Texas Crash Reporting Guide

Short answer: In Texas, three different things are easy to confuse. A driver may have to immediately notify law enforcement after a collision involving an injury, death, or a vehicle that cannot be normally and safely driven. That notice is not a personal TxDOT crash-report filing. A peace officer’s written crash report is the CR-3 process: when an officer investigates a crash meeting the statutory reporting trigger, the officer—not the driver—files the report with TxDOT. Texas no longer has a statewide TxDOT filing route for an individual driver’s old CR-2 “Driver’s Crash Report.” TxDOT says it no longer retains, hosts, or provides the CR-2, and a CR-2 sent to TxDOT will be destroyed.¹²

If anyone needs emergency help or the scene is unsafe, address that first. For an injury or a driver who left the scene, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) tells consumers to call police.⁴

Quick checklist

1. Give the required information and help at the scene. For a collision involving an injury, death, or a driven/attended vehicle, Texas Transportation Code § 550.023 requires the operator to provide identifying, vehicle-registration, and liability-insurer information; show a driver’s license if requested and available; and provide reasonable assistance to an injured person as the statute describes.¹
2. Notify the correct law-enforcement agency immediately when the § 550.026 trigger applies. The trigger is an injury, death, or vehicle damage that leaves a vehicle unable to be normally and safely driven. The agency depends on where the collision occurred.¹
3. Do not treat a police notice as a TxDOT driver filing. Keep your own notes, photos, contact information, and insurance details. A police response does not automatically mean a CR-3 will be created.¹³
4. Report the accident to your insurer under your policy. TDI advises calling your insurance company after you get home; that insurance notice is separate from any police or TxDOT record.⁴
5. If an officer investigated, use TxDOT’s official record-purchase route for the CR-3. Review the access rules before ordering.²

1. Police notification: what a driver does

When immediate notice is required

Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.026, an operator involved in a collision resulting in injury or death, or damage leaving a vehicle unable to be normally and safely driven, must immediately use the quickest means of communication to notify the designated agency.¹

Where the collision occurred: In a municipality

• Agency named in § 550.026: Local police department

Where the collision occurred: Not more than 100 feet outside municipal limits

• Agency named in § 550.026: Local police department or sheriff’s office

Where the collision occurred: Not covered by either row above

• Agency named in § 550.026: Sheriff’s office or nearest office of the department

This is a statutory notice duty, not an instruction to fill out a TxDOT form. The location categories and exceptions matter. Do not use this table to decide a close boundary or unusual-location question without Texas legal advice.¹

Information to exchange and preserve

Section 550.023 identifies information an operator must give in covered collisions: the operator’s name and address, the vehicle registration number, and the name of the operator’s motor-vehicle liability insurer. It also addresses showing a driver’s license when requested and available, and reasonable assistance for an injured person.¹

For an insurance claim, TDI suggests collecting the other driver’s insurance and license information, photographs of vehicles, plates, street signs and road angles, witness names and phone numbers, and the location, time, weather, and account of what happened.⁴ These records support an insurance claim; they do not turn into a police report or a TxDOT filing merely because you keep them.

2. Peace-officer reporting: what police do

A Texas peace officer who investigates a motor-vehicle collision in the regular course of duty must make a written report when the crash resulted in injury or death, or apparent property damage of $1,000 or more to any one person’s property. The report must be filed electronically with TxDOT no later than the 10th day after the collision.¹

TxDOT identifies this as the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (CR-3). Its reporting page says the CR-3 is for Texas law-enforcement agencies only and that officers can submit crash data through TxDOT’s CRASH application or approved submission services.³ In other words:

• A police response alone does not establish that a CR-3 was required or created.
• The $1,000 amount and 10-day filing rule describe the officer’s statutory written-report duty, not a deadline for an individual driver to file with TxDOT.¹
• A driver should not attempt to submit the officer-only CR-3 form to TxDOT.³

3. TxDOT crash records: how to obtain an officer report

TxDOT is the state custodian of crash records. It says crash reports are confidential and are not available for public online viewing.² If a Texas peace officer created a CR-3, use TxDOT’s official Crash Report Online Purchase System to request a copy. TxDOT says online purchasers receive reports by email after purchase.²

Who may receive what

Texas Transportation Code § 550.065 allows release on written request and payment of the required fee to specified people and entities, including people involved in the collision, authorized representatives, drivers, owners of damaged vehicle/property, certain insurers and policyholders, and others listed in the statute. The statute also requires a redacted collision report that any person may request; it excludes specified personal information.¹

