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Official Crash Investigation Reports

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.