How to get a car accident report in Maryland

Where to get the report

• Maryland State Police (trooper reports) $4 search fee; mail, email or in person

  The State Police say they provide motor vehicle crash reports maintained in the State’s central repository to legally entitled parties. Fill out the online crash report request form; you then receive by email Form 30-12, “Request for Motor Vehicle Accident Report,” which you print and send with a check or money order for $4 payable to the Maryland State Police, with the local case number in the memo line (a State Police case number has the 2-digit year, “MSP” and six digits, such as 17MSP000001). Mail it to Central Records Division, 1711 Belmont Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21244, with a self-addressed stamped envelope; or email the completed form to msp.crd@maryland.gov and then mail the $4 check or money order; or go to Central Records in person, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (410-281-2700). You can also visit the barrack where the report was filed; call ahead to confirm it is ready. The $4 is a non-refundable document search fee, no cash. You can choose to receive the report by email, by U.S. mail or by pickup. For a crash in Baltimore City, the State Police page sends you to the Baltimore Police Department. We found no official statement on whether Central Records also supplies reports written by county or city police, so ask the agency that worked your crash first.

  Official page

• County or city police (example: Baltimore City) Varies by agency; Baltimore via BuyCrash

  Most crashes are worked by county or city police, and each sets its own process and fee; ask the department that responded. Examples, each from that department’s own page: the Baltimore Police Department says Baltimore City accident reports for crashes on or after January 1, 2011 are available only online at BuyCrash (LexisNexis), searchable by report number, full name and date, or location, and its page does not state the price; earlier reports are requested by email to ccu@baltimorepolice.org, and it says that in most cases it produces disclosable records within 30 days. The Montgomery County Police Department charges $10.00 per collision report, online through its Records Center portal after you create an account and upload a photo ID, by mail with its request form, a copy of your ID, a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check or money order payable to Montgomery County Government, Maryland, to Public Safety Headquarters, Records Division, 100 Edison Park Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, or in person at the district station or headquarters (Records Section 240-773-5330); it says reports take about three to five days to be ready and that it must verify that the requester was involved.

  Official page

• Maryland Transportation Authority Police (toll facilities, BWI, Port) Wait 7 days; cost quoted on request

  For a crash at a Maryland Transportation Authority facility (its toll highways, bridges and tunnels), at BWI Marshall Airport or at the Port of Baltimore, the MDTA Police Central Records Unit holds the report; it does not have access to reports by other agencies. Request by mail with the date, time, location, vehicles, names and report number and a self-addressed stamped business envelope; in person, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. weekdays except State holidays, calling ahead; or by email. Wait at least seven days after the crash. Its request form says you will be told whether the report is available and of any costs, and that payment is by check or money order only. Address: MDTA Police, Central Records Unit, 4330 Broening Highway, Baltimore, MD 21222; 410-537-7710. Reports investigated by the MDTA Police Collision Reconstruction Unit are handled as Public Information Act requests instead, through the MDOT PIA online form.

