After a Crash in Idaho — Official Resources
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This is general information, not legal advice.
Idaho requires immediate notice to law enforcement when a crash causes injury, death, or apparent property damage of $1,500 or more — the duty sits in Idaho Code §49-1305, though a great many guides misattribute it to §49-1301, which actually covers stopping and remaining at the scene. Leaving the scene carries a mandatory one-year license revocation on conviction (§49-1301(4)). Crash reports cost $7.00 plus transaction fees through the Idaho Transportation Department — and unusually, collision records are public information in Idaho, so anyone can buy one, not just the people involved. Expect a few weeks before a new report appears online, and note that a purchased report can only be downloaded for 7 days. Free help: the Idaho State Bar Lawyer Referral Service, where personal injury referrals are free and the initial half-hour consultation is free — (208) 334-4500.
Idaho is one of the few states where your crash report is a straightforwardly public document — anyone can buy it for seven dollars, which is convenient for you and equally convenient for everyone who wants to sell you something. It is also one of the few where a crash victim can get a lawyer’s half hour for nothing at all: Idaho’s bar waives both the referral fee and the consultation fee for personal injury. Both are below, along with two statutory provisions almost nobody mentions. The first-steps checklist covers saving your dashcam clip before the camera loops.
Report the crash
A driver must immediately report a crash involving injury, death, or property damage to any one person exceeding $1,500 — to the local police department if it happened inside a city, otherwise to the county sheriff or the nearest office of the Idaho State Police. The section is §49-1305, Immediate Notice of Accidents; §49-1306 covers the written report that follows.
A citation note worth having: most published guidance attributes the $1,500 duty to §49-1301. That section is titled Accidents Involving Damage to Vehicle and requires you to stop at the scene — on public or private property open to the public — and remain there until you have met your obligations. Both matter; they are just different duties.
And §49-1301(4) has teeth. The department shall revoke for one year the driver’s license, privileges, permit to drive, or nonresident operating privilege of anyone convicted of violating that stop-and-remain requirement. Not may — shall. It is also unlawful under §49-1308 to file an accident report knowing it to be false.
If police do not respond to a minor crash, Idaho allows you to self-report using an accident report form available through the Idaho Transportation Department — though an officer’s report generally carries more weight.
Get the crash report
Order a PDF through the Idaho Transportation Department for $7.00 plus a transaction fee via Idaho.gov. ITD holds reports filed by any Idaho law enforcement agency, so you do not need to know whether it was city police, the county sheriff, or the Idaho State Police — though if it was an Ada County or Boise crash and you need it fast, that agency may have it before the state does.
Two practical points. It takes a few weeks for a new report to become available online, and considerably longer for some agencies. And a purchased report may only be downloaded for 7 days — save the PDF the moment you buy it rather than relying on the link later.
Idaho crash reports are public information under Idaho Code 49-202, which allows a charge for copies. That means, unlike most states, the ability to buy a report is not limited to the people involved and their insurers. Useful when you need a report someone else is sitting on — and worth knowing as the reason you may get unsolicited mail.
Garages, and road hazards
Garages must report. Under §49-1310, a garage that receives a motor vehicle showing evidence of a crash must report it — to the local police if the garage is in a city, otherwise to the county sheriff or nearest state police office — within 48 hours, giving the engine number, registration number, and the owner’s name and address. Quietly repairing crash damage is not a strategy in Idaho.
And if the road caused it. Section 49-1315 sets out a process for crashes caused by a physical traffic hazard: where an investigation or judicial action stemming from a crash that killed or injured someone, or caused property damage of an apparent extent of $500 or more, results in a finding that a physical traffic hazard caused or contributed to it, the statute provides for that hazard to be reported and investigated. If a missing sign, an obstructed sightline, or a road defect was genuinely part of what happened to you, that is a mechanism worth raising with a lawyer.
Hit-and-run
Call police immediately. In Idaho, leaving the scene is the offense that triggers the mandatory one-year license revocation described above, so this is a serious matter for the other driver and troopers treat it accordingly.
Save your clip and note the time and location while they’re exact. On a two-lane through the Camas Prairie or a stretch of US-93 there may be no second witness for miles, and the plate your camera caught is the entire lead. Two Idaho-specific angles: the garage-reporting rule above means a damaged vehicle taken in for repair should generate a report, and because Idaho crash records are public, once a report exists you can obtain it yourself without proving you were involved. Uninsured-motorist coverage on your own policy is the usual route to payment when nobody is identified — check its hit-and-run notice window.
Find a lawyer
This is unusually good, and specifically good for crash victims. The Idaho State Bar Lawyer Referral Service normally charges $35 for a referral — but that fee is waived for personal injury, medical malpractice, and workers’ compensation cases. And LRS attorneys have agreed to provide referral clients an initial half-hour consultation at no fee. For a car crash claim, both halves are free.
Request by phone or online, or call the Idaho State Bar at (208) 334-4500 and ask to be connected to the Lawyer Referral Service. When you call, a trained staff member takes you through a confidential intake to work out what kind of attorney you need.
Every LRS attorney is a member in good standing with no pending public disciplinary complaints and carries professional liability insurance — the Bar does not refer to lawyers who refuse to carry it. Note that not all Idaho attorneys participate, so the LRS list is a subset rather than the whole bar.
Free legal help
Idaho Legal Aid Services and the Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program use a statewide network of attorneys to provide free civil legal assistance — advice and consultation, brief services, and representation in certain cases — to Idahoans living in poverty.
Be realistic about fit. Their published priorities run to domestic violence and sexual assault, abused and neglected children, preserving housing, vulnerable seniors, and discrimination — an injury claim against another driver is generally not what they take. For the crash claim itself, the free personal-injury referral above is the better route; use legal aid for the housing, benefits, or debt problems a serious crash can set off.
Insurance problems
The Idaho Department of Insurance regulates insurers in the state and takes consumer complaints about how claims are handled. You can reach its current complaint channels through the national directory of state insurance departments.
Uninsured when it happened? The §49-1305 notice duty does not depend on coverage, and §49-1302 separately requires you to exhibit proof of liability insurance at the scene to the other driver — so the gap surfaces there rather than through any filing choice you make. Report the crash, then take the free consultation; thirty minutes with an attorney will tell you where an uninsured driver actually stands in Idaho, which is a question worth an accurate answer.
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Dashwatcher is a dashcam company, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice or a substitute for a licensed attorney. Reporting rules, deadlines, and programs differ by state and change over time; verify everything with the official source before you rely on it. Links go to government agencies, bar associations, and nonprofits. Dashwatcher receives no payment from any organization listed.
From the team at Dashwatcher.
Last verified: August 4, 2026