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When you get into a car accident in Missouri that causes property damage to an apparent extent of at least $500 or results in someone’s personal injury or death, you must immediately notify the closest law enforcement agency of the collision. After the crash scene is secured and the police complete their investigation, the investigating officer is required to generate a Missouri Uniform Crash Report. This official document contains important details that can be utilized to prove negligence in a collision. As such, your accident report functions as a valuable piece of evidence that can be critical to the outcome of your case.
In respect to car accidents, Missouri follows a pure comparative negligence system. In other words, any compensation you are awarded through a settlement or court verdict will be reduced by your percentage of fault for the crash. Even though you won’t be barred from making a financial recovery it you’re found to be partially responsible for the accident, any fault you are assigned can have a detrimental effect on the amount of compensation you’re legally allowed to recover. Consequently, any errors in your accident report that can be used to shift blame on to you can end up being costly.
Never assume the information in your accident report is 100% accurate without analyzing it first. After you obtain a copy of your Missouri Uniform Crash Report, take the time to thoroughly review it. If you discover mistakes or disagree with the investigating officer’s findings, contact a Missouri car accident lawyer near you for help. An attorney will be able to explain your legal options and can take steps to ensure the true version of what happened in your crash is accurately reflected in your accident report.
Missouri Uniform Crash Report
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/mo_par_rev01_2012.pdf
Page 1
The first section (Section 1) of your accident report has general information about your crash, including the name of the investigating law enforcement agency and its Originating Agency Identifier (ORI) number. This section is where the investigating officer will record the number of people who were injured or killed in the collision along with the date and time of the crash, what type of crash occurred, and other details about the accident, such as the type of impact and whether pictures were taken of the crash scene.
Click here to download a printable PDF of How to Read Your Missouri Accident Report.
Section 2 is where you can find information describing the location of your accident along with the road, weather, and lighting conditions at the time of the crash.
Any property damage that wasn’t to a motor vehicle will be described in the Section 3. Here you will find the property owner’s name and address, a description of the property, and an explanation of the damage (e.g., fence destroyed, utility pole damaged, etc.).
If any witnesses were identified, their names, addresses, and phone numbers will be recorded in Section 4.
The last section (Section 5) of the page is to provide details about any pedestrians who were involved in the collision. This is where you can find the name and contact information of the pedestrian; their injury status; their location when they were struck; up to three selections to describe the pedestrian’s actions at the time of the collision; and any contributing circumstances to the accident by the pedestrian. Each code used in this section is defined at the top of Page 5 in Section 8.
Page 2
This entire section (Section 6) is for the investigating officer to create a diagram of the crash showing each vehicle’s direction of travel before the accident. For example, if the first vehicle was traveling north and the second vehicle was traveling south, the officer would circle “N” next to “V1” and “S” next to “V2.” If there is no crash diagram included in your accident report, the investigating officer is required to fully describe the collision in Section 9 on Page 5.
Pages 3-4
Section 7 of the crash report must be completed for every driver, vehicle, vehicle owner, and occupant involved in the accident. If your crash included more than two of those units, additional pages should accompany your report. The codes used in Section 7 and its sub-sections are defined at the top of Page 5 in Section 8.
Details about the driver are located in sub-section 7A, including the driver’s name and contact information; license type and status; seat location; injury severity; and insurance details.
In the box for sub-section 7B you will find information about the vehicle such as the year, make, model, and type; the name and contact information of the legal owner (SAD = Same as Driver); number of occupants; a description of the vehicle damage; and the traffic conditions when the accident occurred.
Sub-section 7C uses codes to provide a description of the vehicle’s sequence of actions immediately before the crash occurred. If the collision involved an animal or fixed object (e.g., tree, pole, fence, etc.) it will be noted here. The investigating officer will also indicate if he or she suspects the driver of the vehicle was under the influence of alcohol.
Driver errors, vehicle defects, and any miscellaneous circumstances that contributed to the collision are found in sub-section 7D.
In sub-section 7E, the investigating officer will indicate whether the accident occurred in a work zone, if any workers were present, and describe any traffic control signals located at the scene of the crash.
The name, contact information, and injury status of the vehicle’s occupants can be found in sub-section 7F.
The last sub-section on the page (7G) is completed only if your accident involved a commercial motor vehicle.
Page 5
At the top of the page, you will find Section 8 of the accident report. This section functions as a guide for the number codes that are used throughout the previous pages of the report.
The investigating officer’s narrative and the statements from any drivers and/or witnesses can be found in Section 9. The officer’s description of the crash should be objective, factual, and consistent with the information that’s documented throughout the report. If additional space is needed, the officer will use Section 11 to continue with the narrative and/or statements.
Section 10 provides information about the investigating officer who prepared the report and the officer(s) who reviewed it.
Page 6
This page is a continuation of Section 9 on Page 5 and is used if the investigating officer needs more space to complete his or her narrative.
