Mark Roman | September 26, 2022 | Car Accidents
Florida law requires any driver involved in an accident that results in injury, death, or property damage over $500 to report the accident to the local police department. Florida Highway Patrol may respond to the accident scene and prepare an accident report. You may need a copy of this report to help with your insurance claim.
Continue reading for an explanation of how to request a Florida Highway Patrol report.
Why You Need a Florida Highway Patrol Report After a Collision
A Tampa car accident report prepared by Florida Highway Patrol may contain critical information that can support your insurance claim.
For example, it may contain information about:
- What FHP investigators believe caused the collision
- Statements from the parties about how the accident happened
- Statements from witnesses
- The exact location where the accident occurred
- The owners of the involved vehicles
- Information about the vehicles
- Insurance information
- The name of any passengers
- The date of the incident
- Contact information for the other driver(s)
A lawyer who is experienced with these reports can carefully review them, discuss the specifics of each section with you, and discuss if any errors need to be corrected.
While an accident report can be an important piece of evidence in your accident case, it is not conclusive. If there are errors in the report, a lawyer can help you work to overcome them by conducting an independent investigation into the accident.
If liability is not clear in the report, an investigation may be the best way to determine what factors contributed to the accident and who is responsible for it.
How To Request a Florida Highway Patrol Report
You can request a copy of a report prepared by a Florida Highway Patrol officer on the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Crash Portal. If you cannot locate a copy of the report after ten days, FLHSMV recommends contacting the agency that responded to the accident directly and requesting a copy through that agency, such as Florida Highway Patrol.
Alternatively, you can request a copy of an accident report by mail or in person. You must submit a Sworn Statement to Obtain Traffic Crash Report Information and your payment to:
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Crash Records
2900 Apalachee Parkway, MS 28
Tallahassee, FL
If the request is for ten or fewer reports, the FHP Troop Station nearest to the crash can also be contacted. A check or money order should be made out to FLHSMV.
How Much Does an FHP Report Cost?
Reports can be purchased on the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Crash Portal for $10 per report and $2 per transaction fee.
When To Expect Your FHP Report
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, it may take up to ten days for your accident report to become available. Once your report is available, you can download a copy of it immediately. You must download the report within 48 hours of requesting it. You will receive the report as a zipped file with PDFs.
Personal identifying information on crash reports is not required to be made available to the public until 60 days have passed since the accident. Parties involved in the accident should be able to obtain a copy of a report pertaining to them within ten days of the accident from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ website, which should include personal identifying information.
However, if it has been more than ten days and you still have not seen the report, contact the agency that prepared the report and ask for a copy of it directly.
For mailed-in requests for a crash record that occurred within the last 60 days, it generally takes between four and six weeks to process the request.
If you have any trouble obtaining a copy of an accident report, contact an experienced Tampa personal injury lawyer for help.
Contact the Tampa Car Accident Law Firm of Roman Austin Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
For more information, please contact the legal team of Roman Austin Personal Injury Lawyers for a free initial consultation with a car accident lawyer in Tampa. We have four convenient locations in Florida: Clearwater, New Port Richey, and Tampa.
We serve throughout Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, Pasco County, and its surrounding areas:
Roman Austin Personal Injury Lawyers – Clearwater Office
1811 N. Belcher Road, Suite I-1
Clearwater, FL 33765
(727) 787-2500
Roman Austin Personal Injury Lawyers – Congress Ave Office
2360 Congress Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33763
(727) 591-5610
Roman Austin Personal Injury Lawyers – Tampa Office
6601 Memorial Hwy Suite 202
Tampa, FL 33615
(813) 686-7588
Roman Austin Personal Injury Lawyers – New Port Richey Office
2515 Seven Springs Blvd.
New Port Richey, FL, 34655
(727) 815-8442