Most people looking for an Atlanta crash report are searching the wrong agency’s system. Start by working out who actually wrote it.

How to Get Your Atlanta Police Accident Report

What this page covers

1. Which agency worked your crash
2. How long until it is available
3. Getting an APD report online
4. Getting it in person
5. Georgia State Patrol reports
6. Who is allowed to get a report
7. How to read the report
8. Fixing an error
9. If no officer came
10. Do you need it before calling a lawyer
11. Frequently asked questions

First, figure out which agency worked your crash

This is the step almost everyone skips, and it is the reason people spend a week searching a database that was never going to have their report.

Atlanta Police Department handles crashes on city streets. It also handles crashes on the interstates inside the city limits, but only during specific hours: 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, and all day on weekends.

Georgia State Patrol handles crashes on the interstates inside Atlanta Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The City of Atlanta does not receive a copy of those reports. If your crash was on I-285, I-75, I-85, or I-20 on a weekday afternoon, APD almost certainly does not have your report and never will.

So before anything else, answer two questions: where did it happen, and when?

• City street, any time → APD
• Interstate, weekday between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. → Georgia State Patrol
• Interstate, weeknight after 8 p.m. or before 6 a.m., or any time on a weekend → APD
• Outside city limits → the county police or sheriff’s office for that jurisdiction, or GSP

If you are unsure, look at the card or slip the officer handed you at the scene. It normally carries the agency name and the case or report number.

How long until the report is available?

For APD crashes, expect roughly five to seven business days. The city’s own guidance gives up to seven business days, and the report is not searchable in any system before the investigating officer files it and it clears review.

For Georgia State Patrol crashes, the Department of Public Safety generally makes reports available in three to five business days.

Checking daily accomplishes nothing except frustration. If a full week has passed and nothing appears, that is the point at which it is worth calling the agency directly — sometimes the report is filed under a misspelled name or a different date than you expect.

Getting an APD report online

Atlanta Police Department distributes crash reports through BuyCrash, operated by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, at buycrash.lexisnexisrisk.com. The older address, buycrash.com, redirects to the same place. The fee is $11, paid by credit or debit card, and the report downloads immediately once payment clears. The site is available around the clock.

What you need to search

The city’s guidance says you need the report number plus the last name of someone involved. Georgia DOT publishes a more precise set of search rules for the same system, and it is worth knowing because it means you do not necessarily need the report number at all.

Select Georgia, then “All GA Agencies,” then supply:

• the last name of a driver, passenger, owner, or pedestrian involved, and
• the date of the crash, and
• any one of: the crash report number, the VIN of a vehicle involved, or a driver’s license number.

The VIN option is the useful one. It is on your insurance card, your registration, and the base of your windshield — so a lost report number is not the obstacle people assume it is.

Getting the report in person — and paying almost nothing

The online convenience fee is optional. APD’s Central Records Unit will provide a copy for ten cents per page, payable by cash, money order, or a personal check made out to the City of Atlanta.

APD Central Records Unit
Atlanta Public Safety Annex, 3493 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway NW, Atlanta, GA 30331
(404) 546-7461

Bring a valid state-issued photo ID and the report number. No form is required if you were involved in the crash.

One caution about hours: the City’s ATL311 service lists the unit as open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the building entrance closing at 3:30 p.m. even though service windows stay open until 4:00. The Atlanta Police Department’s own website lists 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Because the two official sources disagree, call before you drive out there.

Getting a Georgia State Patrol report

GSP reports come from the Department of Public Safety, not the city. There are two routes.

Online: the DPS EPORTS portal at eports.gamccd.net/ORPortal handles reports from Georgia State Patrol, Capitol Police, and Motor Carrier Compliance. An uncertified electronic crash report is $5.00, typically available in three to five business days. The portal retains the current year plus three prior years.

By mail, phone, or in person: DPS Open Records Unit, 959 United Avenue SE, Atlanta, GA 30316; (404) 624-7591.

