KRS 189.635 Vehicle accident reports by operators, law enforcement officers, and agencies — Availability to parties to accident and news-gathering
KRS 189.635 Vehicle accident reports by operators, law enforcement officers, and
organizations.
(1) The Justice Cabinet, Department of State Police, shall be responsible for
maintaining a reporting system for all vehicle accidents which occur within the
Commonwealth. Such accident reports shall be utilized for such purposes as will
improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth involving the collection,
processing, storing, and dissemination of such data and the establishment of
procedures by administrative regulations to insure that uniform definitions,
classifications, and other federal requirements are in compliance.
(2) Any person operating a vehicle on the highways of this state who is involved in an
accident resulting in fatal or nonfatal personal injury to any person or damage to the
vehicle rendering the vehicle inoperable shall be required to immediately notify a
law enforcement officer having jurisdiction. In the event the operator fails to notify
or is incapable of notifying a law enforcement officer having jurisdiction, such
responsibility shall rest with the owner of the vehicle or any occupant of the vehicle
at the time of the accident. A law enforcement officer having jurisdiction shall
investigate the accident and file a written report of the accident with his law
enforcement agency.
(3) Every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of
which a report must be made as required in this chapter shall file a report of the
accident with the Department of State Police within ten (10) days after investigation
of the accident upon forms supplied by the department.
(4) Any person operating a vehicle on the highways of this state who is involved in an
accident resulting in any property damage exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) in
which an investigation is not conducted by a law enforcement officer shall file a
written report of the accident with the Department of State Police within ten (10)
days of occurrence of the accident upon forms provided by the department.
(5) All accident reports filed with the Department of State Police in compliance with
subsection (4) above shall remain confidential except that the department may
disclose the identity of a person involved in an accident when his identity is not
otherwise known or when he denies his presence at an accident. Except as provided
in subsection (7) of this section, all other accident reports required by this section,
and the information contained in the reports, shall be confidential and exempt from
public disclosure except when produced pursuant to a properly executed subpoena
or court order, or except pursuant to subsection (6) of this section. These reports
shall be made available only to the parties to the accident, the parents or guardians
of a minor who is party to the accident, and the insurers of any party who is the
subject of the report, or to the attorneys of the parties.
(6) The report shall be made available to a news-gathering organization, solely for the
purpose of publishing or broadcasting the news. The news-gathering organization
shall not use or distribute the report, or knowingly allow its use or distribution, for a
commercial purpose other than the news-gathering organization’s publication or
broadcasting of the information in the report. A newspaper, periodical, or radio or
television station shall not be held to have used or knowingly allowed the use of the
report for a commercial purpose merely because of its publication or broadcast.
(7) The motor vehicle insurers of any train engineer or other train crew member
involved in an accident on a railroad while functioning in their professional capacity
shall be prohibited from obtaining a copy of any accident report filed on the
accident under this section without written consent from the individual the company
insures. Insurance companies issuing motor vehicle policies in the Commonwealth
shall be prohibited from raising a policyholder’s rates solely because the
policyholder, in his or her professional capacity, is a train engineer or other train
crew member involved in an accident on a railroad.
Effective:
History: Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 497, sec. 2, effective
1994 Ky. Acts ch. 478, sec. 1, effective
ch. 94, sec. 1, effective
effective
NO ANNOTATIONS FOR THIS STATUTE:
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