After a Crash in Maine — Official Resources
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This is general information, not legal advice.
Maine treats failing to report as a crime, not a fine. Under 29-A M.R.S. §2251 a crash must be reported when it caused bodily injury, death, or property damage at the statutory threshold — to a State Police officer, the nearest State Police field office, the county sheriff’s office, or the local police department where it happened — and knowingly failing to make a required report within the time allowed is a Class E crime, punishable by up to six months of incarceration and a $1,000 fine. Reporting sources describe 48 hours as the outer deadline. Maine law also requires that every reported accident be promptly investigated. The good news is the fastest report system in the country: the Maine Crash Reporting Online Search & Ordering Service emails reports for $10, most within two hours of the order, and you are not charged if no match is found. Questions: Maine State Police Traffic Division, (207) 624-8944. Free help: Maine State Bar referral ($35 for 30 minutes), Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and Legal Services for Maine Elders at 1-800-750-5353.
Maine sits at both extremes. Its penalty for not reporting is the harshest on this site — a criminal charge carrying jail time, where most states threaten a license suspension. But getting your report back is the easiest anywhere: ten dollars, emailed, usually inside two hours, and free if the search comes up empty. Both are below, along with a disclosure provision worth knowing about, lawyer referrals, free legal help, and insurance complaints. The first-steps checklist covers saving your dashcam clip before the camera loops.
Report the crash
Report a crash involving bodily injury, death, or property damage at or above the reporting threshold to a State Police officer, the nearest State Police field office, the sheriff’s office or a deputy in the county, or the local police department or officer in the municipality where it happened. Do it as soon as you safely can; sources describe 48 hours as the outer limit, which would make it the tightest deadline of any state covered here.
Why speed matters more than usual in Maine. A person who is required to make an oral or written report and knowingly fails to do so within the time required commits a Class E crime — up to six months of incarceration and a $1,000 fine. Almost every other state on this site enforces its reporting rule administratively, through a license or registration suspension. Maine enforces it through the criminal code.
On the threshold: sources conflict. The Department of Public Safety treats a $1,000 combined-damage crash as “reportable” for database purposes, and that figure is widely cited for §2251; a more recent account puts it at $2,000. We could not confirm the current statutory figure verbatim, so the safe reading is the lower one — if damage might reach $1,000, or anyone is hurt, report it. There is no penalty for reporting a crash that turned out to be below the line, and there is a criminal one for guessing wrong the other way.
What the law requires of the officer
Two provisions of §2251 work in your favor. First, every reported accident must be promptly investigated — that is a statutory obligation on law enforcement, not a discretionary call. If the crash resulted in serious bodily injury or death, the investigation must be conducted by an officer meeting the training standards of a full-time law enforcement officer. For a fatal crash involving a bus or truck over 10,000 pounds, the investigating officer must request a certified accident reconstructionist and the State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit.
Second, there is a disclosure route most people never hear about. Notwithstanding the database confidentiality rules, the Chief of the State Police may disclose the date, time and location of the accident and the names and addresses of operators, owners, injured persons, witnesses, and the investigating officer — and on written request may furnish a photocopy of the investigating officer’s report at the requester’s expense. If a witness gave a statement at the scene and you never got their contact information, that is the path.
Officers transmit their report to the Chief of the State Police within 5 days of being notified of the crash.
Get the crash report
The Maine Crash Reporting Online Search & Ordering Service is the fastest system on this site by a wide margin. Search the State Police crash database by name, date of birth, crash location, crash date, or investigating agency. Each report costs $10.00, paid by Mastercard, Visa, Discover, or an InforME subscription, and arrives by email — most within two hours of the order.
Two details that save money and time. If no matches are found for your search, you are not charged. And you will need the name and date of birth of someone listed on the report to search successfully.
Only reportable crashes are in the database. If yours fell below the threshold, ask the local police department that responded for a copy instead. Crashes before 2003 may not be in the system and need a manual search through the State Police Traffic Division — (207) 624-8944 or mcrs_response@maine.gov.
Hit-and-run
Call police immediately — and note that in Maine your own reporting duty is criminal, so a fled driver does not relieve you of it. If anyone was hurt or damage crosses the threshold, report it inside the window regardless of whether the other car is ever found.
Save your clip and note the time and location while they’re exact. On Route 1 north of Ellsworth or a back road in Aroostook County there may be no second witness for miles, and a plate that resolves on playback is the whole investigation. Once a report exists, remember the disclosure provision above — the Chief of the State Police may release the names and addresses of witnesses, which matters when you were too shaken at the scene to collect them. Uninsured-motorist coverage on your own policy is the usual route to payment when nobody is identified; check its hit-and-run notice window, which is likely shorter than 48 hours feels.
Find a lawyer
Per the Maine Judicial Branch and the Attorney General’s office, the Maine State Bar Association sponsors the Lawyer Referral Service: a $35 referral fee gets you a referral and up to 30 minutes with a qualified local lawyer to explore whether you have a case worth pursuing. After that you hire at whatever rate you and the lawyer agree on.
Two practical notes. Referrals are accepted only through the website — there is no phone referral line, so start at mainebar.org and use the online request form; questions go to LRS@mainebar.org. And the service is approved by the American Bar Association, based on the criteria it requires of participating attorneys and the standards of service it meets — a real quality signal.
Free legal help
Maine has seven core nonprofit civil legal aid providers, listed by the Judicial Branch and the Maine Justice Foundation. The main one is Pine Tree Legal Assistance, with attorneys in six offices providing free civil legal service to low-income Mainers — Augusta 207-622-4731, Bangor 207-942-8241, Lewiston 207-784-1558, Machias 207-255-8656, Portland 207-774-8211, and Presque Isle 207-764-4349.
Pine Tree also runs an Indigenous Peoples Unit serving members of the Wabanaki Nations and other indigenous communities in Maine at 1-877-213-5630.
Two more. Legal Services for Maine Elders handles cases at no charge for people over 60 — Statewide Legal Helpline 1-800-750-5353, with offices in Augusta, Bangor, Lewiston, Presque Isle, and Scarborough. And the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project provides free civil legal assistance to low-income Mainers and explicitly covers personal injury matters — which most volunteer programs do not.
Insurance problems
The Maine Bureau of Insurance regulates insurers in the state and handles 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 §2251 reporting duty does not depend on coverage, and in Maine that duty is criminal — which makes filing on time considerably more important than in states where the penalty is administrative. Report it, then contact the Pine Tree office nearest you about everything that follows.
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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