An enormous change is taking place with regard to undisputed, small collisions between vehicles. Until today, motorists involved in a crash were required to call 911 and wait for the police to arrive and go through the lengthy paperwork process.

However, a memo released by the city states, in part, that such motorists calling 911 will be directed to a “prerecorded message explaining that the police will not respond and the motorist will be provided with further instructions” to file their own reports and send information to the Department of Motor Vehicles.”

The reason behind this change in policy has to do with safety. The NY Daily News notes that this policy was initially rolled out on Staten Island earlier this year. The result of freeing up the police officers from these clerical situations was directly tied to a 9% reduction in response times to emergency situations.

The police will still respond to situations in which an investigation is required, where the parties are in disagreement about who is at fault, when a large vehicle such a bus or truck is involved, and when an animal (such as a deer) is involved in the crash.

The city also cited convenience: “This program has the added benefit of allowing motorists to leave the scene of an accident in an expedited manner, which will save their time and help traffic begin moving more expeditiously,” it stated.