Los Angeles County
In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department handles traffic collision reports for the city. Call 911 if anyone is hurt or a driver seems intoxicated. Otherwise trade driver license, registration, insurance, and phone numbers. LAPD says no report is written for a collision with no injuries where every driver is licensed. Photograph the scene and both cars.
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Where this comes from
We checked these original sources on September 5, 2026. Each link opens the source so you can read it for yourself.
Original links
CHP FAQ, collision section
Request a Traffic Report
Traffic Collision Questions
Los Angeles Police Department, Records and Identification Division
LAPD keeps traffic collision reports for the city of Los Angeles. It releases them to authorized people under Vehicle Code section 20012. Here is how LAPD says to ask.
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LAPD asks you to wait the minimum time its page states, counted from the date of the collision, before you try to get a copy online. The report has to be reviewed and approved for release first. Reports involving an arrest, a fatality, or a juvenile are not released online.
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The LAPD page links an online request for a traffic collision report and offers it in English and in Spanish. Use it only if your report is not one of the kinds LAPD holds back from online release.
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For a report issued before February 2016, or any report LAPD will not release online, download the Traffic Collision Report Request form and mail it with a check or money order payable to the LAPD. Do not send cash. It goes to the Records and Identification Division, Document Processing Unit, in Los Angeles.
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If you cannot print the form, LAPD accepts a written request. Include the type of report, your name, address, phone, and date of birth, the report number if you have it, the names of the parties, the date, time, and place, the plates, and your interest in the report.
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LAPD says a traffic report goes to authorized people such as the victim, the victim's representative, or those named in Vehicle Code section 20012. If an attorney asks, LAPD wants a release from an involved party. If an insurance company asks, it wants the policy number.
Los Angeles Police DepartmentAgencies change their forms, portals and fees. Open the linked page before you pay for anything, and keep a copy of every request you send.
Federal fatal-crash counts, 2022 to 2024
That is 20.0% of every fatal crash the federal file records in the state over the same three years.
These are crashes in which at least one person died within 30 days, as counted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They are not a count of all crashes, injuries, insurance claims or lawsuits, and most crashes are not in this file at all.
The counts are not adjusted for population, road miles or how much people drive, so they cannot say one place is more dangerous than another. A crash appearing here does not show who was at fault, whether anyone was insured or whether anyone has a claim.
Questions
LAPD asks you to allow the minimum wait it posts, counted from the date of the collision, before you try online, so the report can be reviewed and approved for release. Reports issued before February 2016, and reports involving an arrest, a fatality, or a juvenile, have to be requested by mail.
LAPD releases traffic collision reports to authorized people, such as the victim, the victim's representative, or people named in Vehicle Code section 20012. LAPD asks for release forms from authorized parties and insurance companies, and proof of the relationship from a parent or guardian.
LAPD says it does not write a report when nobody is hurt and everyone has a driver license. For insurance purposes, LAPD points you to its online police report page, which covers a misdemeanor hit and run and minor injuries. Keep your own record of the date, place, plates, and the other driver's insurance.
Yes. The LAPD page that links the online traffic collision report request offers it in English and in Spanish. If your report cannot go out online, the mailed request still works, and you can start a free case check with Vetted Cases in Spanish by phone, text, or online.
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A quick reality check
This page cannot decide fault, medical cause, insurance coverage, legal deadlines, case value or whether you have a claim. Those questions depend on the complete facts, records, state law and a licensed attorney's review.
Last updated
We opened every Los Angeles agency page linked here on this date and rewrote anything that had changed.
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