Submit a North Dakota Crash Report within 10 days if the wreck caused injury, death, or at least $4,000 in damage and no officer investigated it at the scene.

Picture a summer evening on I-94 outside Dickinson. A tourist SUV blows a tire in the heat, swerves, and clips a DoorDash driver. The driver's wrist is swelling, the car is barely drivable, but no trooper shows up because North Dakota Highway Patrol covers huge distances with limited personnel and nearby units are tied up. Somebody says, "If police didn't come, insurance won't pay."

That's the myth. It's wrong.

No responding officer does not erase an injury claim. What matters is what you do next. In North Dakota, if law enforcement did not complete the investigation, you may need to file the crash report yourself with the North Dakota Department of Transportation. Missing that 10-day reporting window can create problems, especially when insurers later argue the crash was minor or never happened the way you said.

The general rules are:

• Get medical care right away and make sure the record connects your injury to the crash.
• Report the wreck to your auto insurer and, if you were actively delivering, to the app company too.
• Save photos of vehicle damage, the scene, your delivery screen, and any messages showing you were on a trip.
• Get names and numbers for witnesses, because on roads around Dickinson, people can disappear fast.
• Do not assume "no ticket" or "no police report" means "no case."

For gig drivers, the insurance piece is messy. Coverage may involve the other driver's policy, your own policy, and the delivery app's policy depending on whether you were waiting for an order, driving to pickup, or on an active delivery. That is exactly why a missing officer response is not the end of the claim.