How to get a car accident report in Idaho

Where to get the report

• Idaho Transportation Department, Office of Highway Safety (online) $7.00 plus transaction fee, online

  Every officer who investigates a crash must forward a written report to ITD within 24 hours after completing the investigation (Idaho Code 49-1306), and ITD’s Office of Highway Safety maintains Idaho’s collision database; ITD says all law enforcement agencies in Idaho use a standard crash reporting software program to enter the data and submit it electronically to the department (Idaho Traffic Crashes 2023). Its Order a Crash Report page says “Crash reports are available to the general public. The charge is $7.00 plus transaction fee,” and that in accordance with Idaho Code it charges $7 for each copy of a crash report, if applicable. The online Crash Reports search lets you search by first and last name, city, county, the last four digits of a driver’s license number, case ID and a date range; it says “The price for a PDF of one report is $7.00 + transaction fees through Idaho.gov,” that it will take a few weeks for a new report to become available online and may take much longer depending on the law enforcement agency involved, and that a purchased report may be downloaded for up to 7 days. If you do not find your report, the portal offers a link to send a request to the office. Questions: Office of Highway Safety, ohsweb@itd.idaho.gov, (208) 334-8000, PO Box 7129, Boise, ID 83707. The statute behind the fee, Idaho Code 49-202(2)(g), sets $7.00 per accident report record and allows an additional contractor fee of up to $4.00; ITD does not say whether its Idaho.gov transaction fee is that contractor fee, and we could not see the transaction fee amount without starting a purchase.

  Official page

• Idaho State Police (online records portal) Crash report request form; ISP case no.

  The Idaho State Police’s site links “Public Records Request & Crash Reports” to its JustFOIA records portal, which has a separate Crash Report Requests form. The form says an IVCR is the Idaho Vehicle Collision Report completed by an ISP officer and submitted to ITD’s Office of Highway Safety under Idaho Code 49-1306, and that it is only for crash reports; anything else (such as video) goes on the Public Records Request form. It asks for your requester type, preferred contact method and format, name, phone, email and address, a choice between stating that you are not an Idaho resident and declaring under penalty of perjury that you are a resident as defined in Idaho Code 74-101(15), the ISP district by county (required), the ISP incident or citation number (required), location, date and time, the names of the involved parties or the officer, and an optional reference number such as an insurance claim number. The form states no fee. Because ISP reports also go to ITD, you can usually buy the same report from ITD’s online portal.

  Official page

• City police or county sheriff (examples: Boise Police, Ada County Sheriff) Ask that agency; process and fees vary

  Most crashes are worked by a city police department or a sheriff, and each has its own request process; the Public Records Act lets agencies charge only as it allows (see the cost section). Examples from each agency’s own page: the Boise Police Department requires written requests, online or on a form at City Hall West, 333 N. Mark Stall Place, with “Accident Supplemental Report” and photographs among the record types on its request form; it says all requests are subject to a copy or processing fee that may be required before release, that it usually takes 3 to 10 business days to receive records, and that out-of-state requesters may wait up to 35 business days (questions: 208-570-6000, BPD-Requests@cityofboise.org). The Ada County Sheriff’s Office says completed traffic accident reports are released to individuals involved in the accident upon request, as long as the accident did not involve serious injury or death, which would require further investigation, and sends you to BuyCrash.com with the date, location, report number and agency; its page states no price. The same page says names and addresses will be removed from all released reports, which is narrower than the complete, unaltered copy Idaho Code 74-124(2) gives involved parties, their representatives and insurers.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Idaho

