: Free CR-3 Code Decoder
A Texas crash report is mostly numbers. The officer fills the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (CR-3) with codes for what caused the crash, how badly each person was hurt, how the vehicles were damaged, and the road and weather conditions. Insurance adjusters read those codes in seconds. Our free Texas crash report code decoder lets you do the same.
Pick the box you are reading, type the code from your report, and get the plain-English meaning, along with what it can mean for an injury claim. Every code comes from TxDOT’s current CR-3 code sheet. If you were hurt in a crash in Austin or Central Texas, our Austin car accident lawyers offer a free case review.
Decode Your Texas Crash Report (CR-3)
Don’t have your crash report yet?
- Texas officers must send the CR-3 to TxDOT within 10 days of the crash.
- Buy it from TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System (CRIS): $6 for a regular copy or $8 certified. The report is emailed to you.
- Have the crash date, the county, and a driver’s name ready, or the crash ID from the officer’s card.
- Not in CRIS yet? Call the records division of the agency that worked the crash (Austin Police, Travis County Sheriff, DPS, or the local police department).
- No officer came to the scene? Then no CR-3 exists. Texas repealed the CR-2 driver self-report in 2017, so photos, witness names and your own notes become your record.
Code meanings come from TxDOT’s Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report Code Sheet (CR-3CS, revised 4/1/2023). A code reflects the investigating officer’s opinion at the scene; it is not a court’s finding of fault, and insurers and courts look at all the evidence. This tool does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not legal advice.
How to Read a Texas Crash Report
Officers must file a CR-3 for any crash they investigate that causes injury, death or at least $1,000 in damage, and send it to TxDOT within 10 days (Tex. Transp. Code § 550.062). The form is laid out the same way statewide:
- Units. Each vehicle, cyclist or pedestrian is a numbered unit. Unit 1 is not always the at-fault driver; it is simply the first unit the officer listed.
- Persons. Every driver, passenger and pedestrian gets a row with seat position, restraint use, airbag deployment and an injury severity letter.
- Contributing factors. Under each unit, the officer can list factors that contributed to the crash and factors that may have contributed. This is where codes like 22, 44 and 37 appear.
- Vehicle damage rating. A short code such as 12-FD-3 records the direction of force, the area damaged and how severe it was.
- Conditions. Weather, light, road surface and traffic control codes describe the scene.
- Narrative and diagram. The officer’s written summary and sketch. When a code says “explain in narrative,” this is where to look.
Texas Contributing Factor Codes (Full List)
These are the contributing factor codes from the TxDOT code sheet (item 38). Codes 5 through 13 are not missing; they are used for vehicle defects in a separate box, along with 14 for automation failure.
| Code | Contributing factor |
|---|---|
| 1 | Animal on Road - Domestic |
| 2 | Animal on Road - Wild |
| 3 | Backed without Safety |
| 4 | Changed Lane when Unsafe |
| 14 | Disabled in Traffic Lane |
| 15 | Disregard Stop and Go Signal |
| 16 | Disregard Stop Sign or Light |
| 17 | Disregard Turn Marks at Intersection |
| 18 | Disregard Warning Sign at Construction |
| 19 | Distraction in Vehicle |
| 20 | Driver Inattention |
| 21 | Drove Without Headlights |
| 22 | Failed to Control Speed |
| 23 | Failed to Drive in Single Lane |
| 24 | Failed to Give Half of Roadway |
| 25 | Failed to Heed Warning Sign or Traffic Control Device |
| 26 | Failed to Pass to Left Safely |
| 27 | Failed to Pass to Right Safely |
| 28 | Failed to Signal or Gave Wrong Signal |
| 29 | Failed to Stop at Proper Place |
| 30 | Failed to Stop for School Bus |
| 31 | Failed to Stop for Train |
| 32 | Failed to Yield ROW - Emergency Vehicle |
| 33 | Failed to Yield ROW - Open Intersection |
| 34 | Failed to Yield ROW - Private Drive |
| 35 | Failed to Yield ROW - Stop Sign |
| 36 | Failed to Yield ROW - To Pedestrian |
| 37 | Failed to Yield ROW - Turning Left |
| 38 | Failed to Yield ROW - Turn on Red |
| 39 | Failed to Yield ROW - Yield Sign |
| 40 | Fatigued or Asleep |
| 41 | Faulty/Evasive Action |
| 42 | Fire in Vehicle |
| 43 | Fleeing or Evading Police |
| 44 | Followed Too Closely |
| 45 | Had Been Drinking |
| 46 | Handicapped Driver (Explain in Narrative) |
| 47 | Ill (Explain in Narrative) |
| 48 | Impaired Visibility (Explain in Narrative) |
| 49 | Improper Start from a Stopped, Standing, or Parked Position |
| 50 | Load Not Secured |
| 51 | Opened Door Into Traffic Lane |
| 52 | Oversized Vehicle or Load |
| 53 | Overtake and Pass Insufficient Clearance |
| 54 | Parked and Failed to Set Brakes |
| 55 | Parked in Traffic Lane |
