How to Read Your Alaska Accident Report

When you’re involved in a car accident in Alaska that results in injury or at least $2,000 of apparent property damage, you are required by law to notify the police immediately. Depending on where your crash takes place, an officer from the local police department or the Alaska Department of Public Safety will respond to investigate and generate a police accident report. This document is called the Alaska Motor Vehicle Collision Report (Form 12-200) and serves as a critical piece of evidence when filing a personal injury claim.

Insurance companies use the details in your police accident report to determine fault for your crash. If any of the information in the accident report is incorrect it can have a negative impact on your case and hurt your chances at recovering fair and full compensation for your damages.

Once you obtain a copy of your Alaska Motor Vehicle Collision Report it’s critical that you review it carefully to ensure it paints an accurate picture of your crash. If the details in the report don’t match up with the way you remember things, contact an Alaska car accident lawyer to protect your legal rights and set the record straight.

Alaska Motor Vehicle Collision Report (Form 12-200)

https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/ak_12-200_par_rev9_12_2001.pdf

Part A

The DMV number and Incident/Case number are located in the top right corner on every page of the report. These numbers are unique to the report and should be repeated on each page.

Click here to download a printable PDF of How to Read Your Alaska Accident Report.

Many important details about the crash can be found in the upper section, including the date, time, location, weather, road conditions, posted speed limit, and if EMS was dispatched to the scene. It will also note how many people were part of the accident under “units,” which can include motorists, passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and others involved in the crash.

If the accident resulted in any non-vehicular property damage, such as a mailbox, guardrail, telephone pole, tree, or fence, it will be noted here. If law enforcement officials took pictures of the crash scene, it will also be noted in this section.

>The second section of the report is where the investigating officer’s description of the crash is located. This part will disclose if any arrests were made or tickets issued. The sequence of events that led to the accident will also be noted here.

The crash diagram represents the investigating officer’s impression of how the collision occurred and will include the position of every vehicle involved, direction of travel, roadways, and traffic control signals. For more complex accidents, a supplemental crash diagram may accompany the report.

The bottom of the page has the investigating and reviewing officers’ names and permanent ID numbers.

Part B

There will be multiple pages for Part B if the accident involved more than one vehicle.

Driver contact information and applicable insurance are listed in the first section, along with the driver’s injury status. If the investigating officer suspected the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash and administered a test, it will be listed here. Negligent behavior by the driver that may have contributed to the accident is located in this section under “Human Circumstances.”

Details about the driver’s vehicle can be viewed under “Vehicle Information.” Vehicle damage, number of occupants, and vehicle defects are found here, along with road conditions that may have contributed to the collision and if there were any traffic control devices at the crash scene. This part of the report will also note what the driver was doing at the time of the crash (e.g., turning, merging, backing up, skidding, passing, etc.).

The last section of Part B is only filled out by the investigating officer if the accident involved a commercial vehicle.

Part C

This page is used to document information about passengers involved in the accident and witnesses who saw the crash. Names and contact information can be viewed on this page along with the passenger’s seat location, injury status, and if the passenger was ejected or had to be extracted from the vehicle.

Supplement

This page is filled out by the investigating officer if a pedestrian was involved in the crash. Details about what the pedestrian was doing and what type of property the pedestrian was on at the time of the collision can be found here. The investigating officer will also note any property damage and if pictures were taken at the scene of the accident.