What do the numbered codes on a Georgia crash report mean?

Georgia officers record crash details as numbers keyed to the official code overlay for the Georgia Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Report. Each numbered box maps to a category — manner of collision, first harmful event, contributing factors, driver condition, injury severity, weather, road surface, and more. For example, under Manner of Collision, 1 means angle, 2 head-on, 3 rear-end, and 4–5 are sideswipes.

What does the injury code on a Georgia accident report mean?

The overlay for the Georgia Uniform Vehicle Accident Report uses five injury codes: 0 (not injured), 1 (killed), 2 (serious), 3 (visible), and 4 (complaint — pain reported but no visible injury). Insurers pay close attention to this box, but it reflects only what the officer observed at the scene; many real injuries surface days later.

Does the crash report decide who was at fault?

No. The contributing-factors codes and the officer's narrative indicate who the officer believed caused the crash, and insurers weigh them heavily — but the report is not a final legal determination of fault. Fault in a Georgia injury claim is decided by the insurance companies and, if necessary, a court, and a report's conclusions can be challenged with other evidence.

Where is the report number on a Georgia crash report?

The agency report number appears in the header section of the Georgia Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Report, alongside the date, time, county, and investigating agency. Officers often give involved drivers a card or exchange-of-information slip with that number at the scene — it is the fastest way to look up your report later.

Georgia Crash Report Decoder: Every Code Explained

The short answer

Georgia officers record crash details as numbered codes on the Georgia Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Report, keyed to an official code overlay. The boxes that matter most for your insurance claim are Manner of Collision, Contributing Factors, Driver Condition, and the Injury Code — all decoded in the tables below.

A Georgia crash report can look like a wall of numbers: single digits scattered across boxes for “manner of collision,” “first harmful event,” and “contributing factors.” Those numbers aren’t arbitrary. Every investigating officer in the state files the same standardized form — according to the Georgia Department of Transportation, law enforcement agencies submit crash data on the Georgia Motor Vehicle Crash Report (GDOT-523), which GDOT stores statewide in the GEARS database. The numbers map to the form’s official code overlay, and GDOT publishes detailed field definitions in its crash reporting manual.

Below is a plain-English decoder for the code tables you’re most likely to be staring at. (Form revisions shift code lists slightly over the years — if a box on your copy doesn’t match, check the overlay revision printed on your report.)

How the report is organized

Header: agency report number, date, time, county, and investigating agency — this is where you find the number you need to look up your report.
Vehicle/driver sections: one block per vehicle — driver info, vehicle maneuver, direction of travel, contributing factors, and damage.
Narrative and diagram:the officer’s written account and sketch of the crash.
Occupant section:each person’s seating position, safety equipment, injury code, and whether they were taken for treatment.

Manner of collision

This box describes how the vehicles made contact. Rear-end (3) and angle (1) crashes are the most common in metro Atlanta traffic, and the code often lines up with the fault story the insurer expects to see.

Code	Manner of collision
1	Angle
2	Head on
3	Rear end
4	Sideswipe — same direction
5	Sideswipe — opposite direction
6	Not a collision with a motor vehicle

Contributing factors — the box insurers read first

Each driver’s section carries contributing-factor codes: what the officer believed each driver did (or didn’t do) that led to the crash. A “1 — no contributing factors” next to your name and a “3 — following too close” next to the other driver’s is powerful evidence in your claim.

Code	Contributing factor
1	No contributing factors
2	D.U.I.
3	Following too close
4	Failed to yield
5	Exceeding speed limit
6	Disregard stop sign/signal
7	Wrong side of road
8	Weather conditions
9	Improper passing
10	Driver lost control
11	Changed lanes improperly
12	Object or animal
13	Improper turn
14	Parked improperly
15	Mechanical or vehicle failure
16	Surface defects
17	Misjudged clearance
18	Improper backing
19	No signal / improper signal
20	Driver condition
21	Driver's vehicle
22	Too fast for conditions
23	Improper passing of school bus
24	Disregard police officer
25	Distracted
26	Other
27	Cell phone
28	Inattentive

Driver condition

Separate from contributing factors, this code records the officer’s assessment of each driver’s state, including alcohol or drug impairment. Related boxes note whether an alcohol/drug test was given (1 yes, 2 no, 3 refused) and the test type (blood, breath, urine, other).

Code	Driver condition
1	Not drinking
2	Not known if under the influence
3	Drinking, not impaired
4	Under the influence of alcohol
5	Under the influence of drugs
6	Under the influence of alcohol and drugs
7	Physical impairment
8	Apparently fell asleep

Injury code

Every occupant gets an injury code. Remember that this is the officer’s at-the-scene assessment, not a medical diagnosis — soft-tissue and concussion symptoms routinely appear days after a crash, which is one reason a “4 — complaint” entry shouldn’t be read as “not really hurt.”

Code	Injury severity
0	Not injured
1	Killed
2	Serious
3	Visible
4	Complaint (pain reported, no visible injury)

Vehicle maneuver

What each vehicle was doing just before impact:

Code	Vehicle maneuver
1	Turning left
2	Turning right
3	Making U-turn
4	Stopped
5	Straight
6	Changing lanes
7	Backing
8	Parked
9	Passing
10	Negotiating a curve
11	Entering/leaving parking
12	Entering/leaving driveway

First harmful event / most harmful event

These boxes identify what the vehicle hit first and what caused the worst damage or injury, drawn from 34 codes in three groups:

Code group	Events
Non-collision (1–5)	Overturn, fire/explosion, immersion, jackknife, other non-collision
Collision with object not fixed (6–14)	Pedestrian, pedalcycle, railway train, animal, parked motor vehicle, motor vehicle in motion, motor vehicle in motion in other roadway, other object (not fixed), deer
Collision with fixed object (15–34)	Impact attenuator, bridge pier/abutment, bridge parapet end, bridge rail, guardrail face, guardrail end, median barrier, traffic sign post, overhead sign support, luminaire/light support, utility pole, other post, culvert, curb, ditch, embankment, fence, mailbox, tree, other fixed object

Road, weather, and light conditions

Environment codes put the crash in context — and matter when weather or road defects contributed:

Category	Codes
Weather	1 Clear · 2 Cloudy · 3 Rain · 4 Snow · 5 Sleet · 6 Fog · 7 Other
Surface condition	1 Dry · 2 Wet · 3 Snowy · 4 Icy · 5 Other · 6 Mud · 7 Sand · 8 Slush · 9 Oil
Light condition	1 Daylight · 2 Dusk · 3 Dawn · 4 Dark–lighted · 5 Dark–not lighted
Manner of collision	See full table above

Other boxes you may see: safety equipment (0 none used through 7 bicycle helmet), airbag function, ejection, points of initial contact (a clock-style diagram around the vehicle), traffic control present, and construction-zone codes.

What the codes mean for your claim — and what they don’t

Insurance adjusters lean hard on the contributing-factor codes, the narrative, and the diagram when they assign fault. But the report is the officer’s after-the-fact reconstruction, not a court ruling. Codes can be wrong, narratives incomplete, and reports can be challenged and supplemented with witness statements, photos, and physical evidence. If the report blames you and you disagree — or the injury codes undersell what you’re dealing with — it’s worth having an attorney read it before you accept the insurer’s version of events.

Don’t have your report yet? Start with our guide to every way to get your Georgia crash report — or let us get it for you free.

Georgia Crash Report Decoder: What Every Code on Your Accident Report Means