Nevada Revised Statutes 484E.070 – Written or electronic report of crash to Department by driver or owner; exceptions; confidentiality; use as evidence at trial
1. The Department shall:
Terms Used In Nevada Revised Statutes 484E.070
- Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles. See Nevada Revised Statutes 481.015
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- person: means a natural person, any form of business or social organization and any other nongovernmental legal entity including, but not limited to, a corporation, partnership, association, trust or unincorporated organization. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.039
- Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(a) Approve the format of the forms for crash reports made pursuant to this section; and
(b) Make those forms available to persons who are required to forward the reports to the Department pursuant to this section.
2. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 3, 4 and 5, the driver of a vehicle which is in any manner involved in a crash on a highway or on premises to which the public has access, if the crash results in bodily injury to or the death of any person or total damage to any vehicle or item of property to an apparent extent of $750 or more, shall, within 10 days after the crash, forward a written or electronic report of the crash to the Department. Whenever damage occurs to a motor vehicle, the operator shall attach to the crash report an estimate of repairs or a statement of the total loss from an established repair garage, an insurance adjuster employed by an insurer licensed to do business in this State, an adjuster licensed pursuant to chapter 684A of NRS or an appraiser licensed pursuant to chapter 684B of NRS. The Department may require the driver or owner of the vehicle to file supplemental written or electronic reports whenever the original report is insufficient in the opinion of the Department.
3. A report is not required from any person if the crash was investigated by a police officer pursuant to NRS 484E.110 and the report of the investigating officer contains:
(a) The name and address of the insurance company providing coverage to each person involved in the crash;
(b) The number of each policy; and
(c) The dates on which the coverage begins and ends.
4. The driver of a vehicle subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board or the Nevada Transportation Authority need not submit in his or her report the information requested pursuant to subsection 3 of NRS 484E.120 until the 10th day of the month following the month in which the crash occurred.
5. A written or electronic crash report is not required pursuant to this chapter from any person who is physically incapable of making a report, during the period of the person’s incapacity. Whenever the driver is physically incapable of making a written or electronic report of a crash as required in this section and the driver is not the owner of the vehicle, the owner shall within 10 days after knowledge of the crash make the report not made by the driver.
6. All written or electronic reports required in this section to be forwarded to the Department by drivers or owners of vehicles involved in crashes are without prejudice to the person so reporting and are for the confidential use of the Department or other state agencies having use of the records for crash prevention, except as otherwise provided in NRS 239.0115 and except that the Department may disclose to a person involved in a crash or to his or her insurer the identity of another person involved in the crash when the person’s identity is not otherwise known or when the person denies having been present at the crash. The Department may also disclose the name of the person’s insurer and the number of the person’s policy.
7. A written or electronic report forwarded pursuant to the provisions of this section may not be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of a crash except that the Department shall furnish upon demand of any party to such a trial, or upon demand of any court, a certificate showing that a specified crash report has or has not been made to the Department in compliance with law, and, if the report has been made, the date, time and location of the crash, the names and addresses of the drivers, the owners of the vehicles involved and the investigating officers. The report may be used as evidence when necessary to prosecute charges filed in connection with a violation of NRS 484E.080.