Durham, Wake and Orange counties · Triangle
A Durham Personal Injury Attorney Who Meets You in Person
After a Durham crash that left you or a family member hurt, call me first about what comes next. You and I talk first, over the phone or on a video call. Then I can come to you, whether you are home or in a Durham hospital bed, and the decision to work together gets made face to face.
I am a personal injury attorney with one office, in Graham, and I have been admitted in North Carolina since 1998. People hurt in Durham crashes reach me the same way people anywhere else in the state do.
A Durham crash raises questions that begin at the county lines. Taken in order below: the small parts of the city in Wake and Orange counties, the police agencies whose reports cover Durham crashes, the courthouse for each of those three counties, NCDOT's I-885 widening project, Durham's line in the 2024 state crash book, the two-year period for a death claim, and the papers to gather before we meet.
01
Durham reaches into Wake and Orange counties by a few hundred residents
The City of Durham lies in three counties, Durham, Wake and Orange. In its July 2025 municipal estimates, the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management puts 306,026 Durham residents in Durham County and 449 in Wake and Orange combined, with no separate figure for either county.
For a crash in the part of Durham that lies in Wake County, the site that covers it is accidentattorneyraleighnc.com. The Orange County section of Durham is covered by juliandoby.com.
For nearly every Durham resident, home is in Durham County. That county belongs to the Triangle region page on this site.
No city counts more residents inside that region's seven counties than Durham. Raleigh crosses into Durham County as well, and the same state table puts 1,672 Raleigh residents on the Durham County side of the line.
02
Durham police, Duke police or the Highway Patrol: who writes it
Inside Durham's city limits, a driver gives notice to the Durham Police Department, since G.S. 20-166.1(a) points a reportable accident inside a municipality to that municipality's own police. Beyond the limits of any city or town, the subsection names the State Highway Patrol, the county sheriff's office, or other rural police it treats as qualified.
| Where the Durham-area crash happened | Where the report comes from |
|---|---|
| A Durham city street or a private lot inside city limits | Durham Police Department |
| The Duke campus or the Medical Center at Duke | Duke University Police Department, for the reports it holds; Duke sends people to Durham police for reports city officers handled |
| Durham County outside any city or town | The Highway Patrol, the Durham County Sheriff's Office or qualified rural police, per G.S. 20-166.1(a) |
Store lots and small Durham fender benders
Durham Police General Order 4013 directs officers to investigate a collision on private property the same way they investigate one on a public street. For the smallest crashes, with no injury, no citation and property loss under $1,000, the order makes the state crash form optional. It still requires the officer to complete one when any party to the crash asks.
Exception. A hit and run never falls into that optional tier under General Order 4013. The order carves hit and run crashes out of its lowest level whatever the damage.
The Duke University Police Department releases its own copies for traffic accidents on Duke's campus to the people involved. Each agency's request process is laid out on the Durham crash report page.
03
The South Dillard Street courthouse and two others a Durham case can reach
The Durham County Courthouse, at 510 South Dillard Street, is the courthouse for Durham County, and the county sits in Superior Court District 16 and District Court District 16. Venue is set by G.S. 1-82, which ties trial to where the parties live: the county of residence of any plaintiff or any defendant at the start of the action qualifies, so the place of the crash does not fix the county.
| County | Courthouse, as the Judicial Branch lists it | Address | District |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | Durham County Courthouse | 510 South Dillard St, Durham, NC 27701 | Superior and District Court District 16 |
| Wake | Wake County Courthouse | 316 Fayetteville St. Mall, Raleigh, NC 27601 | Superior and District Court District 10 |
| Orange | Orange County Courthouse | 106 E Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC 27278 | Superior and District Court District 18 |
According to the Judicial Branch's Wake County Courthouse page, all civil matters in Wake County except marriages are conducted in that building. The Judicial Branch's Orange County page also names a Chapel Hill Courthouse and the Orange County Historical Courthouse.
The amount in controversy sets the proper trial division for a Durham case. Under G.S. 7A-243, district court is the proper division for a Durham case with $25,000 or less in controversy, and superior court takes the case once the amount goes higher, unless another section of that Article says otherwise.
Exception. If none of the defendants resides in the State, G.S. 1-82 puts the trial in a county where one of the plaintiffs lives. On that basis, a Durham County resident whose only defendant lives outside North Carolina can bring the action in Durham County.
04
I-885 between I-40 and the Durham Freeway is under study to widen
I-885 between I-40 and N.C. 147, the Durham Freeway, runs about 4.82 miles in Durham County and carries four lanes, according to the NCDOT page for project U-5934. The alternatives NCDOT is studying widen it to six lanes or to eight.
| Milestone on NCDOT's preliminary U-5934 schedule | Date NCDOT lists (page updated April 29, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Environmental document | Summer 2026 |
| Right of way acquisition begins | Fall 2027 |
| Award of the construction contract | Spring 2031 |
NCDOT's footnote calls the future dates preliminary and subject to change. On a separate project page, NCDOT proposes improvements to N.C. 54 from U.S. 15/501 in Chapel Hill to N.C. 55 in Durham and says N.C. 54 parallels I-40.