TxDOT’s consumer page explains that a requester who does not fit a listed release reason can identify another basis for proper interest, and otherwise will receive a redacted copy.² Do not assume that an insurer, employer, family member, or another requester will receive the same version of a report. Access depends on the requester’s status and the current law.¹²

Cost and document choice

The statute sets the copy fee at $6 and permits certification for an additional $2. TxDOT presents those amounts as $6 for a regular copy and $8 for a certified copy, with possible additional credit-card processing fees.¹² TxDOT describes a certified copy as one someone may request for an official use, such as a legal proceeding; choose only the type the requesting organization actually needs.²

4. Can an individual driver self-report to TxDOT?

Not through the former CR-2 route. TxDOT says that, effective September 1, 2017, the Driver’s Crash Report (CR-2) is no longer retained by TxDOT. It says the retention period for all CR-2 forms expired on January 1, 2019; TxDOT no longer has CR-2s in its custodial records and no longer hosts or provides the form.²

If a crash was not investigated by an officer and a local agency gave you a CR-2 or similar local-agency form, TxDOT says to retain that information for your records. TxDOT also says that any CR-2 or similar local-agency form submitted to TxDOT will be destroyed under its retention policy.²

Based on the current TxDOT pages reviewed for this guide, do not rely on a statewide TxDOT CR-2 submission as a way to self-report a crash. This is limited to the state route discussed here. A local agency may have its own documentation practice, but no local form is established by this state guide. If the location or agency is unclear, ask the responsible law-enforcement agency what record, if any, it can create or provide; do not represent a local form as a TxDOT filing without current agency instructions.

Documents to gather before using an official or insurance route

Keep copies rather than sending away your only originals. The exact information requested can vary by route.

For: Police notification / later agency contact

• Gather: Collision date, time, precise location, involved vehicle details, names and contact information, and any incident or report number you were given

For: TxDOT CR-3 request

• Gather: Information needed to identify the crash and your reason for access; use the official purchase system and the § 550.065 access rules¹²

For: Your insurance claim

• Gather: Policy information, other driver’s insurance and license details if available, photos, witness details, crash notes, and a police report number if one exists⁴

For: Claim with the other driver’s insurer

• Gather: The other driver’s insurer and policy information if available, crash documentation, and a CR-3 copy if police responded⁵

If the usual route does not work

No officer investigated. Preserve your own documentation and notify your insurer under the policy. Do not mail an old CR-2 to TxDOT; TxDOT says it will destroy it. This guide does not establish whether a particular city, county, campus, or other agency has a separate local form.²

A CR-3 cannot be found in TxDOT’s system. First confirm the investigating agency and the collision-identifying information. The statutory 10-day deadline applies to an officer’s report when § 550.062 requires one; it is not evidence that a report exists in every crash. The investigating agency may be the appropriate place to ask about its own records process. Do not submit a new driver report to TxDOT as a substitute.¹²

TxDOT access is limited or the report is redacted. Review § 550.065 and TxDOT’s stated access reasons. The statute provides for a redacted report that any person may request, while more complete release is limited by requester status and proper interest.¹²

An insurance claim is stalled or disputed. If the other driver’s insurer says it will not pay, TDI advises asking for its reason in detail and in writing. TDI says its complaint process cannot decide fault and probably cannot help with another person’s insurer declining liability; its guidance also explains a complaint process for companies, agents, and adjusters it regulates. Review TDI’s limits before relying on that route.⁵⁶

Keep these processes separate

Process: Immediate police notice

• Who acts: Driver, when § 550.026 applies
• What it is not: A TxDOT CR-3 filing by the driver

Process: Peace-officer CR-3

• Who acts: Investigating officer / agency
• What it is not: An individual’s self-report form

Process: TxDOT record purchase

• Who acts: Eligible requester or requester of a redacted copy
• What it is not: A request to create, correct, or file a crash report

Process: Insurance notice or claim

• Who acts: Policyholder or claimant and insurer
• What it is not: A police report, TxDOT filing, or legal determination of fault

Process: Government claim or lawsuit

• Who acts: Not addressed in this guide
• What it is not: Automatically preserved by any crash-report step

More AccidentFiling.ai resources

Browse Accident Guides and Official Accident Resources. These are general starting points; use the cited agency or regulator for an official process.

Official sources

Authorship and update disclosure

Prepared by AccidentFiling.ai Editorial from the official sources listed above. The draft has not been reviewed by an attorney, clinician, insurer, TxDOT, police agency, or other government body. Source verification date: September 11, 2026. Recheck agency procedures and statutes before publication or after a material source change.