Injury, death or one owner over $1,500

Immediate notice (Idaho Code 49-1305): the driver of a vehicle in a crash that results in injury to or death of any person, or damage to the property of any one person in excess of $1,500, must immediately, by the quickest means of communication, notify the local police department if the crash is within a city, and otherwise the county sheriff’s office or the nearest office of the state police. If the driver is physically incapable of giving notice and another occupant who was in the vehicle can, the occupant must give it. Injury or death (Idaho Code 18-8007): a driver in a crash on public or private property open to the public who knows or has reason to know that it resulted in injury to or death of any person must immediately stop at or as close as possible to the scene without obstructing traffic more than necessary, remain until these duties are met, give the driver’s name, address, insurance agent or company (if the driver has liability insurance) and the registration number of the vehicle to the person struck or the driver, occupant or attendant of any vehicle hit, show a driver’s license if available, and give reasonable assistance to anyone injured, including arranging transport for medical treatment if it is apparently needed or the injured person asks. A violation is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, up to five years in the state penitentiary, or both, and the director of the transportation department must revoke the license for one year, with no work permit. Damage to an attended vehicle only (Idaho Code 49-1301, 49-1302): the driver must immediately stop at or as close as possible to the scene, return and remain until the requirements of law are met, and give a name and address and, if available at the scene, show a driver’s license, proof of registration and certificate or proof of liability insurance to the other driver or person attending the vehicle; if a police officer is present, the officer must make reasonable efforts to help the exchange. On a divided, controlled-access highway or interstate of the state highway system, the stop must be made by moving the vehicle to a safe refuge on the shoulder, emergency lane or median whenever that can be done safely and the vehicle can be driven normally and safely, does not need towing and can run under its own power without further damage or hazard; on any other highway, the stop must be made without obstructing traffic more than necessary, and moving the vehicle does not by itself make you liable or at fault (49-1301(2)). Failing to stop is a misdemeanor, and a conviction under 49-1301(1) brings a one-year license revocation; willfully failing to give the required information, or knowingly giving false information, is a misdemeanor (49-1302(3)). Unattended vehicle (49-1303): stop immediately and either find and tell the operator or owner the name and address of the driver and owner of the striking vehicle, or leave a written notice in a conspicuous place in or on the vehicle with those names and addresses and a statement of the circumstances. Fixtures or other property on or next to a highway (49-1304): take reasonable steps to find and notify the owner or person in charge of the fact, your name and address, your insurance agent or company if you have liability insurance and the registration number of the vehicle, and on request and if available show your driver’s license. Penalties: unless a section provides otherwise, violating a provision of Title 49 outside chapters 3, 4 and 6 to 9 is a misdemeanor (Idaho Code 49-236(1)), and a misdemeanor is punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, except where a different punishment is prescribed (Idaho Code 18-113(1)). Filing an accident report knowing it is false is unlawful (49-1308). A garage or repair shop that receives a vehicle showing evidence of a crash for which a report is required under 49-1306 must report it to police within 48 hours (49-1310).

The driver report you may have to file

None statewide; local rules may add one

Idaho has no statewide written crash report that drivers file with the state. Idaho Code 49-1305 requires immediate notice to police, and 49-1306 requires the investigating law enforcement officer, not the driver, to forward a written report to the Idaho Transportation Department; we found no ITD page or form for a driver-filed crash report. Some online guides still say Idaho drivers must file their own report within 10 days; that duty is not in the current statutes. Local exceptions: any incorporated city may by ordinance require a driver in a crash to file a report, or a copy of any report required to be filed with ITD, with a designated city department, and those reports are subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act (Idaho Code 49-1313). More broadly, Title 49 does not prevent local authorities (every county, highway district, city and other local body with authority over traffic on its roads) from requiring written accident reports on highways under their jurisdiction (Idaho Code 49-208(1)(q), 49-113). Ask the police department or sheriff that responded whether a local rule applies where you crashed.

What the report costs

ITD: $7.00 plus fee; others vary

The one statewide fee is ITD’s: Idaho Code 49-202(2)(g) sets $7.00 per accident report record for copies furnished by the department, plus an additional contractor fee not to exceed $4.00 (the 2026 amendments to 49-202, House Bills 533 and 629, left those amounts unchanged), and ITD’s portal charges $7.00 plus Idaho.gov transaction fees, an amount it does not show before purchase. Other agencies set their own charges within the Public Records Act: unless another Idaho law authorizes or prescribes a fee, an agency may not charge an Idaho resident for the first two hours of labor or the first 100 pages of paper copies; it may charge actual labor and copying costs for more than 100 pages, for records from which nonpublic information must be deleted, or for more than two hours of work; labor for residents is billed at the hourly rate of the lowest paid qualified employee (or the lowest paid qualified attorney for attorney redactions); fees must be itemized with no lump sums; agencies may set separate fee schedules for nonresidents, not exceeding actual costs; and an agency may require advance payment and must refund any excess (Idaho Code 74-102(10), (12), as amended by 2025 House Bill 253, effective July 1, 2025). A resident may not be charged at all when the request is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government, is not primarily in the requester’s own interest (including litigation), and would not happen if fees were charged because of insufficient means (74-102(10)(f)); the statute counts a requester’s interest in litigation as an individual interest. Examples: the Boise Police Department says requests are subject to a copy or processing fee; the Ada County Sheriff sends crash report buyers to BuyCrash.com without stating a price; the Idaho State Police crash report form states no fee.

