| Official place to start | Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Traffic Crash Reports, the state's official repository for crash records |
|---|---|
| Name of the report | Florida Traffic Crash Report, Long Form, or a short form crash report |
| Fee | $10.00 per report under section 321.23, plus a $2.00 convenience fee for each online transaction |
| Usual wait | Up to 10 days to become available. By mail, 4 to 6 weeks to receive it |
| What you need | By mail or in person, a sworn statement on form HSMV 94010 for each report. The law also asks for a valid driver license or other photo identification |
| Who may get it | In the first 60 days after filing, the parties, their legal representatives and insurers and the others named in section 316.066. After 60 days, also anyone with a permissible use under the federal DPPA |
| Agencies on this site | Florida Highway Patrol |
One state office holds every Florida report
Florida keeps its crash reports in one place. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, FLHSMV for short, calls itself "the state's official repository for crash records." Florida law backs that up: long form and short form crash reports written by police "must be submitted to the department," and the officer's own agency may keep a copy too.
So a report written by a trooper, a city officer or a deputy can be bought from the same state system. That is the first thing to know in Florida, and it can save you a search for the right records office.
| Way | Price | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Online, the Florida Crash Portal | $10.00 | Plus a $2.00 convenience fee for each transaction. Up to 10 reports at a time. Available at once after you pay |
| In person, at a Highway Patrol troop station | $10.00 | For 10 or fewer reports, at the station nearest to where the crash happened. Bring a signed statement |
| By mail, to Crash Records in Tallahassee | $10.00 | For more than 10 reports. A request letter, a signed statement for each report and payment. 4 to 6 weeks |
The $10.00 fee is the one section 321.23 of the Florida Statutes sets for a copy of a crash report.
Long form, short form and the driver's own report
Florida has three kinds of crash report, and which one exists for your crash depends on what happened.
The long form
The Florida Traffic Crash Report, Long Form is the full report. Section 316.066 requires the investigating officer to complete it and send it to the department within 10 days after the investigation is completed when the crash:
- caused a death, an injury, or any complaint of pain or discomfort by anyone in the vehicles
- involved a violation of section 316.061(1) or section 316.193 of the Florida Statutes
- left a vehicle so badly damaged that a wrecker had to remove it
- involved a commercial motor vehicle
The short form
For any other crash on a public road, the officer completes a short form crash report or hands out a driver exchange of information form for the drivers and passengers to fill in. Both report forms carry the same core details: the date, time and place of the crash, the vehicles, the names and addresses of everyone involved, witnesses, the officer's name, badge number and agency, and each party's insurance company.
The driver's own report
When no police report is required, Florida puts the duty on the driver. Under section 316.066(1)(e), a driver in a crash that damaged a vehicle or other property, and that does not require a police report, must send a written report of the crash to the department within 10 days. See the self report section below.
The 60 day rule
Florida limits who may see a fresh crash report. Reports that reveal the identity, phone numbers, addresses or other personal information of the people in the crash are confidential for 60 days after the report is filed. During those 60 days the law lets these people have the report straight away:
- the parties involved in the crash
- their legal representatives
- their licensed insurance agents, their insurers, or insurers they have applied to for coverage
- people under contract with those insurers to provide claims or underwriting information
- law enforcement agencies and their contracted service providers
- victim services programs
- federal, state and local government agencies, and anyone acting on their behalf
Licensed radio and television stations and newspapers qualified to publish legal notices also get the report during the 60 days, but without the home or work street addresses, driver license numbers, dates of birth and phone numbers.
After 60 days, the report opens to the people already eligible and to anyone with one of the permissible uses in the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. 2721(b). The department's form adds that anyone eligible in the first 60 days remains eligible afterwards.
The rule has teeth. Under section 316.066(3), a person who knows they are not entitled to the confidential information and obtains or tries to obtain it "commits a felony of the third degree." FLHSMV repeats the warning on its own page.