A road under study for widening is a road that changes. Photographs from the day of the crash show the road as it was. My car accident page covers how a collision claim works in North Carolina.
Photographs from the day of the crash show the road as it was.
05
Durham's 2024 city row, 8,355 crashes and 28 deaths
For 2024, Durham's line in the NCDMV city crash table shows 8,355 crashes, with 28 fatalities and 3,021 injuries. Those figures sit in the column group headed All, and the same line carries three more groups: Alcohol, Pedestrian, Bicycle.
The city table prints no note on how a crash gets assigned to Durham. The county figures and what each column leaves out are on the Durham crash statistics page.
A citywide count covers thousands of crashes at once. Fault in your own crash is not something it measures.
06
A death claim from a Durham crash runs on its own two-year clock
A wrongful death claim from a Durham crash has its own limitations period. G.S. 1-53(4) allows two years for an action over a death caused by the wrongful act, neglect or fault of another, and it starts that period on the date of death.
Injury claim under G.S. 1-52
G.S. 1-52 lists actions that must be brought within three years. Subdivision (16) delays accrual of an injury claim until bodily harm is apparent to the claimant, or ought reasonably to be, whichever happens first.
Death claim under G.S. 1-53(4)
Two years is the period here, with accrual on the day the person dies, which can be later than the crash itself.
Exception. No death claim may be brought under G.S. 1-53(4) if the decedent, had he or she lived, would have been barred from a bodily harm action by G.S. 1-15(c) or 1-52(16).
Two statutes cannot answer everything a Durham family faces after a death, and my wrongful death page takes those questions further.
07
The exchange slip a Durham officer hands you, and our first meeting
Under General Order 4013, the investigating Durham police officer makes sure the exchange slips are filled out completely and given to the drivers or owners of the vehicles. The same order has the officer submit the crash report by the end of the workday, or the next day for a crash near the end of a shift, with a supplemental report once missing information comes in.
Phone or video before anything else
The office number is 336-221-8900, and email goes to julian@juliandobylaw.com. Lorena Meza, who speaks Spanish and works with me as a paralegal, is the contact for Spanish.
A meeting in Durham
Once we have spoken, I can come to you anywhere in Durham. The decision to work together comes out of that meeting.
Papers worth having on the table
Bring the exchange slip and any incident report number the officer gave you. Durham police make public versions of reports searchable by that number through Police to Citizen.
Each step appears in order on how it works, and the contact page lists every way to reach the office.
Questions
Common questions
Does Durham police take a crash in the Wake County section of Durham?
Yes. G.S. 20-166.1(a) ties the agency to the city or town where the crash happened, not to the county. A crash on a Durham street in the Wake or Orange part of the city goes to the Durham Police Department.
Where is the report for a crash at the Medical Center at Duke?
Duke's records page lists the Medical Center with the campus, and the Duke University Police Department releases copies of its traffic accident reports there to the people involved. Its Records Division answers at 919-684-4602 and dupd-records@duke.edu. Duke points people to the Durham Police Department for any report that city officers took.
Can I file in Durham County if the crash happened in Raleigh?
Under G.S. 1-82, the county where a plaintiff resided when the action began is a proper venue, so a Durham County resident can bring the action in Durham County after a crash in Raleigh. A county where any defendant resided at that time qualifies as well.
About the attorney
Julian Doby, attorney since 1998
Julian Doby has been admitted to practice in North Carolina since 1998, North Carolina State Bar No. 25407, and he represents injured people across the state. His one office is at 110 W. Elm Street in Graham. He meets clients across the state after a first conversation by phone or video.
More about JulianSources and verification (21)
- NC Office of State Budget and Management, Population Distribution of Municipalities in More Than One County, Vintage 2025 (page modified September 30, 2026), verified October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Durham city, North Carolina, Population estimates, July 1, 2025, (V2025), verified October 18, 2026.
- NC Office of State Budget and Management, 2025 Certified County Population Estimates (July 1, 2025), verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 20-166.1(a), (e) and (i), ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- Durham Police Department General Order 4013 R-5, Traffic Collision Investigation, revised December 17, 2013, verified October 18, 2026.
- Duke University Police Department, Request Report Copies, verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 1-82, venue, ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 7A-243, proper division by amount in controversy, ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Durham County (districts), verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Durham County Courthouse, verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Wake County (districts), verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Wake County Courthouse, verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Orange County (districts), verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Orange County Courthouse, verified October 18, 2026.
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Court locations, verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDOT, U-5934, I-885 Improvements, Durham (page last updated April 29, 2026), verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDOT, N.C. 54 Corridor Improvements (page timestamp February 27, 2025), verified October 18, 2026.
- NCDMV, North Carolina 2024 Traffic Crash Facts, City Crash Data (Section 4, Durham row on page 28), verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 1-53(4), wrongful death, ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 1-52, including subdivision (16), ncleg.gov, verified October 18, 2026.
- City of Durham, Durham Police Data, Statistics, and Reports (Police to Citizen), verified October 18, 2026.
Hurt in Durham? Talk first. Then I can come to you.
Call or send a visit request. We start by phone or video.