Police report example: how to read each box on your crash report

What does a police crash report look like?

Every state has its own crash form, but they look alike for a reason. NHTSA's Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria, MMUCC, is "a voluntary guideline that represents a minimum, standardized set of data variables to describe motor vehicle traffic crashes." It was first written in 1998, and the 2024 version is its 6th edition. NHTSA is frank about the gap it tries to close: although all 50 States collect crash data, "there are significant differences in the way that such data is reported."

MMUCC sorts a crash into groups: the crash itself, each vehicle, each driver, each person, anyone outside a vehicle, and the narrative and diagram. Learn those groups once and any state's report gets easier to read.

This guide uses New York's police accident report, form MV-104A, as the worked example, because New York publishes the officers' instructions for every box. Its form "consists of a cover sheet and a two-sided" report, and the cover sheet carries the code lists for boxes 1 to 30.

The top of the report: when, where and how many

The first line identifies the crash. On New York's form it holds the date, the day of the week as two letters, the time in military format, the number of vehicles, the number injured and the number killed. A few rules there surprise people:

• Parked cars. "If a parked vehicle is damaged, the accident date should be the earliest date the vehicle was parked," not the day the damage was found.
• Injured and killed are counted apart. The injured count leaves out deaths: "Do not include any fatal injuries."
• Check boxes that matter later. One box shows the officer "was not present or did not investigate at the scene," one that the crash was reconstructed, one that a driver left the scene, and one whether police photos were taken.

A separate block is the agency's own: "Enter a case number, complaint number or any other identifying information the police agency finds helpful." That number is often the one you need to buy the report, as our report number guide explains.

Drivers, owners and insurance

Each vehicle gets a block for its driver and its registered owner. The numbering stays fixed through the whole report: "Vehicle 1 is always the vehicle operated by Driver 1." When you read the diagram or the narrative later, Vehicle 1 means the same car everywhere.

New York tells officers to copy the driver from the license, "exactly as it appears," because "this information is used to match the report with the correct license record." The owner comes from the registration the same way. Other entries in the block:

• Unlicensed is checked "only if the driver does not have any license at all," not for a suspended one.
• Number of occupants counts the driver and everyone "in or on the vehicle at the time of the crash."
• Insurance code. The officer prints "the 3-digit code from the NYS vehicle's Insurance Identification Card." New York's DMV publishes a sample report with that code circled. An out of state insurer has no code, so its name goes in the officer's notes.
• Tickets and arrests. Each driver has space for ticket or arrest numbers and the law sections violated.

These are the entries most often worth checking. If one is wrong, our guide on how to amend a police report explains how to get it fixed.

Damage codes and towing

Damage is coded on a drawing of a vehicle with numbered zones. In New York, Box 1 shows "the first point of impact for each vehicle," using codes 1 to 16, and Box 2 "the area of the vehicle with the most damage." The instructions give an example: code 9 is "the tail light area on the driver's side." Code 19 means other damage, explained in the notes, and boxes 3 to 5 take more damage codes if needed.

Read the two boxes together: they show where each vehicle was struck first and where it was damaged most. The same block names the tow company or person who towed the vehicle "and the location where the vehicle was towed," which is where to look if you need to find your car.

Where the crash happened

The location is written as a road and a reference point. On New York's form, a crash on a road "within 33 feet of an intersecting street" names that street. Farther away, the officer gives "the distance in feet or miles, and the direction of the crash from the nearest intersecting highway or street." Short codes mark the road type, such as SR for a state route and CS for a city street.

New York's instructions call this information "essential for effective centralized site location coding." A wrong street or county is worth correcting.

People and injuries

Every person involved gets a line. New York's instructions say to start "with the driver of Vehicle 1 on Line A" and list every passenger after, then the next vehicle. Pedestrians and cyclists get their own letters. Each line then takes codes for the seating position, the safety equipment used, whether the person was thrown from the vehicle, and the injury.

The K to O injury scale

Most state reports also grade each person's injury with a letter. MMUCC defines the five letters this way:

The letter is the officer's judgment at the scene. A C does not mean a person was not hurt: MMUCC describes possible injuries as those reported or shown by behavior "but no wounds or injuries are readily evident." New York's form also records who took an injured person from the scene, by ambulance plate or a code, and the 4-digit code of the hospital they were taken to.

The coded boxes: road, light, weather and causes

Much of a report is numbers in small boxes. New York officers "choose the appropriate code for each category and print the corresponding number or letter in the designated box." Maine's crash report site explains how to read them back: "align your code sheet with the left and right sides of the crash report with the corresponding box number on the coding guide."

Two small marks are easy to misread. On New York's form an answer that is unknown is entered as an X, and a code with an asterisk must be explained in the officer's notes. Read the contributing factors with care too: they are the officer's view of what led to the crash, coded for each vehicle.

The diagram

The diagram is the report's picture. MMUCC says it "portrays the officer's understanding of what took place," based on statements and physical evidence. It does not need to be to scale "unless required by the reporting agency," but it should show a north arrow, the roads and anything relevant such as signals or skid marks.

Look for three things: the vehicle numbers, which match the rest of the report; the point where they met, since MMUCC asks officers to draw the vehicles "at the approximate location of the FIRST HARMFUL EVENT"; and each vehicle's path, shown with "a line with an arrow showing direction of travel."

The officer's narrative

MMUCC calls the narrative "the law enforcement officer's written description of what occurred in the crash," written in chronological order. On New York's form it is the Accident Description/Officer's Notes, where the officer puts anything that "cannot be entered or coded in the other sections." That often includes:

• the names and addresses of witnesses
• people whose property other than a vehicle was damaged
• an explanation of any code marked with an asterisk
• an out of state insurer that has no code

Read the narrative and the diagram side by side, and check them against the coded boxes. Where they disagree, ask the agency which one is right.

Reading a report from your state

The parts above repeat everywhere, but the box numbers and codes are each state's own. Start with the code sheet or instructions for your state's form:

FairSettlement is our sister site, and its three guides decode those states' forms box by box. To get the report itself first, see how to get a police report online.

Crash report or incident report?

"Police report" can mean more than a crash report. Missouri's Sunshine Law shows the difference in its definitions. An incident report is "a record of a law enforcement agency consisting of the date, time, specific location, name of the victim and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident." An investigative report is the follow up, "inquiring into a crime or suspected crime."

A theft or break in usually produces an incident report. A traffic crash produces the state's crash report, the form this guide walks through. Whether you can see either one depends on your state's rules, which our guide Are police reports public record? compares.

What to check first on your copy

• Your name, address, license and plate, letter for letter.
• The insurance company or its code for each vehicle.
• The date, time and place of the crash.
• The injury code for each person, and who was taken to a hospital.
• The diagram and the narrative, which are the officer's account of how it happened.

Questions about reading a police report