There is also a statewide fallback that works for any Georgia agency’s report. Georgia DOT accepts an Individual Crash Report Request by mail or fax — GDOT, 935 United Avenue SE, Building 24, Atlanta, GA 30308; phone (404) 635-2850. The fee is $5 per report, plus $2 if you need it certified, and GDOT accepts money orders or cashier’s checks only. No cash, no personal checks.

One system you should not be sent to: GEARS, at gearsportal.com, is Georgia’s statewide crash data repository, but it is a law enforcement and agency system. It is not a public download portal, and pages that tell accident victims to get their report there are out of date.

Who is legally allowed to get a Georgia crash report?

Georgia crash reports are not ordinary public records, and this catches people out.

Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(5), individual Georgia Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Reports are exempt from public disclosure except on submission of a written statement of need. A stranger cannot simply pull your crash report.

The same provision contains the sentence that matters most to anyone who was in the crash: any person or entity whose name or identifying information appears in the report is entitled, either personally or through a lawyer or other representative, to receive a copy. If you were involved, you have a right to it, and your attorney can obtain it for you.

The statute defines who has the required “need.” It includes a person with a personal, professional, or business connection to a party; someone who owns or leases damaged property; anyone injured in the crash; a witness; the actual or alleged insurer of a party; a prosecutor or law enforcement officer; anyone alleged to be liable as a result of the crash; certain attorneys; news media representatives who affirm compliance with O.C.G.A. § 33-24-53; qualifying public-interest researchers, subject to redaction and a 30-day waiting period; and government officials carrying out their functions.

The statute also forbids releasing crash reports in bulk without a written statement of need for each one — a provision aimed squarely at the practice of harvesting reports for solicitation.

A note on the citation: this is subsection (a)(5). A number of law firm pages cite (a)(4), which is the exemption for records in a pending criminal investigation and has nothing to do with crash reports.

How to read the report once you have it

Georgia uses one standardized statewide form. O.C.G.A. § 40-6-278 requires the Commissioner of Transportation to prescribe uniform crash reports used by all police officers, whether state, county, or municipal. The current form is the GDOT-523, “Georgia Motor Vehicle Crash Report.” The statute still refers to it by its older name, the Georgia Uniform Motor Vehicle Accident Report.

Nearly every field is a number. GDOT publishes an overlay document that decodes them, and it is the single most useful thing to have open next to your report.

The fields that matter most

Injury uses the KABCO scale: 0 = no apparent injury, 1 = fatal (K), 2 = suspected serious injury (A), 3 = suspected minor or visible injury (B), 4 = possible injury or complaint (C). A “4” on your line does not mean you were not hurt. It means that at the roadside, before any imaging, the officer recorded a complaint of pain.

Manner of Collision describes the crash geometry: 1 = angle, 2 = head on, 3 = rear end, 4 = sideswipe same direction, 5 = sideswipe opposite direction, 6 = not a collision with a motor vehicle.

Contributing Factors is the field that drives liability arguments. Up to four can be recorded per vehicle. Common codes include 3 = following too close, 4 = failed to yield, 5 = exceeding speed limit, 6 = disregarded stop sign or signal, 22 = too fast for conditions, 28 = inattentive or other distraction, and 29 = texting.

Vehicle Maneuver records what each vehicle was doing: turning left, U-turn, stopped, straight, changing lanes, backing, negotiating a curve.

There are also coded fields for weather, surface condition, and light condition, all of which become relevant when the crash happened in rain or after dark.

The “Susp At Fault” box is not a legal finding

The report carries a per-unit “Susp At Fault” checkbox. It records the investigating officer’s suspicion. It is not a determination of legal liability, it is not binding on an insurance company, and it is not binding on a jury.

This cuts both ways. If the box is checked next to your name, your case is not over. Officers arrive after the fact, take statements from people in shock, and sometimes get it wrong. Physical evidence, vehicle damage patterns, event data recorder downloads, and independent witnesses regularly tell a different story. And if the box is checked next to the other driver, that is helpful evidence — but it is not the end of the argument either.

What if the report has an error?

Georgia has no statewide procedure for a citizen to compel a correction, and any page that describes one is describing something that does not exist. What exists is a process the agency follows.

