Reporting Oklahoma Car Accidents

Reporting Oklahoma Car Accidents

Anyone who is involved in an accident in Oklahoma must stay at the scene of the accident, provide help or assistance to others involved, and exchange information. Leaving the scene and failing to provide help or assistance after an accident can cause your driver’s license to be suspended or revoked.

After an accident, you must exchange information with other drivers who were involved in the crash, and they must share with you. If you can, speak with anyone who saw the crash and get their contact information also. Information that should be shared includes:

  • Name and phone number
  • Insurance policy number and agent’s name
  • License plate number and vehicle registration numbers

If you hit an unoccupied vehicle, such as one in a parking lot or parked on the street, you must try to locate the owner to exchange information. If the vehicle owner cannot be identified or located, you must leave a message in a safe, noticeable areas. This note must contain your name and contact information and a short explanation of what happened.

You Must File an Accident Report in Some Situations

You are required by law to submit a Motor Vehicle Collision Report to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety when the accident results in –

  • injuries
  • death
  • more than $300 in property damage
  • settlement negotiations that last six months or more

Your accident report must include insurance information. If you did not have at least liability coverage, your driver’s license might be suspended.

You are not required to notify law enforcement in accidents that only cause property damage, like if you hit an unattended parked vehicle. However, your insurance may require that you notify them of all accidents. If you do not file a report, there is every chance that the individuals in the other, involved vehicles will provide police with information that leads to your accident claims being denied. Also, a collision report typically contains information that may be valuable for your case, such as witness statements, environmental factors, detailed accident descriptions, photos of the damage, injury details, and more.

Even though an accident report is not admissible as evidence in a court case, it can be extremely useful in settlement negotiations, and provide you and your attorney with information that you may not have been able to gather at the scene.

If police were not notified and you want to file a report, you can do so through the Department of Public Safety website at https://www.ok.gov/dps/Forms/Interactive_Traffic_Collision_Report.html

Requesting a Collision Report

You can request a copy of your collision report from the Department of Public Safety Records Management Division. You will need to fill out a Records Request & Consent to Release Form and mail it to:

Department of Public Safety
Records Management Division
P.O. Box 11415
Oklahoma City, OK 73136-0415

You will need to provide the agency with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your documents to be sent, along with the appropriate fees as listed on the request form. The form can be accessed at https://www.ok.gov/dps/documents/records_request.pdf

You can also submit the form in person at the Department of Public Safety at 3600 North Martin Luther King Ave in Oklahoma City.


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