Minnesota Crash Report: Requirements, Penalties, and Insurance Impact

A Minnesota crash report is required whenever a collision causes a death, an injury needing medical treatment, vehicle damage bad enough to need a tow, or damage to roadway property like a guardrail or sign. The investigating officer files that report with the Commissioner of Public Safety within ten days. Drivers have their own form to submit when a crash causes injury, death, or at least $1,000 in property damage, and they have duties at the scene that apply the moment the vehicles come to a stop. Ignoring any of it can bring anything from a misdemeanor fine to a felony prison sentence, depending on how serious the crash was.

When a Report Is Required

Minnesota Statute 169.09 sets up two tracks: the officer’s report and the driver’s report.

A peace officer who investigates a crash on a public road, sidewalk, shared-use path, or right-of-way must submit an electronic or written report to the Commissioner of Public Safety within ten days. That obligation kicks in whenever the crash involves a fatality, an injury treated at the scene or requiring transport, disabling vehicle damage that needs a tow, or damage to roadway property such as guardrails, signs, or utility poles.¹

“Disabling damage” under the statute means damage that keeps the vehicle from driving away normally, or damage that would worsen if the car were driven. A flat tire on its own, a broken headlamp or taillight, or a problem with turn signals, the horn, or the wipers does not count.¹

The driver’s report is separate. The Department of Public Safety’s Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Report form tells any driver in a crash causing $1,000 or more in property damage, injury, or death to fill it out and mail it to Driver and Vehicle Services within ten days.² Filing your own report matters even when police responded, because it puts your version of events on the record. When no officer came to the scene, your report may be the only official account, which insurers will look for.

What You Have to Do at the Scene

Your duties at the crash scene apply whether or not you caused the collision.

If anyone is hurt or killed, you must stop, stay until you have exchanged information, give reasonable help to the injured, and notify local police, a State Patrol officer (for trunk highways), or the county sheriff as quickly as possible.¹

If the other vehicle is occupied but no one is injured, you still have to stop, check what was hit, and stay until information has been exchanged. If you hit an unattended vehicle, you need to find the owner, report it to a peace officer, or leave a written note with your name and address in a visible spot on the vehicle.¹

You must share your name, date of birth, mailing address or email, and license plate number with the other driver or any investigating officer, and show your driver’s license if asked. If you did not exchange insurance information at the scene, you have 72 hours to give the name of your insurer and your local agent to anyone involved in the crash or to an investigating officer who asks.¹

What the Driver’s Report Asks For

The state’s crash report form is detailed. Have this information ready before you start filling it out.

For each driver: full name, date of birth, driver’s license number, and address. For each vehicle: make, model, year, color, license plate, estimated repair cost, and number of occupants. If the driver is not the owner, the form asks for the owner’s information too.²

For the crash: date, day of week, time, county, and city or township; whether it happened at an intersection, mid-block, or in a parking lot; the type of collision (another vehicle, a pedestrian, a fixed object, an animal); the posted speed limit; weather, road surface, lighting, and any traffic control devices.

For insurance: each driver’s insurance company (not the local agency), policy number, policyholder name, and policy dates. Adjusters check this section carefully.

You also draw a diagram of the scene and describe what happened, including each vehicle’s direction of travel and the maneuvers each driver was making. For passengers: names, ages, seat positions, seatbelt use, airbag deployment, and injuries. For damaged property other than vehicles, like a mailbox or fence, the owner’s name and address.²

Penalties for Failing to Report or Leaving the Scene

The consequences under Section 169.09 rise sharply with the seriousness of the crash, and the worst of them apply to drivers who leave the scene of an injury or fatal collision even when they did not cause it.

Leaving the scene of a fatal collision is a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.
Leaving the scene of a crash causing great bodily harm is a felony carrying up to two years in prison, a fine of up to $4,000, or both.
Leaving the scene of a crash causing substantial bodily harm brings up to 364 days in jail, a fine of up to $3,000, or both.
Leaving the scene of a crash causing other bodily harm brings up to 364 days in jail, a fine of up to $3,000, or both.¹

For property-damage-only crashes the penalties are lower but real. Leaving the scene of a crash involving an attended or unattended vehicle, failing to exchange information, or failing to notify the owner of damaged roadway property are all misdemeanors.¹ A misdemeanor in Minnesota carries up to 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.³

There is a licensing consequence on top of any criminal penalty. The Commissioner of Public Safety can suspend your driver’s license if you willfully fail to report a crash as required. Standard notice rules apply, so you would be told before the suspension took effect.¹

Getting a Copy of the Report

You can request a copy of a Minnesota crash report from Driver and Vehicle Services, part of the Department of Public Safety. Each copy costs $5.⁴

Requests can be made in person or by mail at DVS, 445 Minnesota Street, St. Paul, MN 55101-5161. A mailed request must include a legible copy of your driver’s license, a government-issued ID, or a notarized signature. An authorized agent such as your insurance company or attorney can also request the report for you.⁵

Crash reports are confidential under Section 169.09. Disclosing information from one outside the circumstances the law allows is itself a misdemeanor, so access is limited to people involved in the crash, their representatives, insurers, and others with a recognized legal need.¹

How the Report Affects Your Insurance

Adjusters treat the crash report as the closest thing to a neutral account of what happened. They use it to verify each driver’s story, identify contributing factors like weather or road conditions, and assess fault. Witness details and passenger injury notes carry weight. If your version conflicts with the report, the report usually wins.

The claim also feeds the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, an industry database that keeps up to seven years of personal auto claims history.⁶ Insurers pull your CLUE report when you apply for new coverage or renew a policy, and a crash there can affect premiums for years regardless of fault. You can request your own CLUE report once a year for free, which is worth doing after any accident to check the record.

1
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 169.09 – Collisions
2
Faribault County. Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Report
3
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 609.02 – Definitions
4
Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Request a Crash Report
5
Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Minnesota Crash Record Request
6
LexisNexis Risk Solutions. C.L.U.E. Auto