Accident Reporting

Note: The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles' Driving Manual has a section on what to do when you've been in an accident.

The police are required to file a report for all accidents in which the damage exceeds $1,000, in which personal injury has occurred, or in which one of the vehicles involved has fled the scene. If you are in a car accident, you should call, or have some one call, the police. Move your vehicles to safety if you can, but otherwise try not to alter the appearance of the accident scene or of the vehicles involved.

Within five days of the accident, you will need to file an Commonwealth of Massachusetts Crash Operator Report when the accident results in personal injury or death, when property damage exceeds $1,000, when one of the vehicles involved has fled the scene, or when you have any doubt as to the above. An Operator's Report can be picked up at any police department. The police officer who responds to the accident may give you one, but he or she may not have one.

You must send a copy of your Operator's Report to the police department that has jurisdiction over the accident site (i.e. city/town where accidents occurred), to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, and to your insurance company. Please make sure that you sign your report before mailing it.

If you need assistance filling out your Operator's Report you should contact your insurance company.

Copies of the police officer's report are made available to the operator's. Copies can be obtained in person by going to the West Stockbridge Police Station, 21 Stateline Road, PO Box 90, West Stockbridge. If you have been injured in the accident, are incapacitated, or otherwise can not come to the West Stockbridge Police Station personally, call the Police Department at (413) 232-8500, to make arrangements to receive the report.