September 19, 1952

Hon. Hcmer Garrison, Jr., Dlreotor Texas Department of Public Safety Camp kbry Austin, Texas opinion go. V-1526

Re: Legality of furnleh~lag copiee of acoldent rePorte filed pursuant to the Texas Hotor Vehicle Safety-Reepoueiblllty Act to County and DlsDear Sir: trlctAttorneyshandling appaale under the Act.

you hete requested of this office an opinion concerning the authority of the Deprteent of Ppbllu Safety to dlaclose Infomnationcontained In the aocident report8 vhlch drivers are required to Bubnlt under Seotion 4 ofArtlole 67.01h, Vernon’s Civil Statutee, the Texas Motor Vehicle Safety-ReeponelbllltyAct. Your request reads, in part, aa follovs:

"

. . . This Department Is reoelvlng requests from the county and district attorneys for ooples of the accldeat reports to assist in their preparation of the caecs.

"Inview of the above requeet and la view of the provisions of Sections 4 and 11 of Art. 6701.h, v.c.s., Sections 39 and 42 of Art. 6687b, V.C.S., and Sections 44 and 49 of Art. 67016, V.C.Si, your oplnlon ia respectfullyrequested of the following: Can theDepartment of Public Safety lawfullyprovide coplee of aocident repOrta submitted In compliancerith Sec. 4 of Art. 67olh,V.C.S., to county and district attorneys for their use in repreaentlng the Department in appeals V.C.S.?" pursuant to Sec. 2 ofArt. 67Qlh,

If the driver of a motor vehicle is involved in
an accident of suffioientgravity, Section 4 of Article 6701h,V.C.S., requires thathe submit a report containinglion. Homer Garrison, Jr., Page 2 (v-1526)

Informationvhich 0111 enable the Department of Public Safety to determinewhether he has compliedwith the requirements of the Safety ResponslbllltpAct. It IS further specified that any accident re suant to the requirements of Section 4 r rt submittedpur**of** Article 6701d, V.C.S., the Uniform Traffic Code, shallbe deemed sufflclent If It oontalna the necessary Information concerning the fiuanclal responalbllityof the driver.

Section 44 ofArticle 6701d reads as follows:

"Sec.44. (a) The driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to
or death of any person or total property damage to an apparent extent of Twenty-five'($25.00) Dollars or more shall,within tventy-four (24) hours after such accident, forward a written report of such acaident to the department.
"(b) The departmentmay require any driver of a vehicle Involved in an accident of which report must be made as provided in this Section to file supplementalreports whenever the original report Is insufficient In the opinion of the department and may require witnesses of accident8 to render reports to the department.
"(c) Every lav enforcement officer, who, In the regular course of duty, Investigatesa motor-vehicleaccident of which reportmust be made as required in this Section, either at the time of and at the scene of the accident or thereafterby interviewingparticipantsor wltnesses shall,within tventy-four (24)hours after completing such Investigation,forward a wf;ltten report of such accident to the department.

Section 39 ofArticle 6687b,V.C.S., the drivers' licensing law, contains substantially the same requirements. It also provides that "reportsrequiredby this Section shall be deemed privileged communications."

The accident reports thatArticles 6687b and 6701d require drivers to submit are for the confidentialuse of the Department only. They may not be used as evidence In any civil or crlmlnal trial, and the Departmentmay divulge the Informationcontained therein for only a few specific purposes.Hon. Homer oarriaon, Jr., Page 3 (v-1526)

Artlale 66&b, Sec. 42, provides:

'Allrequired accident report8 and supplemental reports ahall be without prejudice to the individual 80 reporting and shallbe for the aonfldentlaluse of the Departmeat except that the Departmentmay disclose the identityof a person involved In an acoldent when 8uoh Identity Is not otherwise known or when euoh'pbrsondenies his presence at such acoldent. Blosuch report ahall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, ariaing out of such acoldent, except that the Department ehell furnishupon request of any person who has, or olalms to have, made such
a report **or** upon demand of any oourt, a certlfloate ehowlng that a specifiedreport has
or **has** not been receivedby the Department, solely to prove a compliance or failure to comply with the requirement that suoh report be made to the Department."

Article 6701d, Sec. 47, statem:

"Allaooldeat report8made by pereons Involved in accidents,by garages, or peaoe officers shallbe without prejudice to the lndlvidual 80 reporting and ahall be for the confidentialuse of the department or other State agencies having use for the reoords for aooident preventionpurposes,except that the department may disclose the identityof a person involved in an accident when such identity is not otherwise known or when such persondenies his preaence at such acoident."

The manifest reason for these requirements of searecy Is to Insure the aonstitutlonalvalidity of the provielons that require drivers to submit reports of the accidents in vhleh they were involved. Without these restrictions, the requirement of such a report from a driver might well be tantamount to compellinghim to give evldence against himself, thus in violation of the famlllar conetltutlonaleafeguardsagainst compulsory aelf lncrtilnatlon. Tex. Conat.Art. I, Sec. 10. Thus it **ha8** been held by thle office that the Department of Public Safety may not disclose the Informationcontained in drlver8' accident report8 to district and county attorneys. nowever, it wa8 also stated in that opinion that the Department may dlscloae to local proeecutorsany other informationHon. HomerGarrison, Jr., Page 4 (v-1526)

obtained from third persona or during the aourBe of it8
own lnvestigatlons. Att'y. Gsn. Op. O-4402 (1942). The Informationfurnishedby the driver himself may only be uSed to Identifya person involved in an acaldent when hi8 Identity la not otherviseknown or Ifhe denies his presence at the aoaldent. Art. 6687b, Sec. 42, V.C.S.; Art. 6701d, Sec. 47,V.C.S.