Buying a report on the Florida Crash Portal
The Florida Crash Portal is FLHSMV's own site for official Florida law enforcement agency crash reports. Its order runs in five stages, and the portal names them: Eligibility, Search, Review, Checkout and Download.
- EligibilityThe portal first sets out the 60 day rule and who may have a report, and asks you to accept it.
- SearchLook up the crash. Very recent crashes may not show yet.
- ReviewLook over the result before you pay.
- CheckoutPay $10.00 for each report plus one $2.00 convenience fee for the whole transaction.
- DownloadA link goes to the email address you gave. Download within 48 hours.
A few practical points from the portal itself. Reports come as a Zip file containing PDF files. The $2.00 convenience fee is non refundable. One transaction is limited to 10 reports. And because law enforcement agencies have 10 days to submit their reports, the search may not include crashes from the last 10 days.
By mail or at a troop station
Outside the portal, the department wants a signed statement for every request, whether you ask by mail or in person. That statement is form HSMV 94010, and the Florida Highway Patrol page goes through it section by section.
- 10 or fewer reports: these may be filled at the Florida Highway Patrol troop station nearest to where the crash happened.
- More than 10 reports: send a request letter describing the reports, a signed statement for each one, and payment, to the address below. Make the check or money order out to "FLHSMV." Allow 4 to 6 weeks.
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Crash Records
2900 Apalachee Parkway, MS 28
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Section 316.066 sets two conditions for every request of this kind. You show a valid driver license or other photo identification, or proof that you qualify, and you file a written sworn statement that the report will not be used for commercial solicitation of accident victims. One statement covers one report, so three reports need three statements.
What a Florida crash report costs
| Item | Price | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Copy of a crash report | $10.00 | Section 321.23(2)(a), Florida Statutes |
| Convenience fee, online | $2.00 | Per transaction on the Florida Crash Portal, non refundable |
| Copy of a homicide report | $25.00 | Section 321.23(2)(b) |
| Copy of a uniform traffic citation | $0.50 | Section 321.23(2)(c) |
The online route costs $12.00 for one report and $102.00 for the maximum of 10 in one go, because the convenience fee is charged once per transaction. By mail, the payment is a check or money order made out to FLHSMV.
One more detail from the statute shows where the money goes. When the department sells a crash report online, it may pass up to $5 of the fee for each copy to the agency that investigated the crash.
Jacksonville and the sheriff's office
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, JSO, describes its vision as serving the citizens of Duval County. Its crash page is about the driver self report rather than about buying a police report. It sends drivers to FLHSMV's Online Driver Report of a Traffic Crash and asks them to have a completed crash form from a law enforcement agency first. That form, JSO says, includes information about the parties, and can be had at the scene or from law enforcement at their offices. JSO adds that you are required to self report within 10 days of the incident, citing section 316.066.
For other records, JSO lists three ways in.
| Way | Details |
|---|---|
| Phone | Public Records Unit, 904.630.2209 |
| In writing | Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Attn: Public Records Unit, 532 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32202 |
| In person | JSO district locations, or JSO's Public Services Building, 450 Magnolia Street, Jacksonville, FL 32204 |
JSO's fee page does not list a price for a crash report. It says the costs of producing, inspecting or copying records the public asks for are collected by the Sheriff in the manner and amounts Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes allows.
Because every agency's long and short form reports go to the state, a JSO crash report can also be looked for on the Florida Crash Portal. JSO's general information line is 904.630.7600 and its non emergency line is 904.630.0500.
When police must come, and when you report it yourself
FLHSMV lists the crashes where you must notify law enforcement, stay at the scene and call 911, as section 316.065 requires:
- a crash with injury
- a crash with a fatality
- a hit and run crash
- a DUI crash
- a crash that needs a wrecker to remove a vehicle
- a crash with a commercial motor vehicle
- a crash with apparent damage of at least $2000.00
For a crash that damaged a vehicle or other property and meets none of those, drivers may file their own report instead of an officer. FLHSMV calls the form the Driver Report of a Traffic Crash. Complete every field that applies, sign and date it, and either email it to SelfReportCrashes@flhsmv.gov or mail it to the Crash Records address above. The instructions are on page 2 of the form. FLHSMV asks you to keep a copy for your records and for insurance.
