Adrian, Missouri: Car Accident Reporting Requirements: Police, Driver, and Motor Vehicle Reports

Adrian, Missouri local guide: This city page applies the state and national guidance and official resources below to people looking for accident information in Adrian, Missouri. The agency responsible for a police report or records request can depend on where the incident occurred and which agency investigated it. Confirm the agency shown on the report or incident information before requesting a record.

Short answer

Missouri has separate car accident-reporting tracks that are not interchangeable. A city-car accident rule can require notice and a written report to local police. An investigating officer has a separate duty to send certain reports to the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP). Separately, DOR Form 1140 is a Driver License Bureau filing for uninsured-motorist/financial-responsibility circumstances; the form says a police report cannot replace it.Missouri DOR Form 1140

Identify where the car accident occurred, whether it was in a city, which agency investigated, and whether an uninsured motorist was involved before choosing a process.

Immediate checklist

Follow the Missouri DOR’s accident guidance: stop, help injured people, contact police, and exchange identifying, vehicle, and insurance information with the people involved.DOR accident guidance
Write down the date, time, exact location, county, investigating agency, incident/report number (if provided), vehicle plate numbers, and the names of people involved. Keep photos, correspondence, and any information exchanged. The car accident evidence checklist can help organize what you keep.
If the car accident was within a city, check the city-specific notice and written-report rules below. If an officer investigated at the scene while the driver was there, that matters to the written-report exception.
If anyone involved was uninsured, review the DOR’s Accident Information page and the official Form 1140. Form 1140 is a Driver License Bureau report, not a request for a police investigation.
If an MSHP trooper investigated, use MSHP’s official request process after the stated waiting period. If another agency investigated, begin with that agency’s records process.

Who reports what in Missouri?

City police notice: the immediate-notice rule

For an accident within a city that results in injury or death, or apparent total property damage of $500 or more to one person, Missouri Revised Statutes section 300.110 says the driver must give, or cause to be given, notice to the police department as soon as reasonably possible.RSMo 300.110 This is a notice rule directed to the police department; it is not Form 1140.

If the driver is physically unable to give that notice and a capable occupant was in the vehicle, the occupant must give or cause the notice under section 300.120.RSMo 300.120

City written report: a five-day rule with an on-scene exception

Section 300.115 says that the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident causing injury or death, or apparent total property damage of $500 or more to one person, must send a written report to the police department within five days. But the statute says this requirement does not apply when a police officer investigated the car accident at the scene while that driver was present.RSMo 300.115

If the driver cannot make that written report and is not the vehicle owner, section 300.120 places that five-day report duty on the owner.RSMo 300.120 These are city-reporting provisions. They do not say that a driver should send an MSHP report request or a DOR form instead.

Investigating officer report: the law-enforcement record

The officer’s report is a separate government record. Under section 43.250, every law-enforcement officer who investigates a vehicle car accident involving injury or death, or apparent total property damage of $500 or more to one person, or who otherwise prepares a written or computer-generated report from an investigation, must forward a report to the Superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol within 10 days after the investigation (unless the superintendent approves another time or form).RSMo 43.250

That is an officer duty, not a substitute filing that the driver completes. It helps explain why a report can exist even though a driver did not create it, and why a driver may still have a separate city-report or DOR task.

Driver License Bureau Form 1140: the uninsured-motorist report

DOR’s Accident Information page says to report to the Driver License Bureau when a Missouri car accident happened less than one year ago, involved an uninsured motorist, and caused more than $500 in property damage or injury/death. It also describes a limited lower-damage/no-injury uninsured-motorist filing.

Section 303.040 is more detailed: it directs specified operators or owners involving an uninsured motorist in qualifying locations and car accidents involving injury, death, or over $500 in damage to report in writing to the director within 30 days; it separately addresses an owner or operator without liability insurance.RSMo 303.040 The statute, DOR intake page, and form present timing differently. Do not treat DOR intake language as a reader-specific extension of the statutory rule.

Use Form 1140, not a police report, for this Driver License Bureau process. It requests car accident, party, vehicle, insurance, diagram, and narrative information; DOR’s page gives the Driver License Bureau mailing address.DOR accident-report instructions

Insurer notice, public-entity notice, and lawsuit timing

The cited Missouri reporting sources do not state a universal insurer-notice deadline, statewide public-entity notice deadline, or civil lawsuit deadline, so this article supplies none. An insurance claim notice is not an MSHP record request or a Form 1140 filing. Form 1140 says the state will not file a lawsuit for the reporting person.Form 1140

How to find or request the police record

First, distinguish an MSHP online listing from an official report

MSHP’s online traffic car accident search provides preliminary, unofficial information for injury and fatal car accidents investigated by the Highway Patrol. It excludes car accidents investigated outside MSHP. Search by county, troop, location, date, person city/state, or incident number; an absent result does not prove no agency report exists.

For an official MSHP-investigated report, MSHP says to wait 10 days from the investigation and then submit the linked records request. Its request instructions list a $6 fee for each basic motor-vehicle car accident report. The instructions say to send a check or money order payable to DPS—Missouri State Highway Patrol; cash is not accepted.MSHP traffic car accident report instructions The MSHP Public Records Center is the official online request portal.

For basic reports from 1997 or later, MSHP allows a request through the car accident-area or nearest troop headquarters. It directs older, certified, photo, and reconstruction requests to Patrol Records. MSHP warns of possible delay after the 10-day request point.MSHP traffic car accident report instructions

Do not assume the statewide repository is the request source for every agency

MSHP’s Patrol Records Division describes itself as a repository of statewide motor-vehicle car accident reports submitted by authorized law-enforcement agencies. It says actual report availability depends on the finalized Missouri Uniform Accident Report reaching the division and being entered into the Statewide Traffic Accident Records System (STARS).Patrol Records Division

That repository description does not make the MSHP online search a statewide report portal. MSHP refers requests for car accidents investigated by local police agencies to the local agency.MSHP official car accident investigation reports For a sheriff, campus, tribal, or other agency, the cited MSHP pages do not identify a single statewide request route: identify the investigating agency and ask it where it keeps or releases the report.

Documents and identifiers to gather

Keep the car accident date, time, county/location, investigating agency, and incident/report number together. Also keep exchanged party, driver-license, vehicle/plate, and insurance details.DOR accident guidance For Form 1140, gather its requested party/vehicle/insurance details, diagram and narrative, plus applicable supporting documents.Form 1140

If the report is unavailable or held elsewhere

For MSHP reports, use the 10-day request point rather than relying on a preliminary listing, and keep your request confirmation. If local police investigated, go to that agency. An involved party who believes MSHP information is inaccurate may contact the investigating officer’s troop headquarters.MSHP car accident-report FAQ

For a broader next-step overview, see what to do after a car accident and the site’s guides.

Official resources

What changes for a car accident

Use this version when a private passenger car is involved. The official reporting or record-request procedure below is still controlled by the crash location, investigating agency, and the facts of the event—not by the wording “car accident.”

For insurance, start with the applicable personal auto policy and the insurance rules of the crash state. Save the declarations page, insurance cards, claim number, repair estimates, and insurer communications.

Confirm which agency investigated or holds the report.
Keep the other vehicle and driver information with the report number.
Keep police, motor-vehicle agency, and insurer tasks as separate checklist items.

Browse the Car Accident Guides collection for related pages.

Accident-type official sources

Auto Insurance — National Association of Insurance Commissioners