The aooldent reports submittedby drivers are primarilyused as a source of informationfrom which the Department of Public Safety may make Intelligentatatlstloal atudiea of the cau8e and prevention of accidents. The Department 18 required to tabulate and analy8e the data contained in theae reports and publish Its ovn perl**odlc** trafflo surveys for the use of various **state** and local **las** enforaement agencies. Art. 6687b, Seo. 40, 43, V.C.S.; Art. 6701d, Sec. 48, V.C'.S.

Section 4 ofArticle 6701.h, V.C.S., the Texas Motor Vehicle Safety-ResponsibilityAct, providea:

"Theoperator of every motor vehicle vhlch la In any manner Involved in an accident within this State, Inwhich any person Is killed or lnjuredor inwhioh damage to the property of **any** one (1)person, Includinghlmself, In exce88 of One Hundred Dollars ($100) Is SuStained, Shall within ten (10)days after auoh aaoldent report thematter inwriting to the Department. Such report, the form of which shallbe prescribedby theDepartment, Shall contain Informationto enable the Department to determinewhether the requirements for the deposit of securityunder Section 5 are Inapplicableby reason of the existence of Insuranceor other exception8 BpeCified In this Act. Any written report of accident in accordance vlth Article 6701d, Section 44, Texas Revised Statutes, If actuallymade to the Department,ehall be sufficientprovided it also contains the lnformatlou required herein. The Departmentmay rely upon the accuracy of the Informationunless and until it has reason to believe that the lnformatlon is erroneous. If Buoh operatorbe physically incapableof making such report, the ovner of the motor vehicle Involved In such accident shall, within ten (10)days after learning of the acoldent, make such report. The operator or the owner ahall furnish suah additional relevant Informationas the Department shall require.". .

Hon. Homer Garrison, Jr., Page 5,(~-1526)

It 18 apparent that'the above quoted rarely reiterates the requirements~of, Artloles 6r ovlBlon

87~ and 67016 with referenoe to the accident report8 which muet be submittedby drivers. Neither this nor any other provlslon of the Safety ResponsibilityAct removes any of the reetrlctlons previouslyplaced upon the Department's use of these reports. Section 11 of theAct prohibits thelr use in evldence in any tlvll trial. However, Article 670Ih makes the additional requirement that the driver submitproof of his financial IWBpOnBibllit~, and this informationmay be submitted **aa** a part of the acoldent report required by the older etatutes.

The report requiredby Section 4 of the Safety ReeponsibllityAot le more than a mere oentrlbutlon to the etatlstloal files of the Department of Public Safety. It 18 the only souroe of informationconcerning the financial re8ponBlbllltyof the driver. Regardlng~the authority of the Department to dlsolose the contents of the accident report required **by** Section 4 of the Safety ReBponslbllltyAct, this office recentlymade the following statement InAttorney General's OpinionV-1440 (1952):

'Weare unable to find anything in this aot whloh vould authorlse the Department to furnish any more Informationcontained in the acoident report than you are authoriced to reveal from the accident reports requiredby Articles 6687b and 67Old,V.C.S. However, the Department Is authorised to advlee the person requesting the Informationof the action taken by the Department, the type and amount of security filed, and any othermatter In Its pOBsessionby reason of a perstnls compliancewith the provisions of this act.

In other words, the driver's accident report requiredby Articles 6687l.1 and 670Id covers the nature and causes of the accident Itself,and Itmay not be released to local prosecutors. But the financialreBpon8ibllltyreport required by Article 670Ih 18 the only source of Informationconcerning the driver's compliancewith this law. The Act vouldbe lmpOBsiblt?to enforce If the Department could not release this informationto prosecutingattorneyshandling appeals taken from the Department~s actions. You are accordingly advised that the only informationwhich may be released to prosecutingattorneys Is that vhlch relates directly to the driver's compliancewith the Texas Motor Vehicle Safety-Responsibility Act. This Includes the action takenby the Department, theHOU. xxomsr GBrr~son, Jr., Page 6 (v-1526)

type srad amount of seourity filed, and any othermatters conoernlng the financial reBpOmBibility of the driver.

SUMMARY

The Department of Public Safety m8y not f+urnlsh

eoples of the aacldent report8 which drivers are required to submitby Seotlon 4 of Article 6701.11,V.C.S., the Texas Motor Vehicle Safety-Rcsponslbillty Aot. to prosecutingattorneysharu3ling appeals taken under theAct. Itmay, however, release lnformatlonconoexnlng the flnanolalresponsibility of the driver and othermatters relating to the driver'6 oompllanoe vlth the Safety-ResponsibilityAct.

APPROVBD:

Ullllam s. LotIt State Affairs Dlvielon

E. Jacobson Reviewing Aeeistaat Your8 very truly,

PRICEDAHIEL Attorney General

By C&X. 6d ,\- -

CharlesD. Mathews First Assistant CalvinB. Garuood, Jr. Assistant

CBO/rt