Section 605. Report required upon accident


Latest version.
  • (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.