Warner Robins, GA
If a trooper worked your wreck on an interstate, a state highway or a rural road, your crash report sits in the Highway Patrol’s own search system and, a little later, at NCDMV. Here is how to find it, how to get a certified copy, and what to do once you have it.
Outside a city or town, the agency that investigates a North Carolina wreck is usually the State Highway Patrol, and the Patrol keeps its reports in a system of its own. That catches people off guard. They call the nearest police department, find no record, and assume the report was never written. It almost always was; it is just in a different place. This page is the Patrol chapter of our guide to North Carolina crash reports, and it covers the online search, the certified copy from NCDMV, and what to do next.
Two facts about the Patrol matter for the paperwork. First, under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-166.1(a), when a reportable crash happens outside a city or town, “the appropriate agency is the State Highway Patrol or the sheriff’s office or other qualified rural police of the county.” Second, under § 20-166.1(e), a Patrol officer who writes a crash report “must forward the report to the Division,” meaning the Division of Motor Vehicles, directly, rather than through a local department. Your report therefore has exactly two homes: the Patrol’s search system and NCDMV.
Joshua E. Palmer, Attorney at Law handles injury claims across North Carolina, including the interstate and highway crashes that troopers work most. Attorney Palmer trained in North Carolina law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham. If your crash involved a commercial truck, the Patrol’s report is often the first document a trucking insurer will argue about, and our North Carolina truck accident lawyer page explains why the evidence has to be preserved quickly.
The dividing line is the city limit. Section 20-166.1(a) sends a driver in a reportable crash to the city or town police department if the crash happened inside a city or town, and to “the State Highway Patrol or the sheriff’s office” if it happened outside one. In practice troopers handle crashes on interstates, U.S. and state highways, and rural roads across the state’s 100 counties, while sheriff’s deputies and small-town officers cover the rest of the unincorporated areas. If a trooper handed you a driver exchange form, or the report number on that form has a Patrol format, this page applies to you.
A crash is reportable under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 20-4.01(33b) when it results in death or injury, or in total property damage of $1,000 or more. Under § 20-166.1(e) the investigating officer “must make a written report of the accident within 24 hours,” on the DMV-349, and that report “must contain information on financial responsibility for the vehicle driven by the person whom the officer identified as at fault.” A Patrol crash report is therefore written quickly; the delay you experience is in the report being entered into the search system and forwarded to Raleigh.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety maintains a Collision Information page that points to the Patrol’s search system, the NCSHP collision report search. According to that page, “Crashes investigated by the NC State Highway Patrol since May 16, 2013, are available in this system,” and “Reports may take up to 48 hours to enter the system.” The system allows searches “by county, by name and by report number,” and the search site also offers lookups by driver license number and by plate.
Use the report number if you have it; it is on the driver exchange form the trooper gave you at the scene. If you do not have it, search by county and the driver’s name, and narrow by the date of the crash. If the report is not there after a couple of days, the most common reasons are that the crash was worked by a sheriff’s office rather than the Patrol, that the entry is still pending, or that a name is spelled differently on the report. The Patrol’s public information office and the county’s Patrol troop office can confirm which agency responded.
Certified copies come from the Division of Motor Vehicles, not from the Patrol, and the process is the same one described on our main North Carolina crash report page. Because the trooper forwards the report straight to the Division under § 20-166.1(e), a Patrol report tends to reach NCDMV faster than a city report, which goes to the local agency first and then on to the Division within 10 days.
