If someone is in a car accident in Missouri where a person is hurt or killed, or where property damage is more than $500, the driver or car owner has to send a written report to the state director within 30 days. This also applies if the driver has no car insurance. If other people were involved in the accident, the director tells them a report was filed, and they have 10 days to send in their own information. If the driver cannot file because of injuries, the owner files instead, and a doctor's note is needed to explain the delay.
303.040. All motor vehicle accidents to be reported — to notify all other parties, contents — parties to furnish — requirements. — 1. The or owner of every motor vehicle which is involved in an accident within this state, including a nonresident operator or owner of a motor vehicle, or the owner of a legally or illegally parked car which is in any manner involved in an accident within this state, with an , upon the streets or highways thereof, or on any publicly or privately owned parking lot or parking facility generally open for use by the public, in which any person is killed or injured or in which damage to property of any one person, including himself, in excess of five hundred dollars is , and the owner or operator of every motor vehicle which is involved in an accident within this state if such owner or operator does not carry motor vehicle shall, within thirty days after such accident, report the matter in writing to the director. Such report, the form of which shall be prescribed by the director, shall provide the operator with notice of the following:
(1) That it is the responsibility of the operator, not the state, to bring an on the of the operator arising out of the accident;
(2) That the ed shall only be applied to the payment of a against the person or persons on whose behalf the deposit was made;
(3) That the shall the deposit to the after the expiration of one year from the date of the accident, or as otherwise provided in section 303.060. In addition, the report shall contain such information as enable the director to determine whether the requirements for the under section 303.030 are inapplicable by reason of the existence of insurance or other specified in this chapter, or whether the required has been met by the owner or operator of the motor vehicle as required by section 303.025. The director may rely upon the accuracy of such information unless and until he has reason to believe that the information is erroneous. If such operator be physically incapable of making such report, the owner of the motor vehicle involved in such accident shall, within thirty days after learning of the accident, make such report. If the operator is also the owner and is incapable of such report as is required by this section, then the report will be filed as soon as the operator-owner is so capable. If the report is late by reason of incapability, a doctor's must accompany the report certifying same. The operator or the owner shall furnish such additional relevant information as the director shall require.
2. If any involved in an accident files a report under this section, the director shall notify, within ten days after receipt of the report, all other parties involved in the accident as specified in the report that a report has been filed and such other parties shall then furnish, within ten days, the director with such information as the director may request.
3. If any party involved in an accident in this state is a nonresident uninsured motorist, the nonresident operator or owner of the motor vehicle and any responding to such accident shall report the involvement of an uninsured nonresident motorist in an accident occurring in this state to the director, and any resident operator or owner of a motor vehicle involved in an accident with an uninsured nonresident motorist may report such accident to the director in accordance with the of subsections 1 and 2 of this section.
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Source & history notes
(L. 1953 p. 569, A.L. 1976 H.B. 1392, A.L. 1979 H.B. 167, A.L. 1986 S.B. 424, A.L. 2010 S.B. 583)
Related Missouri laws
Failure to maintain financial responsibility
RSMo 303.041
Effective date for sections 303.025 and 303.041
RSMo 303.039
Suspension, effective when
RSMo 303.042
Proof of financial responsibility required for reregistration
RSMo 303.044
Records, where kept
RSMo 303.045
Security, form and amount
RSMo 303.050
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.