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

Short answer

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

Identify the investigating agency from the scene, a case number, a citation, correspondence, or the other driver’s information.
Use NMDOT’s online form and select “Copy of Uniform Rideshare accident/Accident Report.”
Gather the rideshare accident date, location, people involved, and any report, case, CAD, or Uniform Rideshare accident Report (UCR) number before submitting.
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.
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 rideshare 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 Rideshare accident Report Manual, a driver involved in a rideshare 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 rideshare accident.

Investigating officer’s report. The same official manual states that an officer who investigates a rideshare accident requiring a report must forward a written report to NMDOT within 24 hours after completing the investigation. The Uniform Rideshare 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-rideshare 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 rideshare accident-report-copy procedure on this page.

Request the state-level record

NMDOT: statewide UCR copy or rideshare accident-data request

Use NMDOT’s Rideshare accident Data / Rideshare accident Report Request Form and choose “Copy of Uniform Rideshare accident/Accident Report.” The form is online. It asks for the requester’s name, phone, email, company/agency, and address. For a particular rideshare accident, its available search details include people involved, rideshare 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 rideshare 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-rideshare 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 rideshare accidents and says it processes reports received from New Mexico law-enforcement agencies for rideshare 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 rideshare 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.
Rideshare 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 rideshare accident reports, while NMDOT’s state database is described in terms of reportable motor-vehicle rideshare accidents reported to it. If the rideshare 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 rideshare accident, the site’s car-accident evidence checklist can help you keep your report number, photographs, and correspondence together.

Official resources

What changes when a rideshare trip is involved

Use this version when the event involved a transportation-network-company trip. Save the platform, rider or driver role, trip receipt, date and time, driver and vehicle profile, pickup and destination, app messages, and whether a request had been accepted or a passenger was in the vehicle.

Rideshare coverage can change with app and trip phase and state law. Platform notice is a separate task from a police or motor-vehicle report and from notice to a personal or commercial insurer.

Capture the trip and app status before details disappear.
Use the applicable operator’s current incident-reporting route.
Keep operator, police or DMV, and insurer confirmation numbers separate.

Browse the Rideshare Accident Guides collection for related pages.

Accident-type official sources

Uber or Lyft? Protect Yourself When Ridesharing — National Association of Insurance Commissioners
State Insurance Departments — National Association of Insurance Commissioners