How to get a car accident report in Massachusetts

Where to get the report

• Registry of Motor Vehicles (state and local police reports) $20 a report; online or by mail

  The RMV supplies standard or certified copies of police crash reports filed by any state or local Massachusetts police agency and processed by the RMV. The standard copy has no Registrar’s stamp; the certified copy carries it; both cost $20, a non-refundable search fee for each report. If you hold a current or expired Massachusetts license or ID, request it online under “Request Crash Report” in the Reports section of the myRMV Online Service Center, with your license or permit number, name, date of birth, Social Security number, email address and the fee. Massachusetts business entities also use myRMV, with the business FID, plate type, last four digits of the VIN and registration number. By mail (only for requesters without a Massachusetts credential, authorized recipients, and DPPA permitted users without Crash Program access), send the Request for Copy of Police Crash Report form (CRASH101), a $20 check or money order payable to “MassDOT”, and a photocopy of your license or state ID to Registry of Motor Vehicles, Crash Records, P.O. Box 55889, Boston, MA 02205; without the ID copy, the request will not be processed.

  Official page

• City or town police department Fee and method vary by department

  You can also ask the police department that responded, usually through its records unit. No statewide crash report fee for local departments was found; a department may charge under the Public Records Law, which caps black and white paper copies at 5 cents a page and limits labor charges (M.G.L. c. 66, §10(d)). Examples, each from that department’s own page: the Concord Police Department supplies copies of motor vehicle crash reports at no cost, in person or by email to Records-Request@concordma.gov; the Lowell Police Department puts crash reports on BuyCrash (LexisNexis) 72 hours after the crash, and its page does not state the price; the Burlington Police Department refers drivers to the RMV and says it will not release a crash report until the operator reports are turned in. Ask the department for its policy and price before you pay.

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• Massachusetts State Police Via RMV, or a public records request

  Reports written by state troopers are among the reports the RMV supplies for $20. You can also make a public records request to the State Police Public Records Unit through its online portal, by email, or by mail to Primary RAO, Massachusetts State Police, 50 Maple Street, Milford, MA 01757, phone (774) 462-3770; telephone requests are accepted only at the Records Access Officer’s discretion. The State Police page does not address crash reports specifically; it says the first four hours of work on a request are free and the agency may then charge up to $25 per hour, which matches the statute for state agencies (M.G.L. c. 66, §10(d)(ii)). Note a conflict on that page: it lists the email address as msp.rao@pol.state.ma.us in its contact block but links msp.rao@state.ma.us in its instructions.

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When you must report a crash in Massachusetts

Stop, ID yourself, clear the lane

Massachusetts law puts its reporting duty on paper rather than on a phone call. The scene duty is in M.G.L. c. 90, §24(2): a driver who knowingly collides with or otherwise causes injury to any other vehicle or property must stop and make known their name, residence and the register number of their vehicle before going away; leaving without doing so is punishable by a fine of $20 to $200, imprisonment for two weeks to two years, or both (§24(2)(a)). Leaving after knowingly colliding with or injuring a person, where no one dies, is punishable by imprisonment for six months to two years and a fine of $500 to $1,000 (§24(2)(a1/2)(1)). If the injuries result in a death and the driver leaves to avoid prosecution or evade apprehension, the penalty is state prison for 2.5 to 10 years, or jail or a house of correction for one to 2.5 years, in either case with a fine of $1,000 to $5,000, and the sentence may not be reduced below one year (§24(2)(a1/2)(2)). We found no separate Massachusetts statute for striking an unattended vehicle or other property, such as a rule to leave a note; §24(2)(a) does not say to whom you must make your name, residence and plate number known, so if the owner is not there, leaving that information on the vehicle and telling the local police is the cautious course. If the crash is in a travel lane on a public way and damages only property, the driver must immediately move the vehicle to the shoulder, emergency lane, median or another place off the roadway when that can be done safely and the vehicle can be driven under its own power without further damage or injury; the fine is up to $100, and the violation is not surchargeable on your insurance (M.G.L. c. 89, §7D). A conviction under §24(2)(a) or (a1/2) is reported to the Registrar, who may, and unless the court recommends otherwise shall, revoke the license immediately (§24(2)(b)); after a first conviction for leaving an injury crash, no new license may issue for one year (§24(2)(c)). We found no Massachusetts statute that requires a driver to call police from the scene. Whether to call is your decision, though some police departments ask you to call when someone is hurt; for example, the Burlington Police Department tells drivers to call police if there has been any personal injury or if they need help exchanging information. The written report duty is separate and is covered in the driver report section below. Police departments, in turn, must notify the Registrar forthwith of any fatal crash or crash involving serious injury, and must send the Registrar the particulars of every crash covered by §26 within 15 days (M.G.L. c. 90, §29).