| 56 | Parked without Lights |
| 57 | Passed in No Passing Lane |
| 58 | Passed on Shoulder |
| 59 | Pedestrian FTYROW to Vehicle |
| 60 | Unsafe Speed |
| 61 | Speeding - (Over Limit) |
| 62 | Taking Medication (Explain in Narrative) |
| 63 | Turned Improperly - Cut Corner on Left |
| 64 | Turned Improperly - Wide Right |
| 65 | Turned Improperly - Wrong Lane |
| 66 | Turned when Unsafe |
| 67 | Intoxicated - Alcohol |
| 68 | Intoxicated - Drug |
| 69 | Wrong Side - Approach or Intersection |
| 70 | Wrong Side - Not Passing |
| 71 | Wrong Way - One Way Road |
| 73 | Road Rage |
| 74 | Cell/Mobile Device Use - Talking |
| 75 | Cell/Mobile Device Use - Texting |
| 76 | Cell/Mobile Device Use - Other |
| 77 | Cell/Mobile Device Use - Unknown |
| 78 | Failed to slow or move over for vehicles displaying emergency lights |
| 79 | Drove on improved shoulder |
| 98 | Other (Explain in Narrative) |
Injury Severity Codes: K, A, B, C and N
| Code | Meaning | What it usually describes |
|---|---|---|
| K | Fatal Injury | The person died as a result of the crash. |
| A | Suspected Serious Injury | A serious injury such as broken bones, severe cuts, or being unable to walk or drive away from the scene. |
| B | Suspected Minor Injury | A visible but minor injury such as bruises, scrapes, or minor cuts. |
| C | Possible Injury | The person said they were hurt (for example, neck or back pain) but the officer saw no visible injury. |
| N | Not Injured | The officer recorded no injury at the scene. |
An injury code is the officer’s quick judgment at the roadside, not a diagnosis. Many people coded C or N learn hours or days later that they have whiplash, a concussion or a disc injury. A low code does not stop you from making a claim, but a gap in treatment can, so see a doctor promptly. Our car accident settlement calculator shows how injuries and medical bills drive claim value.
Vehicle Damage Rating Codes
Damage is usually written as XX-ABC-Y: the direction of force as a clock position (12 is straight ahead, 6 is directly behind), the area code below, and a severity number from 0 to 7. A rear-end crash with heavy damage might read 6-BD-6.
| Code | Area of damage |
|---|---|
| FD | Front, distributed (damage across the whole front) |
| FC | Front, center |
| FL | Front, left |
| FR | Front, right |
| LFQ | Left front quarter |
| RFQ | Right front quarter |
| LP | Left side, passenger area |
| RP | Right side, passenger area |
| LD | Left side, distributed |
| RD | Right side, distributed |
| LBQ | Left back quarter |
| RBQ | Right back quarter |
| L&T | Left side and top (often a rollover) |
| R&T | Right side and top (often a rollover) |
| BD | Back, distributed (damage across the whole rear) |
| BC | Back, center |
| BL | Back, left |
| BR | Back, right |
| TP | Top damage |
| VX | Undercarriage damage |
| VB | Vehicle burned (VB-7 = fire caused by the collision; VB-1 = burned, not due to collision) |
| MC | Motorcycle, moped, scooter, etc. |
| NA | Not applicable (farm tractor, etc.) |
Heavy damage helps show the force involved. Light damage does not mean light injuries, and insurers who argue otherwise are often wrong.
What If the Crash Report Gets It Wrong?
Officers arrive after the crash, often hear conflicting stories, and have minutes to decide. Mistakes happen. Clerical errors, like a wrong insurance carrier, plate number or name, can usually be fixed by asking the agency’s records division for a supplement. The officer’s opinion about fault is harder to change.
That opinion is also not the last word. Texas uses a proportionate responsibility system with a 51% bar (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001): you can recover if you were 50% or less at fault, reduced by your share. Dash-cam and traffic-camera video, vehicle data, photos and witness statements can all outweigh a contributing factor box. Austin crashes cluster at a handful of intersections, too; our Austin dangerous intersections map shows where.
Do not wait on the report to protect your claim. Texas generally gives you two years to file an injury lawsuit; check your date with our Texas injury deadline calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does code 22 mean on a Texas crash report?
What do the letters K, A, B, C and N mean on a crash report?
Is the officer’s opinion on the crash report final?
How much does a Texas crash report cost?
What if there is a mistake on my crash report?
Does your report blame the right driver? SMB Law, PC represents people hurt in car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian crashes across Austin and Central Texas. You pay nothing unless we win. Request a free case review or call (512) 561-5003.
Terms used on this page: comparative negligence, negligence, proximate cause, dram shop liability, exemplary damages, statute of limitations. See the full Texas Legal Glossary.
More free tools: Car Accident Settlement Calculator, Texas Injury Deadline Calculator, and all of our free Texas legal calculators.
