How to Get a State-Level Truck Accident Report in Broadwater County, Montana

Broadwater County, Montana 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 Broadwater County, Montana. 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 truck accident investigated by the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP), request the report from MHP Records. Use MHP’s Truck accident Release Form, mail it with the $2 non-refundable search fee, and provide details. MHP says truck accident-record requests are not processed online and must be mailed; it accepts cash, check, or money order, not electronic payment. MHP’s Truck accident Records page is the official starting point.

This is not described as an online statewide portal for every police agency’s report. If MHP cannot locate the report, the release form says to contact the officer or agency at the scene. Use that fallback for a truck accident handled by a city police department, county sheriff, campus police, tribal law-enforcement agency, or another investigating agency.

Immediate checklist

Confirm which agency investigated the truck accident. Look at the exchange sheet, citation, incident card, or any paperwork received at the scene.
For an MHP-investigated truck accident, download and print the Truck accident Release Form.
Gather the truck accident date, county, location, names of drivers, and any truck accident number or officer name. A truck accident number helps but MHP says it is not required.
Identify why you may receive the record and, if you represent someone else, include written authorization where applicable.
Mail the completed form, payment, and any needed documentation to Montana Highway Patrol, P.O. Box 117, Boulder, MT 59632. Do not send payment electronically.
If the truck accident was investigated locally or MHP reports no record, ask the investigating agency how to request its own report.

Keep your own photos, exchange information, repair documents, and correspondence together while you request the record. The car-accident evidence checklist can help organize those materials.

Who reports what in Montana

A request for a copy is different from the obligation to notify law enforcement or submit a truck accident report. The following distinctions come from Montana’s current truck accident-report statutes.

Situation	What the official source says
Immediate notice to police	A driver who knows or reasonably should know of a truck accident involving injury, death, striking a deceased person, or apparent property damage of $1,000 or more must immediately give notice by the quickest means. Inside a municipality, notice goes to local police; otherwise it goes to the county sheriff or nearest Highway Patrol office. MCA § 61-7-108.
Driver’s written report	For a truck accident involving death, injury, or property damage in excess of $1,000, the operator must report it in writing to the Department within 10 days unless a law-enforcement officer investigated and reported the truck accident. MCA § 61-7-109.
Investigating officer’s report	An officer who investigates a qualifying truck accident must forward a written report to the Department within 10 days after completing the investigation. The same statute defines the qualifying truck accidents as those involving death, injury, or property damage exceeding $1,000.
MHP White Form	MHP identifies its White Form as a self-reporting truck accident form, typically advised by law enforcement in circumstances such as a truck accident on private property or after all parties have left. MHP says it does not generate a truck accident number. Its Truck accident Records page says the form may be mailed, faxed, or emailed to MHP Records; that delivery option applies to the self-report form, not to buying a truck accident report.

The statutes and MHP materials used here do not set one universal insurer-notice period, public-entity claim notice, or lawsuit deadline. Those are separate subjects and are not determined by the truck accident-report-copy procedure.

Who may request an MHP truck accident report

Montana law makes required accident reports and supplemental information confidential rather than open to general public inspection. Under MCA § 61-7-114, reports and related information filed by law-enforcement personnel may be examined and copied without a court order by people named in or involved in the truck accident; their written representatives or insurance carriers; a party to a civil action arising from the truck accident; and certain representatives when an involved person is deceased.

MHP’s Truck accident Release Form gives practical examples: a driver, passenger, pedestrian, vehicle owner, owner of damaged property, attorney or insurance representative, and a person designated in writing by a qualifying person. MHP’s Truck accident Records page also describes releases to qualifying people or entities named on a report, a person listed as suffering loss or injury, an authorized agent or a parent/legal guardian of an involved minor, and government agencies or law-enforcement officers acting officially.

There is a limited research exception in the statute for the public, including commercial entities, to research vehicle history. It does not permit disclosure of names, addresses, phone numbers, or other identifying information for reporting people, victims, officers, other people, or insurers. A vehicle-history research record is not the same as receiving an unredacted truck accident report.