  Official page

When you must report a crash in Maryland

Stop, aid, exchange info; no $ threshold

Maryland’s crash duties are in Title 20 of the Transportation Article, which applies throughout the State, on or off a highway (§20-101(a)), and §§20-101 to 20-105 also bind a vehicle owner who is present at the crash, whether or not the owner was driving (§20-101(b)). None of them depends on a dollar amount of damage. Injury or death: the driver of each vehicle involved must immediately stop as close as possible to the scene without obstructing traffic more than necessary, and return to and remain at the scene until meeting the duties in §20-104 (§20-102(a), (b)). Leaving an injury crash is punishable by up to 1 year in jail, a fine up to $3,000, or both; leaving a fatal crash by up to 5 years, a fine up to $5,000, or both; and a driver who knew or reasonably should have known that the crash might cause serious bodily injury or death, where it did, commits a felony punishable by up to 5 years and $5,000 (serious bodily injury) or up to 10 years and $10,000 (death) (§20-102(c)). The Motor Vehicle Administration must revoke the license of a driver convicted under §20-102 of failing to remain at the scene of a crash that results in death or serious bodily injury (§16-205(b)(1)(iii)). Damage only to an attended vehicle or property: stop and remain until you meet §20-104 (§20-103); penalty up to 2 months, a fine up to $500, or both. What you must do at the scene (§20-104): render reasonable assistance to anyone injured and, if the person asks for treatment or it is apparent treatment is needed, arrange transportation to a physician, surgeon or hospital; give your name, address and the registration number of the vehicle you are driving, and on request show your license if available, to any injured person and to the driver, occupant or person attending any vehicle or property damaged; and give the same information to any police officer at the scene or investigating. If no officer is present and none of those people is in condition to receive the information, you must, after doing everything else you can, immediately report the crash to the nearest office of an authorized police authority and give that information (§20-104(d)). Penalty up to 2 months, a fine up to $500, or both. Unattended vehicle or property: stop, try to locate the driver, owner or person in charge and give your name and address, your vehicle’s registration number and the name and address of its owner; if you cannot find them, leave a written notice with that information in a conspicuous, secure place in or on the damaged vehicle or property (§20-105); same penalty. If you strike and injure a domestic animal, you must immediately notify the appropriate State or local police (§20-106). Giving information you know or have reason to believe is false in any report the title requires is punishable by up to 2 months, a fine up to $500, or both (§20-108). On a Maryland Transportation Authority highway, a vehicle that is disabled or involved in a crash must be moved, if possible, to the shoulder, next to the emergency walkway on a bridge, or as a patrol officer directs (§21-1407(a)(4)). Apart from §§20-104(d) and 20-106, we found no Maryland statute that requires a driver to call police from the scene. The State Highway Administration’s Move It program, run with the State Police and local police, tells drivers in a property-damage crash whose vehicles can be driven to move them safely off the road and exchange information, says you do not need to call police or wait for them, and says to call police when someone is injured, a vehicle cannot be moved and needs a tow, a driver appears intoxicated, a driver has no license or will not exchange information, or a driver tries to leave without giving the proper information; it adds that police will complete a report if there is personal injury, a vehicle cannot be moved, or a driver is intoxicated, unlicensed or leaves the scene. That is program guidance, not a statute. The same page says state law requires drivers to exchange license numbers, owners’ names and addresses, insurance companies and policy numbers, and insurance agents; §20-104 itself requires your name, address and vehicle registration number and showing your license on request, and we found no statute requiring the insurance details at the scene, though exchanging them is sensible.

The driver report you may have to file

Injury, no police report: MVA, 15 days

Under Transportation Article §20-107(a) and (b), the driver of each vehicle involved in a crash that results in bodily injury to or death of any person must, within 15 days after the crash, report it in writing to the Motor Vehicle Administration and file with the report evidence of liability insurance or other security meeting Title 17. That evidence must include the name and address of your insurance carrier or other provider of security, the policy or other identifying number, and the name and address of the local insurance producer (agent) (§20-107(c)). The report is not required if the crash was investigated by a police officer and the officer’s report has been filed with the Department of State Police, and it is not required from anyone while they are physically incapable of making it (§20-107(f)). If the driver is physically incapable, unavailable or refuses, the MVA may instead require the owner to report and file the insurance evidence (§20-107(d)), and the MVA may require supplemental reports (§20-107(e)). There is no report duty under §20-107 for a crash that damages only property. The MVA must prepare forms for these reports, and the report must be made on the form the MVA requires (§20-113). We could not find that form: the MVA’s online forms list (136 forms, read October 28, 2026) has no accident report form, and we found no MVA page describing how to file. If you must file, contact the MVA (6601 Ritchie Highway N.E., Glen Burnie, MD 21062; Contact Center 410-768-7000) and ask for the §20-107 accident report form, and keep proof of what you sent and when. Penalty: if you fail to file a report required by §20-107 or to give correctly the information the MVA requires with it, the MVA may suspend or revoke your driver’s license and the registration of each vehicle you own (§20-109).

