Here's what happened to me
Here is what I base my answer on. Way home for lunch one day, I cut a left turn too sharp with my head turned and ran over a stop sign in the middle of the street. I go directly home and immediately call the city and tell them who I am, where it was, my addresss, etc and notify my insurance company.
I get a call a little later from a city cop telling me I "have" to come to the police station for a report. I had broken no law regarding the accident (according to Washington state laws). I go to the police station later that day and the cop issues me a ticket based upon the incorrect statute (leaving a lane unsafely). I go to court and explain to the judge that I was guilty of an improper left turn, which I was not cited for and why I was innocent of leaving a lane unsafely - there was no traffic in the intersection at the time of the accident. I get fined the full $175 for doing my duty anyway. It would have cost me over $250 more to appeal - non refundable even if found not-guilty.
I had no duty whatsoever to report to the police department, but I did it anyway out of respect for the cop. Had I not went to the station, sure, he could have mailed the citation to me. But to take time to go out of my way to go there and then he lays a BS ticket on me and I get a ball busting judge who let two female repeat DUI offenders walk out with their driver's licenses intact just before my case just adds salt to the wound. I will never do anything like that again. If a cop has no legal reason to ask me a question, I will not provide them with any info.
Here is what I base my answer on. Way home for lunch one day, I cut a left turn too sharp with my head turned and ran over a stop sign in the middle of the street. I go directly home and immediately call the city and tell them who I am, where it was, my addresss, etc and notify my insurance company.
I get a call a little later from a city cop telling me I "have" to come to the police station for a report. I had broken no law regarding the accident (according to Washington state laws). I go to the police station later that day and the cop issues me a ticket based upon the incorrect statute (leaving a lane unsafely). I go to court and explain to the judge that I was guilty of an improper left turn, which I was not cited for and why I was innocent of leaving a lane unsafely - there was no traffic in the intersection at the time of the accident. I get fined the full $175 for doing my duty anyway. It would have cost me over $250 more to appeal - non refundable even if found not-guilty.
I had no duty whatsoever to report to the police department, but I did it anyway out of respect for the cop. Had I not went to the station, sure, he could have mailed the citation to me. But to take time to go out of my way to go there and then he lays a BS ticket on me and I get a ball busting judge who let two female repeat DUI offenders walk out with their driver's licenses intact just before my case just adds salt to the wound. I will never do anything like that again. If a cop has no legal reason to ask me a question, I will not provide them with any info.