What
is the difference between the "unofficial" crash reports
available online and the "official" accident investigation
report?
The information you receive is from a radio accident report given to the
troop when a road trooper has investigated an injury or fatal motor
vehicle accident. After completing the initial investigation at the
scene, the trooper calls the troop headquarters (via radio) and gives
the dispatch center the preliminary information concerning the accident
(date, time, location, injured parties involved, types of vehicles
involved, and initial indication of causative factors of the accident).
Since the trooper has not completed the investigation at the time the
radio report is given to the troop dispatch center, it is classified as
an "unofficial" report. After the accident investigation and
the official report have been completed, information obtained may
require the "unofficial" report to be changed (as reported in
the radio report).
How
does someone obtain a copy of the official accident investigation
report?
When a person wants an official report copy of an investigation into a
motor vehicle crash by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the person
makes a request to any of the Patrol’s nine troop headquarters or the
Traffic Division at General Headquarters.
Requests for report copies relating to crashes investigated by local
police agencies are referred to the local agency.
How much does the official report cost?
Click
Here for information on official accident reports
What information is contained in the official accident
report?
The standard four-page
accident investigation report includes the following information:
Accident Classification (property damage, injury, fatal); accident date
and time; investigation date and whether investigated at the scene;
officer notification time; accident location (county, municipal, on
roadway and distance from nearest intersecting street or road;
designation of road maintained by (state, county, municipal, private
property, other); damage to property other than vehicles with owner's
name and address; driver information (name, address, driver license
number, license type, CDL qualified, motorcycle endorsement); insurance
information (proof of insurance presented, insurance company name,
policy number); vehicle information (color, year, make, model, vehicle
identification number, vehicle owner name and address); total number of
occupants in each vehicle; vehicle damage (point of initial impact,
damage done to vehicle, and if towed, where towed); names, addresses,
and telephone numbers of witnesses; collision diagram; a designation as
to whether evidentiary photographs were taken and if the crash was
reconstructed; information on all vehicle occupants (name, address,
telephone number, date of birth, gender, seat location, injury
information, ejection designation, whether transported for medical
treatment, air bag deployment, and whether a safety device was used);
vehicle body types (passenger car, sport utility vehicle, farm
implement, ATV, pick-up, truck tractor, etc.); emergency vehicle
involvement (police, fire, ambulance, other); hazardous materials;
accident type (on/off roadway, collision involving animal, pedalcycle,
fixed object, other object, pedestrian, train, another motor vehicle,
etc., and whether vehicle overturned, head-on crash, sideswipe, rear
end, backed into, or hit at an angle, etc.); traffic conditions (normal,
accident ahead, congestion ahead); vehicle action/sequence of events
(going straight, overtaking, turning, skidding, slowing, stopping,
parked, changing lanes, jackknife, equipment failure, separation of
units, etc.); probable contributing circumstances (vehicle defect,
traffic control inoperable or missing, improperly stopped on roadway,
speed, too fast for conditions, following too close, wrong way on
one-way street, failed to yield, alcohol, drugs, physical impairment,
inattention, etc.); pedestrian involvement; vision obscurity; light
conditions; traffic control devices present; weather conditions; road
character (straight, curve, level, grade, hillcrest); road conditions
(dry, wet, snow, ice, standing water, etc.); road surface type
(concrete, asphalt, brick, gravel, etc.); commercial motor vehicle
information (ICC number, placard number, gross combined vehicle weight
ratio, and cargo body type); narrative statement by the investigating
officer; and written or verbal statements of involved parties or
witnesses.