What the report costs

State Police $4; local varies

State Police: the fee for conducting a document search is $4 by statute (Public Safety Article §2-308(c)), and the State Police regulation requires a nonrefundable check or money order for $4 for each document search, payable to the Maryland State Police; a check for the wrong amount or payable to another agency is returned (COMAR 29.02.02.01D). Local agencies set their own fees: for example, Montgomery County charges $10.00 per report, and the Baltimore Police Department sells its reports through BuyCrash at a price its page does not state. The MDTA Police quote any cost when you call. Filing the driver report with the MVA under §20-107 has no fee stated in the statute. For other police records under the Public Information Act, an agency may charge a reasonable fee tied to actual costs but may not charge for the first 2 hours of search and preparation (General Provisions Article §4-206(b), (c)); if another law sets a fee for a copy, that law applies (§4-206(d)(1)).

When the report is ready

State Police: wait 10 days or more

The State Police web page says to wait at least 10 days after the crash, and its online request form says to allow at least 10 business days for a response. Its regulation sets longer and shorter waits: requests for copies from the Central Records Division will not be considered until at least 20 days after the crash and may be returned if sent sooner, and requests to review a report at the barrack in the area of the crash will not be considered until at least 5 days after it (COMAR 29.02.02.01B, C). If you write before 20 days, the request may come back. Local agencies differ: Montgomery County says reports are ready about three to five days after the crash, and the MDTA Police say to wait seven days (its older request form says seven business days). The Baltimore Police Department says it usually produces disclosable records within 30 days of a request, which matches the general Public Information Act limit of 30 days (General Provisions Article §4-203). The driver report to the MVA, when required, is due within 15 days of the crash (§20-107). We found no official statement of how long crash reports are kept.

Who can get a copy

Varies; no lawyer solicitation

We found no Maryland statute that limits police crash reports to the people involved. Police reports are public records under the Public Information Act, which requires a custodian to let any person inspect public records except as otherwise provided by law (General Provisions Article §§4-101(k), 4-201(a)), and an agency generally may not require you to give your identity or purpose (§4-204). The Act does bar release of police reports of traffic accidents to an attorney who is not an attorney of record of a person named in the report, or to anyone working for or with such an attorney, when they ask in order to solicit or market legal services (§4-315); the Attorney General’s Public Information Act Manual notes a federal court ruling that this provision is of doubtful constitutionality. Separately, a non-lawyer may not, for personal gain, access a police crash report to solicit someone to sue or hire a lawyer, absent an existing relationship or interest (Business Occupations and Professions Article §10-604(b)(2)). Agencies apply their own checks: the State Police say they release reports to legally entitled parties and may release records to the person named in the record, their attorney, or others allowed by law, and Montgomery County says it must verify that the requester was involved in the crash. A report tied to a criminal investigation may be withheld in part under the investigatory records exemption (§4-351).

What to do now

1. 1

   Get the report number and agency

   Ask the officer which agency took the report (State Police, county, city or MDTA Police) and for the case number. You need it, the date and the location to request the report.

2. 2

   Check whether you must report to the MVA

   If someone was hurt or killed and no officer filed a report, each driver must report in writing to the MVA within 15 days with insurance details. Call the MVA for the form.

3. 3

   Request the report from that agency

   For a trooper report, send Form 30-12 and a $4 check or money order to State Police Central Records. Their page says wait 10 days; their regulation allows return before 20 days.

4. 4

   Ask for video now, in writing

   Body camera, dashcam and other police video is requested under the Public Information Act. Send a written request to each agency right away; the State’s live traffic cameras do not store video.

Frequently asked questions