How to Get a State-Level Car Accident Report in New Mexico

Short answer

For a copy of a New Mexico Uniform Car accident Report, start with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) Car accident Data / Car accident Report Request Form. Its official form includes an option for a “Copy of Uniform Car accident/Accident Report.” NMDOT’s Traffic Records Section processes motor-vehicle car accident reports received from New Mexico law-enforcement agencies for car accidents on public roadways and maintains a statewide database for reportable motor-vehicle traffic car accidents. NMDOT’s Traffic Records page is the state-level starting point for that record.

That route is not a substitute for every agency’s own file. If the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) or Motor Transportation Police Department (MTPD) investigated, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) Law Enforcement Records Bureau also maintains those agencies’ uniform car accident reports and has a records request portal. If a city police department, county sheriff, campus police department, tribal agency, or another agency investigated and the state request does not locate the record or you need that agency’s materials, request the record from the investigating agency’s own records or public-records custodian.

Immediate checklist

1. Identify the investigating agency from the scene, a case number, a citation, correspondence, or the other driver’s information.
2. Use NMDOT’s online form and select “Copy of Uniform Car accident/Accident Report.”
3. Gather the car accident date, location, people involved, and any report, case, CAD, or Uniform Car accident Report (UCR) number before submitting.
4. If NMSP or MTPD investigated, you may instead use DPS’s records-request route. DPS says it releases those reports on oral or written request, with written requests preferred.
5. If the report was local or is not found in the state route, contact the local investigating agency. Make a written public-records request if necessary and describe the record precisely.

Who reports what in New Mexico

The following are different duties and records. A request for a copy does not create or replace any of them.

Notice to police, sheriff, or state police. New Mexico’s enacted 2021 law says a driver involved in a car accident with bodily injury, death, or apparent property damage of $500 or more must immediately give notice by the quickest means. Within a municipality, notice goes to the police department; otherwise, it goes to the county sheriff or the nearest NMSP office. See Section 66-7-206 in the final enacted bill (pages 12–13). This is an immediate-notice rule; it is not a deadline for obtaining a copy.

Driver’s written report to NMDOT. Under NMSA 1978, Section 66-7-207 as quoted in the NMDOT Uniform Car accident Report Manual, a driver involved in a car accident with bodily injury, death, or total apparent property damage of $500 or more must forward a written report to NMDOT within five days. A 2024 bill that proposed raising that written-report amount to $1,000 is listed by the Legislature as “Died (API.)”; it did not change the rule. This article does not provide a calculation for a particular car accident.

Investigating officer’s report. The same official manual states that an officer who investigates a car accident requiring a report must forward a written report to NMDOT within 24 hours after completing the investigation. The Uniform Car accident Report is a law-enforcement form, not a form a driver fills out as a replacement for the officer’s investigation. The manual says the report is used by officers and is submitted to NMDOT; its reportable-car accident criteria include a motor vehicle in motion, a roadway open to the public, a death, injury, or property damage above $500, and use of the state UCR form.

The official sources used here do not set an insurer-notice deadline, a separate Motor Vehicle Division report procedure, a public-entity notice procedure, or a lawsuit deadline. Those topics are not treated as part of the car accident-report-copy procedure on this page.

Request the state-level record

NMDOT: statewide UCR copy or car accident-data request

Use NMDOT’s Car accident Data / Car accident Report Request Form and choose “Copy of Uniform Car accident/Accident Report.” The form is online. It asks for the requester’s name, phone, email, company/agency, and address. For a particular car accident, its available search details include people involved, car accident date, roadway, city or county, case number, driver-license number, date of birth, VIN, UCR number, and the law-enforcement agency that handled the car accident. Provide the details you have; do not guess missing identifiers.

NMDOT says to allow 15 business days for its office to gather the information necessary to fulfill a request and that it will notify the requester if more time is required. The form distinguishes a report-copy request from a traffic-car accident data-set request. For data requests, it also notes that charges for private or nonpublic use may be disclosed before processing. The page does not publish a fixed fee for a UCR-copy request, so this page does not state one.

NMDOT describes the database as statewide for reportable motor-vehicle traffic car accidents and says it processes reports received from New Mexico law-enforcement agencies for car accidents on public roadways. That is meaningful state-level coverage, but it is not a promise that every local agency’s complete investigative file, supplement, video, photo, or non-reportable/private-property record is in the NMDOT request system.

DPS: NMSP and MTPD reports

DPS’s Law Enforcement Records Bureau says it maintains NMSP or MTPD uniform car accident reports throughout the state. It says reports may be released upon a written or oral request—written preferred—by any civilian, law-enforcement agency or officer, or other agency. DPS also states that, if available, photos, dashcam footage, diagrams, and other pertinent information may be requested.

For a DPS report that is released to the public, DPS’s current fee policy sets the copy charge at $1 for the first page and 25 cents for each additional page. Unless billing arrangements exist, payment is required before release. The policy applies to DPS Records Bureau custodians; it does not set a fee for a city, county, campus, tribal, or other agency.

Documents and identifiers to gather

Before making a request, collect the identifying information shown on the official NMDOT form:

• Your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address.
• Car accident date and approximate time; roadway or street; city or county; and a concise location description.
• The name of each person involved, if known.
• The case number, CAD number, report number, or UCR number, if you have one.
• The investigating law-enforcement agency.
• A vehicle identifier such as a VIN or driver-license number only if it is relevant and you have it.

For a written public-records request to an agency, New Mexico’s NMDOT IPRA guidance explains that a written request should include the requester’s name, address, telephone number, and enough detail for the custodian to identify and locate the record. The same guidance says requests may be submitted orally or in writing, but recommends a written request.

If the report is unavailable or held elsewhere

First, check the investigator. DPS is limited to NMSP or MTPD uniform car accident reports, while NMDOT’s state database is described in terms of reportable motor-vehicle car accidents reported to it. If the car accident was investigated by local police, a sheriff, a campus agency, a tribal agency, or another agency, and the NMDOT route does not produce the report—or if you need that agency’s supplemental materials—ask that investigating agency for its records procedure.

For a New Mexico governmental agency, the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) is the general public-records framework. The New Mexico Department of Justice IPRA page explains that governmental entities must post a notice of the right to inspect records and that written requests receive the Act’s procedural protections. It describes a written request as needing the requester’s name, address, phone number, and a sufficiently detailed description. It also describes the usual inspection timeline: immediately or as soon as practicable, no later than 15 calendar days, with a written response if inspection is not allowed within three business days. Agency records may still be subject to exemptions, redactions, availability limits, or agency-specific fees.

If you are organizing records after a car accident, the site’s car-accident evidence checklist can help you keep your report number, photographs, and correspondence together.

Official resources

• NMDOT Car accident Data / Car accident Report Request Form
• NMDOT Traffic Records
• DPS Law Enforcement Records Bureau
• DPS records request portal
• NMDOT Inspection of Public Records
• New Mexico Department of Justice IPRA information

Sources

1. New Mexico Department of Transportation, “Statewide Traffic Records System”.
2. New Mexico Department of Transportation, “Traffic Records”.
3. New Mexico Department of Transportation, “Crash Data Request Form”.
4. New Mexico Department of Public Safety, “Law Enforcement Records Bureau”.
5. New Mexico Department of Public Safety, ADM:38, “Fees for Offense Incident Reports and Accident Reports Policy”.
6. New Mexico Legislature, final 2021 HB 270, Section 5.
7. New Mexico Department of Transportation, Uniform Crash Report Instruction Manual, pages 2–6.
8. New Mexico Department of Justice, “Inspection of Public Records Act”.