The driver report you may have to file

Operator Report in 5 days to RMV, police

Under M.G.L. c. 90, §26, every person operating a motor vehicle involved in a crash in which any person is killed or injured, or in which there is damage in excess of one thousand dollars to any one vehicle or other property, must within five days report in writing to the Registrar on a form the Registrar approves, and send a copy to the police department having jurisdiction where the crash occurred. The form is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report (form CRASH102, revision 0124), signed under the pains and penalties of perjury. There is no fee to file it. The RMV tells you to send it to three places: mail or deliver one copy to the local police department or the State Police in the city or town where the crash occurred, mail one copy to your insurance company, and mail one copy to Registry of Motor Vehicles, Crash Records, P.O. Box 55889, Boston, MA 02205-5889. The insurance copy is the RMV’s instruction; the statute itself names only the Registrar and the police. The report is not required while a person is physically incapable of making it; if the operator is incapable and is not the owner, the owner must file within five days based on what the owner knows and can find out. The Registrar may require a supplementary report and may revoke or suspend the license of anyone who violates §26. A police department must accept a report from an owner or operator whose vehicle was damaged in a crash in which another person unlawfully left the scene (§26); the RMV’s page and form add that this applies even if the damage does not exceed $1,000. Some departments tie their own report to yours: the Burlington Police Department says all operator reports must be turned in before it releases crash reports.

What the report costs

RMV $20; local varies

RMV: $20 per police crash report, standard or certified, a non-refundable search fee, paid online through myRMV or by check or money order payable to MassDOT by mail. Filing your own Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report costs nothing. Local police departments set their own practice: Concord gives crash reports free, and Lowell sells them through BuyCrash at a price its page does not state. Under the Public Records Law, a fee may not exceed the actual cost of reproducing the record, and paper copies are capped at 5 cents per page (M.G.L. c. 66, §10(d)(i)). Labor may be added only when a request takes more than 4 hours of work at a state agency such as the State Police, which may not charge for the first 4 hours, or more than 2 hours at a city or town; a municipality of more than 20,000 people may not charge for the first 2 hours, while a smaller one may charge for them once the request runs past 2 hours. The rate is no more than $25 per hour unless the Supervisor of Records approves a higher municipal rate (§10(d)(ii), (iii)). No fee may be charged at all if the records access officer did not respond within 10 business days (§10(e)).

When the report is ready

Wait 4 weeks, then 4 weeks at RMV

The RMV says to wait at least 4 weeks after the crash before requesting a report, and to allow 4 weeks for it to research and process the request. If it does not find the report, it keeps searching its database for 90 days from the date of the crash. Police departments must send the Registrar the particulars of every reportable crash within 15 days (M.G.L. c. 90, §29). A local department can be faster: Lowell says its crash reports are on BuyCrash 72 hours after the crash. Your own Operator Report is due within 5 days of the crash (M.G.L. c. 90, §26). Retention: the Registrar may destroy letters reporting accidents and related papers once storage is no longer necessary for the office and the copies the state secretary requires have been arranged (M.G.L. c. 90, §30); we found no stated retention period for crash reports at the RMV or statewide for local departments.

Who can get a copy

RMV: people involved, DPPA users

The RMV releases police crash reports only to: an individual involved in the crash (operator, vehicle owner, occupant, vulnerable user such as a pedestrian or cyclist, witness, or owner of damaged property), who must hold a current or expired credential; a Massachusetts registered business whose vehicle was involved; an authorized recipient the involved person names on the request form (both IDs required); and permitted users under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. The DPPA categories on the RMV form include insurers using the records for claims investigation, anti-fraud, rating or underwriting; government agencies; and, for use in a court or agency proceeding or in anticipation of litigation, attorneys or law firms, constables and licensed private detectives, who must give their license number. Most Crash Program users receive reports with highly restricted information and fields redacted, according to the RMV. A local police department handles requests under the Public Records Law, which gives each person a right of access to public records, subject to the statutory exemptions, including the privacy exemption for information about a specifically named individual (M.G.L. c. 4, §7(26)(c); Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law), so a department may redact parts of a report.

What to do now

1. 1

   File your Operator Report within 5 days

   If anyone was hurt or killed or damage to any one vehicle or other property is over $1,000, send the Motor Vehicle Crash Operator Report to the RMV, the local or State Police, and your insurer.

2. 2

   Get the officer’s name and department

   You need the city or town, the crash date and the people and plates involved to find the report. Some departments, such as Burlington, hold the police report until the operator reports are in.

3. 3

   Order the police report from the RMV after 4 weeks

   Use myRMV if you have a Massachusetts license or ID, or mail form CRASH101 with a $20 check or money order and a copy of your ID. Or ask the responding department, which may be faster or free.

4. 4

   Ask for video now, in writing

   Police body camera, cruiser camera and town camera video are requested under the Public Records Law. Send a written request to each agency’s records access officer right away.

Frequently asked questions