What the report can be used for
Section 316.066(4) has a rule worth knowing before you rely on a report. A crash report made by a person involved in the crash, and any statement that person makes to an officer to complete the report, is "without prejudice to the individual so reporting" and "may not be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal."
The same subsection lists exceptions. An officer may testify at a criminal trial about a statement made to them, if the person's privilege against self incrimination is not violated, and the results of breath, urine and blood tests are not confidential. How the rule applies to a particular claim is a question for a lawyer.
When it goes wrong
The portal cannot find the report
Count the days. The officer has 10 days after the investigation is completed to send a long form, and the portal warns that crashes from the last 10 days may be missing. After that, ask the agency that came to the crash whether its report has been submitted.
You are not on the 60 day list
Then the report is closed to you until 60 days after it was filed, and even then only for a permissible use under the federal DPPA. Section Two of form HSMV 94010 lists those uses, and the portal's eligibility step points to them.
The download link stopped working
The portal says reports must be downloaded within 48 hours of the request. Save the Zip file as soon as the email arrives.
You need more than 10 reports
One online transaction holds at most 10. For a larger set by mail, send the request letter, a signed statement for each report and the payment to Crash Records in Tallahassee.
Florida pages on this site
Florida crash report questions
How do I get a Florida crash report?
Online through the Florida Crash Portal of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, for $10.00 a report plus a $2.00 convenience fee. By mail or in person you need a signed statement for each report, and requests for 10 or fewer reports may be filled at the Florida Highway Patrol troop station nearest the crash.
How much is a Florida crash report?
$10.00 per report, the fee set by section 321.23 of the Florida Statutes. Each online transaction adds a non refundable $2.00 convenience fee, and one transaction can hold at most 10 reports.
How long does a Florida crash report take?
The department says traffic crash reports may take up to 10 days to become available, and the portal explains that law enforcement agencies have 10 days to submit them. A request by mail to Crash Records in Tallahassee takes 4 to 6 weeks.
Who can get a Florida crash report in the first 60 days?
The parties involved, their legal representatives, their licensed insurance agents and insurers, people under contract to give insurers claims or underwriting information, law enforcement agencies and their contracted service providers, victim services programs and government agencies. Licensed radio and television stations and qualified newspapers get a version without addresses, license numbers, dates of birth and phone numbers.
Can anyone get a Florida crash report after 60 days?
Not anyone. After 60 days the law opens the report to the people already eligible and to anyone with one of the permissible uses listed in the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. 2721(b), under its resale and redisclosure rules.
Does the Florida crash report form need a notary?
Yes. The department's sworn statement, form HSMV 94010, is signed under penalty of perjury and sworn before a notary, either in person or by online notarization. The law requires a written sworn statement for each report requested.
Do I have to report a minor crash in Florida?
Police must be called for a crash with injury or death, a hit and run, a DUI, a crash that needs a wrecker, one with a commercial motor vehicle, or apparent damage of at least $2000.00. When no police report is required and a vehicle or other property was damaged, section 316.066(1)(e) says the driver must send a written report to the department within 10 days. FLHSMV's form for it is the Driver Report of a Traffic Crash.
Where do I get a Jacksonville crash report?
Every agency's long and short form reports go to the state, so the Florida Crash Portal is one place to look. For other records, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Public Records Unit takes requests at 904.630.2209, in writing to 532 Riverside Avenue, or in person at the Public Services Building, 450 Magnolia Street.
Can a Florida crash report be used as evidence?
Florida law says a crash report made by a person involved in the crash, and any statement that person makes to an officer to complete the report, may not be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal. The statute lists exceptions, such as an officer's testimony at a criminal trial and breath, urine and blood test results.