How to Get a Crash Report in Idaho

The Idaho Office of Highway Safety (OHS), part of the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), maintains the statewide collision database. For questions, OHS lists its contact details on its Crash Reports & Statistics page.¹

Police who respond to crashes on Idaho roads file the crash information with OHS. Once a report is complete, the responding agency sends it to OHS electronically. A crash analyst then reviews it.¹

A Vehicle Crash Report (VCR) is completed for every motor vehicle crash on public property that causes an injury or death. A VCR is also completed when a crash on public property causes more than $1,500 in property damage to any one person.¹

Use ITD's online Crash Reports portal. Search for your report, then buy a PDF copy for $7.00 plus transaction fees. You can download a report you bought for up to 7 days. The purchase covers the crash report only, because OHS does not have access to photos or other crash documents.^1,2

If your report does not show up in the portal search, use the portal's Request Crash Report form to send a request to the ITD office.^2,3

The ITD portal lets you search for a report by first name, last name, city, county, the last 4 digits of a driver's license, case ID and date range.²

The Request Crash Report form asks for the same crash search details. It also asks for your name, email and phone, and has space for additional comments.³

A PDF of one crash report from the ITD portal costs $7.00 plus transaction fees through Idaho.gov.^1,2,4

The portal cites Idaho Code 49-202 as the law that allows a charge for copies of collision records.²

ITD says a new report takes a few weeks to become available online. It may take much longer, depending on the law enforcement agency involved.²

ITD says crash records are public information and are available to the general public.⁴

The Boise Police Department takes records requests through its online form. You can also fill out a written request form in person at City Hall West, 333 N. Mark Stall Place, Boise. The department says Idaho law gives it 3 to 10 business days to answer requests from Idaho residents, and 21 to 35 business days for out-of-state requesters.⁵

The Meridian Police Department's 'Make or Find a Report' page has a link labeled 'Access your Free Collision Report'. It goes to a LexisNexis BuyCrash search filtered to Meridian Police Department reports.⁶

The Idaho County Sheriff's Office no longer provides accident reports. It sends requesters to ITD's crash report portal.⁷

The ITD Driver's Handbook says you must report to police any motor vehicle crash in which someone is injured or property damage is more than $1,500.⁸

If you damage an unattended vehicle or other property, the handbook says you must also notify police if the damage was more than $1,500 or someone was injured.⁸

In Meridian, you can make a voluntary online report of a vehicle collision that police did not investigate. Police take no action based on it.⁹