How to request the MHP record

Use the current MHP Truck accident Release Form. The form asks for the requester’s contact information, signature, the requester’s relationship or entitlement, and truck accident-identifying details. Mail the form with the $2 non-refundable search fee. MHP says it accepts cash, check, or money order only. The agency’s truck accident-record instructions say that records of this kind are not processed online and that requests must be mailed with the applicable documentation and fee.

The form provides space for a truck accident number and officer name, but the MHP Truck accident Records page says a truck accident number is not required. To improve the search, provide the truck accident date, county, truck accident location (such as road, street, or milepost), nearest city, and the names of drivers. If you are requesting on another person’s behalf, include the written designation or authorization the form calls for.

MHP describes the $2 as a non-refundable search fee. For report timing, MHP cautions that the 10–14-day period mentioned on the release or exchange form is not a deadline for producing records. A large request or records stored elsewhere can take longer, while the Records Department says it will try to keep requesters informed. Do not treat the 10-day statutory deadline for a driver or investigating officer to make a report as a promise that a copy will be ready by a particular date.

If the report is unavailable or another agency investigated

Start with the agency named on the scene paperwork. MHP’s release form expressly says, “No report available, contact officer/agency at the scene.” That instruction matters because a local police department or sheriff may be the agency that investigated the truck accident, and MHP’s published truck accident-record process does not promise an MHP copy of every local agency’s report.

For a local-agency record, contact that agency’s records unit and ask for its truck accident-report request procedure. Give the same identifying information: date, precise location, names of drivers, report or incident number, and the investigating officer’s name if known. Follow that agency’s stated eligibility, identification, payment, and delivery rules. If the agency was campus, tribal, or another specialized law-enforcement agency, request the record from that agency unless it directs you elsewhere.

MHP also says it does not house city- or county-investigated truck accident photos. Request those photos from the agency that investigated the truck accident. If you need a nonstandard Montana Department of Justice record rather than the MHP truck accident-copy process, review the DOJ’s Public Records Requests page; that page describes the Department’s separate online public-records application. The truck accident-specific MHP instructions still say the Truck accident Release Form itself must be mailed.

Documents and identifiers to gather

Before you complete a request, collect the following:

The MHP Truck accident Release Form, printed and signed.
Truck accident number, if one was assigned; it is helpful but not mandatory.
Date of truck accident, county, location, nearest city, and road, street, or milepost.
Names of drivers and the investigating officer’s name, if known.
Your mailing address, daytime phone number, and the status that makes you eligible to receive the report.
Written authorization if you are acting for a person named in or involved in the truck accident.
The $2 non-refundable fee in an accepted form: cash, check, or money order.

For a broader step-by-step resource after a truck accident, visit What to Do After a Truck accident. Other public resources are available in the AccidentFiling.ai guides and resources.

Official resources

Montana Highway Patrol Truck accident Records — MHP eligibility, form, fee, mail-only instructions, timing note, and White Form information.
MHP Truck accident Release Form — request fields, authorization certification, mailing address, and local-agency fallback.
Montana Code Annotated § 61-7-108 — immediate notice requirements.
Montana Code Annotated § 61-7-109 — driver and officer written-report requirements.
Montana Code Annotated § 61-7-114 — confidentiality and statutory access categories.
Montana DOJ Public Records Requests — the Department’s general public-records application.

What changes when a truck is involved

Use this version when the involved vehicle is a truck. Record whether it was privately used or operated by a business or motor carrier; a pickup used personally is not automatically subject to federal motor-carrier requirements.

If a commercial motor carrier was involved, preserve the carrier name, USDOT or operating-authority number if available, truck and trailer identifiers, cargo information, employer or dispatch contact, and the driver’s insurance information. Commercial coverage and federal filing requirements vary by carrier, authority, cargo, and vehicle type.

Photograph carrier names, USDOT numbers, unit numbers, plates, trailers, and cargo placards when safe.
Use the crash-state agency procedure below for the police or state report.
Use FMCSA carrier and insurance resources only when a covered motor carrier is involved.

Browse the Truck Accident Guides collection for related pages.

Accident-type official sources

Insurance Filing Requirements — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Company Safety Records — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration