2019 New York Laws
VAT - Vehicle and Traffic
Title 6 - Accidents and Accident Reports
Article 22 - Accidents and Accident Reports
605 - Report Required Upon Accident.

Universal Citation:
NY Veh & Traf L § 605 (2019)
Learn more This media-neutral citation is based on the American Association of Law Libraries Universal Citation Guide and is not necessarily the official citation.
§  605. Report required upon accident. (a) 1. Every person operating a
motor vehicle, except  a  police  officer  (as  defined  in  subdivision
thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law), a correction
officer,  or  a firefighter, operating a police department, a correction
department, or fire department vehicle respectively while on duty, if  a
report  has  been  filed  by  the owner of such vehicle, which is in any
manner involved in an accident, anywhere within the boundaries  of  this
state,  in  which any person is killed or injured, or in which damage to
the property of any one person, including  himself,  in  excess  of  one
thousand  dollars  is  sustained,  shall  within  ten  days  after  such
accident, report the matter in writing  to  the  commissioner.  If  such
operator  or chauffeur be physically incapable of making such report and
there be another participant in the  accident  not  incapacitated,  such
participant  shall make such report within ten days after such accident.
If the operator or chauffeur involved in such accident be unable to make
such report, the owner of the motor vehicle involved in  such  accident,
if  such  owner be not involved in such accident or incapacitated, shall
within ten days after he learns of the fact of such accident report  the
matter  to  the  commissioner together with such information as may have
come to his knowledge relating to such accident. Every such operator  or
chauffeur  of  a  motor vehicle, or participant in any such accident, or
owner of the motor vehicle involved in any  such  accident,  shall  make
such other and additional reports as the commissioner shall require.
  2. Failure to report an accident as herein provided or failure to give
correctly  the  information  required  of  him  by  the  commissioner in
connection with such report shall be a misdemeanor and shall  constitute
a ground for suspension or revocation of the operator's (or chauffeur's)
license or all certificates of registration for any motor vehicle, or of
both,  of  the person failing to make such report as herein required. In
addition, the commissioner may temporarily suspend the driver's  license
or  permit  or certificate of registration of the motor vehicle involved
in the accident, or of both, of the person failing to report an accident
within the period prescribed in paragraph one of this subdivision, until
such report has been filed. However, no suspension or a revocation shall
be made of a license  or  certificate  of  registration  of  any  police
officer,  correction  officer,  or  firefighter  involved in an accident
while on duty for failure  to  report  such  accident  within  ten  days
thereof if a report has been filed by the owner of such vehicle.
  3.  In the case of a non-resident the failure to report an accident as
herein provided shall constitute ground for suspension or revocation  of
his  privileges  of  operating  a motor vehicle in this state and of the
operation within this state of any motor vehicle owned by him.
  4. When a report required by this section is made by an  owner  or  an
operator  of a fire vehicle, as defined by section one hundred fifteen-a
of this chapter, or a police vehicle, as defined by section one  hundred
thirty-two-a  of  this  chapter,  when such accident occurred during the
operation of such vehicle in response to an emergency where the operator
was responding to a call to duty as a paid or volunteer  member  of  any
fire  department, or in the case of a police vehicle, when such accident
occurred during emergency operation, as defined by section  one  hundred
fourteen-b  of  this  chapter,  the  commissioner  shall  omit the event
described in such report from the operator's external license  abstract.
Provided,  however,  the commissioner shall not omit the event described
in such report from the operator's external license  abstract  if  as  a
result  of  such  event such operator has either (i) been charged with a
violation of this chapter or of the penal law, unless  the  commissioner
receives  evidence  that  such  charge  has  been dismissed, or that the
action has otherwise been terminated in favor of the accused pursuant to

section 160.50 of the criminal procedure law, or  that  the  charge  has
otherwise  been  adjudicated in an administrative or other proceeding in
favor of the defendant operator or (ii) been found to have been  grossly
negligent by a final order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

(b) Every person operating a bicycle which is in any manner involved in an accident on a public highway in this state in which any person is killed, other than the operator, or suffers serious physical injury as defined pursuant to subdivision ten of section 10.00 of the penal law, shall within ten days after such operator learns of the fact of such death or serious physical injury, report the matter in writing to the commissioner. If such operator is physically incapable of making such report within ten days, he or she shall make the report immediately upon recovery from the physical incapacity. If such operator is an unemancipated minor who is incapable of making such report for any reason, the parent or guardian of such operator shall make such report within ten days after learning of the fact of such accident. Every such operator of a bicycle, or parent or guardian of such unemancipated minor operator, shall make such other and additional reports as the commissioner shall require.

(c) The report required by this section shall be made in such form and number as the commissioner may prescribe. Such report shall include information on the width and length of trucks, tractors, trailers and semitrailers, which are in excess of ninety-five inches in width or thirty-four feet in length and which are involved in such accidents, whether such accident took place in a work area and whether it was being operated with an overweight or over dimension permit. Such report shall distinctly indicate and include information as to whether the inflatable restraint system inflated and deployed.

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