The GDOT-523 has two boxes in its top right corner: “Corrected Report” and “Sup To Original.” A corrected report replaces the original in Georgia’s records. A supplement attaches additional information to it — late toxicology, an occupant not originally listed. GDOT’s crash reporting manual sets out what must be included and notes that processing can take up to seven days electronically and thirty days or more on paper.

For APD specifically, the city’s published rule is concrete: a police report can only be changed by the officer who made the initial report. To request a change, speak with that officer directly. If you and the officer disagree, you can raise it with that officer’s supervisor. Information can be added to an existing report by any officer when the case number is provided.

In practice, factual errors — a wrong date, a transposed VIN, a misspelled name, a missing passenger — get corrected without much difficulty. Opinions about fault rarely change. When they do not, the answer is not to keep pushing the officer; it is to develop the evidence that contradicts the conclusion.

What if no officer came?

If police did not respond and no report was written, there is no report to obtain. Georgia provides a self-report form for that situation, and you should document the crash yourself as thoroughly as you can: photographs of both vehicles and the scene, the other driver’s license, insurance card and license plate, and the names and phone numbers of any witnesses.

A crash without a police report is harder to prove, not impossible. Contemporaneous photographs and a prompt medical visit carry much of the weight the report would have carried.

Do you need the report before calling a lawyer?

No. If you were involved in the crash, your attorney can obtain the report on your behalf — that is the “personally or through a lawyer or other representative” language in § 50-18-72(a)(5) doing its work.

Southern Injury Attorneys handles car and truck accident claims in Atlanta and throughout Georgia from our Atlanta office. If you want help getting the report, or you have it and cannot make sense of what it says, call 901-300-5001 or use the contact form on this site. There is no charge for the conversation, and there is no fee unless we recover for you.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my Atlanta police accident report?

Atlanta Police Department reports are distributed through BuyCrash at buycrash.lexisnexisrisk.com for $11, or in person at APD Central Records, 3493 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway NW, for ten cents per page. Reports are generally available five to seven business days after the crash.

How much does an Atlanta crash report cost?

Eleven dollars online through BuyCrash. In person at APD Central Records the charge is ten cents per page. A Georgia State Patrol report through the DPS EPORTS portal is $5, and GDOT charges $5 by mail plus $2 for certification.

How long does it take for a crash report to be available?

Roughly five to seven business days for Atlanta Police Department reports, and three to five business days for Georgia State Patrol reports.

What if I lost my report number?

You may not need it. Georgia DOT’s search instructions for BuyCrash allow you to look up a report using the last name of someone involved, the date of the crash, and any one of the report number, a vehicle VIN, or a driver’s license number. Your VIN is on your insurance card and registration.

My crash was on I-285. Why can’t Atlanta Police find my report?

Because Georgia State Patrol most likely worked it. GSP handles interstate crashes inside Atlanta on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., and the City of Atlanta does not receive copies of those reports. Request it through the DPS EPORTS portal instead.

Can anyone get a copy of my crash report?

No. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72(a)(5), Georgia crash reports are exempt from general public disclosure and require a written statement of need. Anyone named in the report is entitled to a copy, personally or through a lawyer or other representative, and reports cannot be released in bulk.

The report says I was at fault. Is my case over?

No. The ‘Susp At Fault’ notation records the investigating officer’s suspicion, not a legal determination of liability. It does not bind an insurer or a jury, and physical evidence, vehicle data, and independent witnesses frequently support a different conclusion.

How do I fix a mistake on my Georgia crash report?

Georgia has no citizen-initiated correction procedure. For an Atlanta Police report, the city’s rule is that only the officer who wrote it can change it, and disagreements go to that officer’s supervisor. The agency then files a corrected or supplemental GDOT-523. Factual errors are usually fixable; conclusions about fault rarely are.

What if no police report was made?

You can still pursue a claim. Georgia provides a self-report form, and photographs, the other driver’s information, witness contact details, and prompt medical treatment carry much of the weight the report would have carried.

This page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and case law change; every case turns on its own facts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Responsible attorney: Larry “Jimmy” Peters, Georgia Bar No. 936535. Southern Injury Attorneys maintains its Georgia office in Atlanta and serves clients throughout the state.