THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN. TEXAS 78711 

May 6, 1975 

The Honorable A. R. Schwartz 

Chairman 

Opinion No. H- 601 

Senate Committee on Jurisprudence, 

State Capitol 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Re: Whether the Department 

of Public Safety may elicit 

information as to a person’s 

race and sex on the Driver’s 

Confidential Accident Report. 

Dear Senator Schwartz: 

You have requested our opinion regarding the authority of the 

Department of Public Safety to elicit information as to a person’s race 

and sex on the Driver’s Confidential Accident Report. 

The Driver’s Confidential Accident Report is a form which must 

be completed by every person involved in a traffic accident and forwarded 

to the Department of Public Safety. On the form are spaces requesting 

the individual to note h!s sex and race. You state that the Department of 

Public Safety does not follow up the omission of this particular information on a submitted report. Furthermore, the report is not available 

for inspection or copying by the public. V. T. C. S., art. 6701d, $47. 

According to Colonel Speir, Director of the Texas Department 

of Public Safety, the purpose of the data obtained on the Report is “to 

provide sufficient information so that all reports of a particular accident 

may be matched into one case file and to provide basic statistical data. ” 

He states that items such as race and sex, when “correlated with other 

factors such as geographical location, type of accident and contributi,ng 

factors, aid the traffic safety program in providing a means of tailoring 

the program to specific groups where applicable. ” 

We have discovered no statute which would preclude the Department 

of Public Safety from requesting this information, and we presume therefore that the only relevant inquiry is whether its inclusion on the Driver’s 

Confidential Accident Report may be deemed state action which violates 

the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United 

States Constitution. 

p. 2668 
The Honorable A. R. Schwartz page 2 (H-601) 

However, the eliciting of this information does not result in 

action against any group or individual. Whatever action taken is positive 

and remedial. No burden is imposed on any racial or sexual class. See 

Wright v. City of Brighton, Alabama, 441 F-. 2d 447, 450 (5th Cir., 1971), 

cert denied, 404 U.S. 915 (1971). The state is not denied the right to 

treat different classes of persons in different ways, but merely denied 

the authority to base its classification on criteria wholly unrelated to the 

objective of the state action. Reed V. Reed, 404 U.S. 71, 75-76 (1971). 

It is therefore our opinion that the Department of Public Safety is not 

prohibited from eliciting information as to a person’s race and sex on 

the Driver’s Confidential Accident Report. And see Attorney General 

Opinion H-118 (1973). 

SUMMARY 

The Department of Public Safety is not prohibited 

from eliciting information as to a person’s race and 

sex on the Driver’s Confidential Accident Report. 

Very truly yours, 

c/ Attorney General of Texas 

PPROVED: 

\ 

, First Assistant 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

po 2669