How to get your Texas crash report (CR-3) after a wreck in Bexar County

After a crash in San Antonio, the officer’s crash report is usually the first document an insurance adjuster asks for. It is also the one people most often have trouble finding. This article explains what the report is, when it becomes available, who is allowed to buy it, and what it does not contain.

What the CR-3 is

The Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report, form CR-3, is the report a law enforcement officer writes after investigating a crash. Transportation Code section 550.062 requires an officer who investigates a motor vehicle collision to make a written report if the collision injured or killed someone or damaged the property of any one person to the apparent extent of $1,000 or more. TxDOT’s current CR-3 form has been used for crashes on or after April 1, 2023.

The report records the date, time and location, the vehicles and drivers, the insurance each driver reported, a diagram and narrative, injuries, and the factors the officer believed contributed to the crash. Adjusters read the contributing factors closely, because they are the officer’s first view of fault.

When it becomes available

The officer must file the report electronically with TxDOT no later than the 10th day after the crash (section 550.062(b)). In practice, a report may appear sooner or a little later, depending on the agency. In San Antonio the investigating agency is usually SAPD; in the suburbs it is often that city’s police department, and outside city limits the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

Who may buy it

Crash reports are not public in Texas. Section 550.065 makes the information privileged and confidential, but requires TxDOT to release it, on written request and payment of the fee, to people directly concerned in the crash. They include any person involved in the crash, the authorized representative of a person involved, a driver involved, an employer, parent or legal guardian of a driver, and the owner of a vehicle or property damaged in the crash, among others. TxDOT says that because of their confidential nature, crash reports are not available for online viewing by the general public.

How to buy it from TxDOT

1. Go to TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System, linked from the Crash reports and records page on txdot.gov.
2. Search for your crash using the details the system asks for.
3. Choose the copy you need. TxDOT charges $6 for a regular copy and $8 for a certified copy, the kind requested when an official document is needed, such as for a legal proceeding. Additional processing fees may apply to card payments.
4. Watch your email. TxDOT says customers using the online system receive their reports by email after the purchase.

TxDOT keeps crash records for the previous 10 full calendar years plus the current year, so an older report may no longer be available.

What the report does not include

TxDOT is the custodian of the crash report only. Its crash records page says that requests for dash camera video, field notes, photographs and other information taken at the scene should go to the investigating agency, because they are not part of TxDOT’s files. Those items can be as important as the report itself, especially when the drivers tell different stories. Agencies do not keep everything indefinitely, so ask early.

If the report gets it wrong

Officers usually arrive after the crash and work from what drivers and witnesses tell them. A report that blames you is not the final word on fault: under Texas’s proportionate responsibility rules, a jury decides each person’s percentage, and you can recover as long as yours is not greater than 50 percent (Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 33.001). Photographs, witnesses, the vehicle damage and video are how a wrong report is answered. Our accident lawyer San Antonio page covers the evidence to collect in the first days after a crash.