When the report is ready

Online at ITD in a few weeks, or longer

The investigating officer must forward the written report to ITD within 24 hours after completing the investigation (Idaho Code 49-1306(1)), but the investigation itself can take time. ITD’s portal says it will take a few weeks for a new report to become available online, and may take much longer depending on the law enforcement agency involved; a purchased report may be downloaded for up to 7 days. For a records request to an agency: an agency must grant or deny an Idaho resident’s request within three working days of receiving it, and the request of a nonresident who is not employed by a resident within 21 days; if it needs longer to locate or retrieve the records, it must say so in writing and provide them no later than 10 working days after the request for a resident and 35 days for a nonresident; no response in time counts as a denial (Idaho Code 74-103(2), (3)). The Attorney General’s public records page dates the 35-day nonresident limit to July 1, 2024, but that limit came from 2025 House Bill 253, effective July 1, 2025; the 2024 law (House Bill 588) allowed 21 working days. Boise police and the Ada County Sheriff each say it usually takes 3 to 10 business days to receive records. The Ada County Sheriff says it releases completed crash reports unless the crash involved serious injury or death requiring further investigation. Retention: we found no Idaho statute setting how long crash reports are kept. A county keeps a record for the period that goes with how its board of commissioners classifies it (Idaho Code 31-871), and each city council adopts its own records retention schedule by resolution (Idaho Code 50-907(5)); we did not check any local schedule.

Who can get a copy

Anyone; parties get a complete copy

Officers’ written crash reports and the information in them “shall not be privileged or held confidential” (Idaho Code 49-1306(2)), and ITD says crash reports are available to the general public. Every person has a right to examine and copy public records, which are presumed open except as a statute expressly provides (Idaho Code 74-102(1)). Even where an agency could otherwise withhold part of an investigation, “any person involved in a motor vehicle collision which is investigated by a law enforcement agency, that person’s authorized legal representative and the insurer shall have a right to a complete, unaltered copy of the impact report, or its successors, and the final report prepared by the agency” (Idaho Code 74-124(2)); the Attorney General’s Public Records Law Manual (July 2026) gives the same answer. An agency may require a written request that describes the records and gives your name, mailing address, email, phone and a sworn declaration of whether you are an Idaho resident (74-102(4)), and may ask questions only to verify your identity, to make sure the record will not be used for a prohibited mailing or telephone list, or to protect personal information from motor vehicle records under state and federal law (74-102(5)). Practices differ: the Ada County Sheriff says it releases completed crash reports to individuals involved, says names and addresses will be removed from all released reports, and releases crash reports only when the crash did not involve serious injury or death requiring further investigation; if you are a party and an agency gives you an altered copy, cite 74-124(2).

What to do now

1. 1

   Call police if the law requires it

   If anyone is hurt or killed, or damage to any one person’s property is over $1,500, notify the city police, or outside a city the sheriff or state police, immediately.

2. 2

   Get the agency and case number

   Ask the officer which agency took the report and for the case or citation number. ISP’s crash report form requires the ISP incident or citation number.

3. 3

   Search ITD’s crash report portal

   Search by name, county, date range or case ID. A copy costs $7.00 plus a transaction fee, and new reports can take a few weeks or longer to appear.

4. 4

   Or ask the responding agency in writing

   Mark it as a public records request, describe the crash, and say whether you are an Idaho resident. As an involved party, ask for the complete, unaltered report under Idaho Code 74-124(2).

Frequently asked questions