How to Get a State-Level Car Accident Report in Big Horn County, Wyoming

Big Horn County, Wyoming local guide: This county or county-equivalent page applies the state and national guidance and official resources below to people looking for accident information in Big Horn County, Wyoming. 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

For a car accident investigated by Wyoming law enforcement, start with WYDOT Highway Safety, not a commercial report seller. WYDOT says its Office of Data Quality Control and Assurance keeps car accident reports and collects them from law-enforcement agencies throughout Wyoming. Request a copy by phone, email, or mail, and give the car accident details you have—especially the case number if available, the agency that worked the car accident, a person’s name and date of birth, the car accident date, and the involved vehicle’s VIN. WYDOT’s official page does not state a requester-eligibility category, a required request form, an ID requirement, or a promised copy-availability date. 1

The stated copy charge is $3.00. WYDOT adds a $2.50 service fee when a credit card is used and says payment is due when the request is made. Its request page also says it accepts major credit cards, checks, and money orders payable to WYDOT. 2 Keep the name of the responding agency and any case number with your own records. Those details make it easier for Highway Safety to identify the correct file.

Immediate checklist

If anyone is hurt, call emergency services and follow directions at the scene. Under the current Wyoming statute, the driver must immediately use the quickest means of communication to give notice when a car accident causes injury or death, or when a non-human-powered vehicle is disabled so it cannot operate normally and safely. 6 7
Write down the case number, date, approximate time, car accident location, the responding law-enforcement agency, names of involved people, plate numbers, and the VIN if available. Take photographs and retain repair, medical, and towing records. The car accident evidence checklist can help organize what to preserve.
Ask the responding officer or agency for the case number if one was provided. A case number is helpful but not required by WYDOT’s request instructions. Do not invent one.
Send the request to WYDOT Highway Safety using the path below. Supply all identifiers you have rather than waiting to obtain every listed item. WYDOT lists several identifiers but does not say all are mandatory. 1
Notify your insurer separately under your own policy’s instructions. The official Wyoming sources reviewed for this guide do not state one statewide insurer-notice deadline. An insurer notice is not a car accident-report-copy request and does not establish that a law-enforcement report was made.
If you need immediate scene and safety steps rather than a copy, see what to do after a car accident.

Who reports what—and what each step does not do

Task	Who and when	What it does not replace
Police notification	A driver must give immediate notice by the quickest communication to local police inside a municipality, or otherwise to the nearest Highway Patrol office or county sheriff, when the statutory injury/death or disabling-vehicle condition applies. 6	A request for a later copy, insurer notice, or a public-entity claim.
Officer’s written car accident report	An investigating police officer must forward a written report to the highway department within 10 days after the investigation when the car accident caused bodily injury or death, or the vehicle was disabled so it could not operate normally and safely, including the stated at-scene and after-movement situations. 6 7	A promise that a requester can receive a finished copy within 10 days. The statute sets an officer-to-department reporting duty, not a public-copy turnaround.
Driver/DMV self-report	The current provisions reviewed require the driver’s immediate notice in the stated circumstances and require qualifying written reports from investigating officers. WYDOT prepares forms for reports required under the statute. 6	The official statewide car accident-report pages reviewed do not identify a separate standard driver-to-DMV car accident-report submission route or a driver self-report deadline. Do not treat the copy request as a driver report.
Insurer notice	The appropriate timing and method come from the particular policy and insurer. No statewide insurer-notice deadline was stated on the official sources reviewed.	Police notice, an officer’s report, or a WYDOT copy request.
Public-entity claim notice	For a claim under the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, the statute requires an itemized written claim to the governmental entity within two years of the alleged act, error, or omission, subject to its stated discovery language. Claims against the State go to the Department of Administration and Information’s General Services Division; claims against another governmental entity go to that entity’s business office. 8	A car accident report request. A WYDOT report copy is not identified by the statute as the required claim presentation.
Lawsuit deadline	For governmental-claims-act tort actions, the statute generally says suit must begin within one year after the claim is filed, subject to its terms and the stated minor provision. Separately, the general civil-limitations statute lists four years for specified non-real-property actions, including injury to personal property and an injury to rights not arising on contract and not otherwise enumerated; another statute may control. 8	The report-request, police-notice, officer-report, or insurer-notice timeline. Claim type, accrual, parties, and exceptions can change the analysis.

The public-entity row is especially important after a car accident involving a state vehicle, city vehicle, county vehicle, roadway condition, or other government-related issue. The State’s own Risk Management page says claims against the State must be originally signed and mailed or hand-delivered to Risk Management or the General Services Division, and that receipt of an originally signed claim meeting § 1-39-113 is when it is presented. 9 That is a separate claims process, not an optional attachment to a car accident-report request.

