Adams, Tennessee: Crash Reporting Requirements: Police, Driver, and Motor Vehicle Reports

Adams, Tennessee local guide: This city page applies the state and national guidance and official resources below to people looking for accident information in Adams, Tennessee. 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

In Tennessee, a driver should notify law enforcement immediately after a crash involving a death, injury, or apparent property damage over $50. The Tennessee driver manual directs notification to the local police department inside a municipality, or otherwise to the county sheriff or nearest Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) office; it also says to call 911 to report a crash promptly.1

A police investigation and a driver’s state filing are not the same thing. If a crash caused death or injury, more than $1,500 in property damage to any one person, or more than $400 in state or local government-property damage, Tennessee’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security says the owner or driver must file an Owner Operator Report (or have one filed for them) within 20 days. The Department says this personal report is required regardless of fault and is in addition to a report filed by an investigating officer.2

Immediate checklist

Call 911 or notify the appropriate law-enforcement agency promptly when the crash meets Tennessee’s notification rule. Keep the location, vehicles involved, and any report or tracking number you are given.1
Identify the investigating agency. It may be THP, a city police department, a county sheriff’s office, or another law-enforcement agency. That agency is the first place to seek its investigation record.3
Check the Owner Operator Report thresholds. Do not assume that an officer’s report replaces the personal filing. The state says the two can both apply.2
Submit the Owner Operator Report within 20 days if the state’s listed injury, death, or damage thresholds apply. Tennessee provides both an online option and a printable form.2
Save the identifiers needed for a copy request: crash date, investigating agency, drivers’ names, driver-license number, vehicle plate or VIN, and any case, incident, or tracking number.3

Who reports what in Tennessee?

Item	Who handles it	When it applies or what it does	Where to start
Immediate notice to police	The driver; if a driver cannot give notice and a capable passenger is present, the passenger gives or causes notice	Death, injury, or apparent property damage over $50; the driver manual directs immediate notice	Local police inside a municipality; otherwise county sheriff or nearest THP; call 9111
Investigating-agency crash report	The investigating officer/agency	Documents a crash investigation. The Department describes a Crash Report as the official copy of a crash investigated by THP or another law-enforcement agency	Ask the agency that investigated the crash2
Owner Operator (owner/driver) report	Owner or driver, or someone filing on their behalf	Death or injury; property damage above $1,500 to any one person; or government-property damage above $400. The Department says it is independent of fault and additional to an officer report	Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security e-Services or Form SF-0395 by mail2

The state’s public-facing Owner Operator Report is the personal driver/owner filing for these thresholds. On its form, the Department asks for crash, vehicle, operator and owner information; damage and injury/death answers; other-driver information if available; and liability-insurance details. The form says the insurance information is sent to the insurer for verification.4 That state filing should not be confused with the investigating agency’s crash report.

How to file the Owner Operator Report

Use the Department’s Owner Operator Report instructions to decide whether the state filing applies. For the online method, open the Department’s e-Services Owner Operator link. For a paper filing, download SF-0395, Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security Owner / Driver Report, complete it, and mail it to the address printed on the form: Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, P.O. Box 945, Nashville, TN 37202-0945.2

Before starting, gather the form’s requested information: the crash date and city/county; vehicle year, make, and type; operator and owner identification and driver-license details; whether there were injuries, death, vehicle damage, or government-property damage; damage amounts if above the printed thresholds; and insurance company, policy, and policyholder information. If available, also gather the other driver’s name and license number.4

Find or request the investigating agency’s crash report

Tennessee has an official Purchase TN Crash service. Its instructions say to verify involvement, enter involved-party and crash details, pay by a non-prepaid Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card, then print or save the report. The listed online fee is $10 per report.5 The Department’s crash-report page says the online search requires the last name, crash date, reporting agency, driver-license number, and one of a VIN, license plate, case number, or tracking number.3

Do not treat the online service as a promise that every Tennessee agency’s record is in one statewide repository. The official purchase page does not say that it contains all investigating agencies’ reports. The Department instead tells readers to distinguish a THP investigation from one handled by another law-enforcement agency, and to contact the agency that investigated a non-THP crash.3

For a THP-investigated crash, the Department says a driver, owner, passenger, or their agent or legal representative may buy a copy at a THP district office for $4, approximately seven days after the crash. It says that request can be made by mail or in person.3 The Department’s separate mail request form asks for a completed, signed form, a $4 check or money order, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Its eligibility notice lists a driver involved, an owner of property involved, the insurer of a party in the report, or a legal representative of the driver or owner; it warns that obtaining a report under false pretenses is a criminal offense.6

Because the THP webpage and the mail form use somewhat different eligibility wording, use the instructions for the method you select and contact the investigating agency if your role is unclear. For any report investigated by a city police department, sheriff, campus agency, tribal agency, or another non-THP agency, use the official fallback: contact that investigating agency directly to ask how it releases its report.3

If the report is unavailable or held elsewhere

First, confirm the agency name and try the identifiers collected at the scene. If the online service does not locate a record, do not assume a report was never made or that THP holds it. Ask the local police department, sheriff’s office, campus, tribal, or other agency that actually investigated the crash for its record-request process.3

For broader records held by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security—not a substitute for asking the correct investigating agency—the Department’s Open Records page directs requests for copies or inspection-and-copies to form SF-1565 with proof of Tennessee citizenship. It permits submission by mail, in person, or email to Safety.OpenRecords@tn.gov. The Department’s rules say it may deny a request when it is not the custodian and, if it knows the correct government entity, advise the requester of that entity.7

Keep these documents and identifiers together

Keep the Owner Operator Report confirmation or a copy of the mailed form, the officer’s or agency’s case/tracking number, the crash date and exact location, driver and owner names, driver-license details, plate or VIN, insurance policy details, and any receipt for a report request. This information matches the state’s report form and the identifiers listed for online, THP, and mail requests.3 6 For a practical way to organize scene materials, see the car accident evidence checklist.