[Added 2-4-1971; amended 10-21-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-07]
The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury or damage to property shall immediately stop at the scene of such accident or as close thereto as possible without obstructing traffic and give to the driver or some other occupant of the vehicle collided with his name, address, operator's or chauffeur's license number, the registration number of his vehicle, the date, time, and place of the accident and include a description of the property damage. If the damage is to an unattended vehicle or to some other object, the driver shall make a reasonable effort to find the owner or person in charge of such property or shall leave a note in a conspicuous place providing the information hereinbefore required. A wilful failure to make a report required in this section shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
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Editor’s Note: Former § 394-42, Report of driver of vehicle involved in accident; supplemental reports, was repealed 10-21-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-07.
Every law enforcement officer who in the course of duty investigates a motor vehicle accident for which a report must be made, either at the time of and at the scene of the accident or thereafter and elsewhere, by interviewing participants or witnesses, shall, within 24 hours after completing the investigation, forward a written report of the accident to the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Whenever the driver of a vehicle is physically incapable of making an immediate or a written report of an accident for which a report is required, each other occupant of the vehicle at the time of the accident, if any, who is capable of so doing, shall make the report required by this article to be made primarily by the driver. A wilful failure to file the report required by this section shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
Conviction of a failure to report an accident as required or conviction of a failure to give correctly the information required of him in connection with any requisite report shall be a violation of this chapter and shall constitute a ground for suspension of the operator's or chauffeur's license and all certificates of registration of all motor vehicles, or of both, of the persons failing to make the report as required. Such suspension shall continue until such time as the person has filed the accident report as required or has given correctly the information requested.
The person in charge of any garage or repair shop to which is brought any motor vehicle that shows evidence of having been involved in a serious motor vehicle accident or with evidence of blood stains shall report to the Police Department within 24 hours after the motor vehicle is received, giving the engine number, registration number and the name and address of the owner or operator of the vehicle if known. Reports required by this section shall be made upon forms furnished by the Superintendent of State Police.
All accident reports made by persons involved in accidents or by garages shall be without prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for the confidential use of the City, the Division of Motor Vehicles or other state agencies having use for the records for accident prevention purposes, except that the Police Department or the Division of Motor Vehicles 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 the accident.
No report required by this article shall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of an accident, except that the Police Department shall furnish, upon demand of any person who has or claims to have made such a report or upon demand of any court, a certificate showing that a specified accident report has or has not been made to the Police Department or the Division of Motor Vehicles, solely to prove compliance or noncompliance with the requirement that the report be made.
Subject to the provisions of § 394-47, all accident reports made by investigating officers shall be for the confidential use of the Police Department, the Division of Motor Vehicles and of other state agencies for accident prevention purposes and shall not be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of any accident. The Division of Motor Vehicles shall disclose from the reports, upon request of any person, the date, time and location of the accident and the names and addresses of the drivers, the owners of the vehicles involved, the injured persons, the witnesses and one investigating officer.