Request a Wyoming car accident report: official path

1. Assemble the available identifiers

WYDOT’s statewide car accident-report page asks requesters to provide: the case number if available; the law-enforcement agency that worked the car accident; the involved person’s name and date of birth; car accident date; involved vehicle VIN; email address; and phone number. 1 A second WYDOT request page lists case number if available, involved person’s name, car accident date, email address, and phone number. 2

The two official lists do not completely overlap. Provide the fuller set when you can: case number, agency, name, date of birth, car accident date, VIN, email, and phone number. Do not delay a request merely because you lack a case number, because WYDOT labels it “if you have it.” Neither page says that every item is mandatory, and neither identifies a required car accident-report request form or government-photo-ID requirement. 1 2

2. Choose a WYDOT Highway Safety request channel

WYDOT’s car accident-report page gives three statewide request routes:

Phone: call Highway Safety at (307) 777-4450.
Email: send the request details to car accident.records@wyo.gov.
Mail: write to Wyoming Department of Transportation, Attention: Highway Safety, 5300 Bishop Blvd., Cheyenne, WY 82009. State whether you want the copy by paper, email, or fax. 1

The more detailed fee page repeats the phone and mail routes but does not repeat the email route. The Wyoming Highway Patrol’s public-records page lists in-person pickup at the Cheyenne WYDOT office, phone through Highway Safety, and mail; it also asks mail requesters to state whether they want paper, email, or fax. 2 4 These pages do not use identical channel lists. The statewide WYDOT page is the source for email; the WHP page is the source for the stated in-person route. Before traveling, call Highway Safety to confirm the live process.

3. Pay the stated charge

WYDOT’s request page states a $3.00 charge for a car accident report, plus a $2.50 service fee if paying by credit card. It says payment is due at the time of request. Major credit cards, checks, and money orders payable to WYDOT are listed; checks and money orders may be mailed or dropped off at the Cheyenne location. 2 The source does not state a different price by requester type, report age, delivery method, or originating agency. Ask Highway Safety before submitting if your request involves an unusual format or record.

4. Do not assume a production date

Wyoming’s statute gives an investigating officer up to 10 days after the investigation to forward a qualifying report to the highway department. 6 WYDOT’s public request instructions do not say when a car accident report becomes available or how many days it takes to provide a copy. Treat the 10-day statutory officer-report period as different from copy availability. If the report is not yet located, ask Highway Safety whether it has received the report and what additional identifier would help; the official pages reviewed do not promise a result or turnaround.

If a report is unavailable or the statewide route does not resolve the request

Start with the statewide custodian. WYDOT says it collects car accident reports from all Wyoming law-enforcement agencies and is the “keeper” of the reports. 1 Give Highway Safety the name of the agency that worked the car accident, which its own page requests. That is more reliable than guessing which local records unit has a copy.

If the car accident was investigated by the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the Patrol’s official public-records page repeats the direct car accident-copy routes through Highway Safety: Cheyenne in person, Highway Safety by phone, or mail to Highway Safety. 4 The same page directs requests and inquiries for other WHP public records—including citation or case reports—to the WHP public-records portal. 4 The portal has a “Make Request” option for a new public-records request. 5

This is a limited fallback, not a promise that the portal will produce a car accident report. For an ordinary car accident-report copy, use the dedicated Highway Safety route first. The official statewide pages do not state that a city police department, county sheriff, or another originating agency must provide a duplicate copy when WYDOT cannot locate one. They also do not explain whether every car accident produces a report. If Highway Safety cannot find a record, retain the response, ask whether the record was received and whether a specific originating-agency contact is appropriate, and avoid representing that a report exists.

What changes for a car accident

Use this version when a private passenger car is involved. The official reporting or record-request procedure still depends on the event location, investigating agency, and facts.
For insurance, start with the applicable personal auto policy and the crash-state rules. Keep the declarations page, insurance cards, claim number, estimates, and insurer communications.

Keep these additional records

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 separate.

Browse the Car Accident Guides collection for related pages.

Accident-type official sources

Auto Insurance — National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Official resources

Sources

[1] Wyoming Department of Transportation, “Crash Reports”
[2] Wyoming Department of Transportation, “Requesting Crash Reports”
[3] Wyoming Department of Transportation, “Highway Safety”
[4] Wyoming Highway Patrol, “Public Records”
[5] Wyoming Highway Patrol, “Open Public Records” portal
[6] Wyoming Legislature, Title 31—Motor Vehicles, §§ 31-5-1105 through 31-5-1108
[7] Wyoming Legislature, 2025 HB0025 / Chapter 1, “Vehicle accident reporting-amendments”
[8] Wyoming Legislature, Title 1—Code of Civil Procedure, §§ 1-3-102, 1-3-105, 1-39-113, and 1-39-114
[9] Wyoming Department of Administration & Information, “Public Claims”