For an insurance claim, the copy from the Patrol’s search system is usually enough. Adjusters on both sides will obtain their own, and what they need from you is the report number, your account of the crash, and your evidence. For a lawyer’s review, the search-system copy is enough to start; your attorney’s office can request the unredacted NCDMV copy when the claim needs it. For court, use the certified copy.
| Purpose | Source | Cost and timing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance claim (yours or the other driver’s) | NCSHP collision search | Reports may take up to 48 hours to enter the system | Search by report number, county and name, license number or plate |
| Attorney review | NCSHP search to start; unredacted NCDMV copy when needed | Search copy first; certified copy in 10 business days by mail | Attorneys’ offices licensed in NC can state a DPPA permissible use |
| Lawsuit or hearing | NCDMV certified copy (TR-67A) | $6.50 per copy; mail or walk-in | Admissible without further certification under § 20-42(b) |
| Fatal crash | NCDMV certified copy plus any supplemental report | As above | A death within 12 months not in the original report requires a supplemental report under § 20-166.1(e) |
Individuals receive a redacted certified copy; the search-system copy is likewise limited by privacy law.
It is the same DMV-349 every North Carolina agency uses. The first block of page one has a “Local/Patrol Area” field, which for a Patrol report identifies the troop area where the crash happened rather than a city, and a county field. The location block records the road, the reference point (“At or from” a highway number, street or county line), the distance and direction from it, and latitude and longitude, which matters on rural stretches where there is no intersection to name. From there the form is identical: units and drivers, vehicle and insurance information, estimated damage, injuries and where the injured were taken, then on page two the points of initial contact, the sequence of events, estimated speeds, road conditions, the diagram, the narrative, witnesses and any charges.
Our block-by-block guide to how to read a DMV-349 explains each field. Read the narrative and the diagram first; that is where the trooper’s reconstruction lives, and it is what every adjuster reads first too.
Check it. Confirm the names, vehicles, insurance information and the description of the crash. Highway crashes are reconstructed from skid marks, debris and statements taken on a shoulder with traffic passing, and mistakes happen. If the narrative or the diagram is wrong, or if the trooper’s conclusion puts fault on you that the physical evidence does not support, do not let it sit. Our page on what to do when the crash report blames you explains how to approach the agency about a correction and what evidence to gather now.
The reason this matters so much in North Carolina is contributory negligence. Under that rule, a driver who was even 1% at fault can be barred from recovering anything from the other driver, and a trooper’s note about speed or lane position is the first thing an insurer will point to. Our contributory negligence guide covers the rule and its exceptions. Then mind the clocks: notify your own insurer promptly as the policy requires, and remember that a lawsuit for injury must be filed within three years under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(16). Every deadline that starts at the crash is collected on our North Carolina crash deadlines page.
Because highway crashes are the ones where the evidence disappears fastest and the stakes are highest: higher speeds, commercial vehicles, out-of-state drivers and insurers, and a report written on the roadside. We pull the Patrol report, compare it with the physical evidence and the vehicles, send preservation demands to trucking companies when a commercial vehicle is involved, and handle the insurers so that nothing you say becomes a contributory negligence argument. When an insurer will not pay what a case is worth, we file suit within the deadline.
The consultation is free and there is no fee unless we win. If a trooper worked your crash and you have questions about the report, send it to us and we will read it with you.
Joshua E. Palmer
Managing Partner · Joshua E. Palmer, Attorney at Law
Attorney Palmer concentrates in personal injury law and trained in North Carolina law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham. Contributory negligence is the defense he prepares every North Carolina case to defeat, from the first call with an adjuster to the courtroom.
Did a trooper work your crash? Call for a free review of the Highway Patrol report. We will explain what it says, what needs correcting, and how North Carolina law applies to your claim.
Responsible attorney: Joshua E. Palmer, Managing Partner · 106 Moran Dr #5106, Bonaire, GA 31005 · (478) 887-3734. Attorney advertising. This page is general legal information about North Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation; contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.
We will read the Highway Patrol report with you, explain what it means under North Carolina law, and tell you honestly what your claim is worth. No fee unless we win.
Each case is different. Any results, settlement figures, or benefit amounts described on this page depend on the specific facts of that case and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in yours. Statutes and benefit rates cited are current as of November 2026; confirm current law with an attorney before relying on it.
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