Online tool for collision reports claims to reduce wait times by 40 per cent

Reporting collisions online Drivers can now start the process of reporting a collision online. David Ewasuk explains.

An online tool now available to local drivers allows them to begin their fender-bender report from their desktop or their mobile device.

The web tool, Start from Home, has been available since the start of the year from Accident Support Services International, which is funded by insurance companies. It aims to reduce the time spent waiting at collision centres..

Start from Home is available in several cities in Alberta and Ontario, and in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Stephanie Greening, a regional manager for Accident Support Services International, told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday that completing the partial report before coming to a collision centre will "save some time and effort."

"When you come down here, sometimes … there's a lot of people ahead of you," Greening said. "If you can finish your report before you get here, then you spend less time here.

"Nobody wants to be in here in a crowded room full of people, so you can do it in the comfort of your own home."

According to Greening, people who complete the online report can cut down nearly 40 per cent of their waiting time.

Greening says reducing wait times can be beneficial for people who've been in a collision.

"Wouldn't it be much nicer if she could go home first, collect her thoughts and got her children situated and complete the report from home from memory?" she said using an example of a mother with multiple children waiting to fill a report at a collision centre.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk