How to Get a State-Level Crash Report in South Dakota

Short answer

To get a state-level South Dakota crash report, use the South Dakota Office of Accident Records’ SafeSD purchase page. The state says its South Dakota Accident Records System (SDARS) is a statewide repository for motor-vehicle crash data provided by law-enforcement agencies, and SafeSD is the public site maintained by the Office of Accident Records for purchasing vehicle crash reports.1

A report bought online is delivered immediately only if it is available for purchase. SafeSD states that online buyers pay a $4 report-location/provision fee plus a $6 convenience fee. State law separately says the Secretary of Public Safety charges $4 to search for a report and provides any report found through that search at no additional cost.1

Have at least two of these three search details ready: the crash date, a driver’s last name, and the county where the crash occurred. If SafeSD cannot locate the report or you do not have those details, the state’s instruction is to contact the law-enforcement agency that investigated the crash.1

Immediate checklist

Identify the agency that investigated the crash. A South Dakota Highway Patrol, city police, county sheriff, campus, tribal, or other agency may be the practical first contact when the state search does not find a record.
Gather two required search fields: date of crash, driver’s last name, and county of crash.1
Check whether the crash has had enough time to appear. SafeSD says a report may not be locatable when it has been less than 10 days since the incident.1
Use the official SafeSD Purchase Crash Report page for an online purchase, or use its mail-in form if you prefer to pay by cash, check, or money order.1
If the search is unsuccessful, contact the actual investigating agency for the missing crash details and ask about its record-request process. Do not substitute a report purchase for a police notification or an investigator’s report.

Who reports what after a South Dakota crash?

A request for a copy is different from reporting a crash. The following state rules explain the limited crash-reporting steps supported by the official sources used here.

Situation	What the official source says
Calling or notifying law enforcement	A driver must immediately notify the nearest available law-enforcement officer with jurisdiction when a crash causes bodily injury or death, apparent property damage of $1,000 or more to one person’s property, or $2,000 per accident.4
Investigating officer’s report	For a crash described in that notification statute, the officer or other person assigned by the law-enforcement agency to investigate must forward an investigator’s report to the Department of Public Safety within three days after completing the investigation.5
Supplemental driver or officer report	The Secretary of Public Safety may require a driver or peace officer to file a supplemental report when the original report is insufficient. This is not described as an automatic public self-report form.6
Buying a copy	Buying or requesting a report through SafeSD is a records-access step. It does not itself notify police, create an investigation, or file an insurance claim.1

This guide does not give an insurer-notice deadline, a separate DMV or motor-vehicle filing requirement, a public-entity notice rule, or a lawsuit deadline. Those subjects are not established by the official crash-report sources cited here, and they should not be inferred from the rules for a state crash-report copy.

State repository, access, and availability

The Department of Public Safety describes SDARS as a statewide repository for crash data provided by law-enforcement agencies across the state.2 That is useful statewide coverage, but it is not a promise that every incident will be searchable immediately or that every agency’s related records are in the purchase system.

South Dakota law says reports made under the accident-report provisions and the information in them are not privileged and may not be held confidential. It directs the Secretary of Public Safety to provide any report found in a requested search to any person requesting that search.3 For the SafeSD purchase process, a requester must still provide at least two of the three stated search fields.1

SafeSD lists several reasons a record may not be found through its purchase tool: the crash occurred on private property; less than 10 days have passed; Marsy’s Law has been invoked; apparent damage was under $1,000 to any one person’s property; or total damage was under $2,000.1 These are the state’s stated availability conditions, not a conclusion about what happened in a particular crash.

SafeSD also says vehicle crash reports are maintained in its database for 15 years.1

How to request the record

Request online

Go to the official SafeSD Purchase Crash Report page. Enter at least two of the required search details. SafeSD says debit- and credit-card customers receive a report immediately when it is available for purchase. The listed online charges are $4 to locate and provide the report plus a $6 convenience fee.1

Request by mail

SafeSD also provides a mail-in request form. Its page says mail requests may be paid by cash, check, or money order. The form recommends waiting 20 days after the accident date before submitting a mailed request. Follow the instructions on the current form for completing and sending the request. The page specifically describes immediate delivery for available online purchases; it does not state a mailing turnaround time.1

Use the public-records route for a separate DPS records request

The Department of Public Safety has a separate Request for Public Information – DPS channel for open-records requests under South Dakota Codified Laws chapter 1-27. Under SDCL 1-27-37, if an informal request is denied in whole or in part, a requester may make a written request to the public-record officer of the involved public entity. The officer must respond within 10 business days by providing records upon applicable fees, denying the request, or acknowledging it and estimating additional time needed.9

This is distinct from the standard SafeSD crash-report purchase. For a normal available crash report, use SafeSD first; for an unavailable report, begin with the investigating agency rather than assuming a public-records request will make an unfiled or non-searchable report available.

Details and payment information to gather

SafeSD’s stated search requirement is simple: provide at least two of the following.

Date of crash
Driver’s last name
County of crash

For an online request, be ready to use a debit or credit card. For a mail request, SafeSD states that payment can be cash, check, or money order.1 The state’s purchase instructions do not list a driver license, insurance policy, or proof of vehicle ownership as a required SafeSD search field; use the fields the site actually asks for.

If you are missing the date, surname, or county, do not guess. SafeSD directs people without this information to the law-enforcement agency that investigated the crash.1

When the report is unavailable or the investigation was local

Start by checking the state’s own availability conditions: a private-property crash, a crash less than 10 days old, the stated Marsy’s Law condition, or damage below the listed thresholds can prevent a SafeSD result.1 A failed search does not establish that no agency record exists.

If local police, a sheriff’s office, campus law enforcement, tribal law enforcement, or another agency investigated, contact that investigating agency for the details needed to search and for its own copy-request process. This follows SafeSD’s specific direction to contact the investigating law-enforcement agency when the required search information is missing.1 South Dakota law also allows county or municipal law-enforcement personnel to charge $4 for each accident-report copy furnished by their office.10

For an agency that is not county or municipal, this article does not assume a fee, release period, or request method. Use that agency’s official records contact or records page. Keep the state and agency routes separate: the state purchase tool is for a searchable state crash report, while the investigating agency is the correct source for agency-specific information or a report it holds.