How to Find Freeway Accident Reports
Accident reports are useful for sorting through a motor vehicle insurance claim or defending yourself against charges if police assign blame to one of the drivers. A typical accident report will have information about all of the drivers and vehicles involved, and a description and diagram illustrating what took place.
Obtaining the reports involves tracking down the appropriate police agencies. Also keep in mind that, in some cases, county- or state-level police have jurisdiction on some highways, so the county or state police might be the agency in charge, even though the community in which the accident occurred has its own municipal police department.
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Things You'll Need
- Access to the police department that responded to the accident
- Cash or check in case there is a fee for processing the reports
Instructions
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Finding the Lead Agency and Getting the Report
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Compile the information you already know about an accident--date, estimated time, town or city, street name, etc. Then, contact the non-emergency number for your county's Emergency 911 center and ask dispatchers who the lead police agency was in the case. They should also be able to provide you the phone number.
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Call the appropriate police agency to verify they responded to the accident. If so, you will probably still need to appear in person to get the report. If they don't have an accident report, ask if they are still working on it or if that task is being handled by a different agency.
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Request the report from the appropriate police agency. Note that if you were not a party in the accident, you may not be entitled to the report.
In some states, like Minnesota, the reports are also issued to next of kin, lawyers involved in the case, other law enforcement agencies and insurance company representatives.
A fee for the report may be required before you receive it.
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Tips & Warnings
Police agencies may include partial or complete accident reports in their daily blotter, which is public record. That's somewhat helpful if the agency will not release the official accident report to you or if it's not completed yet. If a ticket or criminal charges were issued, there may also be court records available on the accident.
You can also request your own driving record from your local Department of Motor Vehicles, but that agency is unlikely to have information on a recent accident until the case is closed by the police and courts.
Personal information on the other drivers is restricted under the Federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act, according to Access Reports Inc.
