An Act to amend and reenact § 46.2-380 of the Code of Virginia, relating to vehicle crash reports; open to inspection by certain persons; towing and recovery operators.
HB788 amends Virginia law governing access to motor vehicle crash reports and related photographs. The bill keeps crash reports made under specified Code sections on file with the Department for at least 36 months and confirms that those reports remain open to inspection by people involved in the crash, their attorneys, vehicle or property owners involved, certain insurance carriers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and personal representatives of injured or deceased persons. It also adds a new access category for towing and recovery operators that responded to a public safety towing request for a vehicle involved in the crash, but only for the limited purpose of obtaining registered owner and insurance information.
The bill further provides that a towing and recovery operator receiving such a report may not disseminate it to any other party. It also preserves the existing requirement that crash photographs relating to nonfatal crashes be retained for at least 36 months. The Commissioner may continue to charge a reasonable fee for copies and establish payment procedures. Overall, the measure is a targeted records-access bill focused on post-crash information sharing and retention rather than on crash investigation or liability standards.
HB788 narrows and clarifies access to crash reports under § 46.2-380 of the Code of Virginia by expressly authorizing towing and recovery operators involved in public safety towing to inspect certain crash reports for limited informational purposes. It does not change who must file crash reports, but it expands the list of persons entitled to inspect reports and reinforces the 36-month retention period for both reports and crash photographs. The practical effect is to facilitate vehicle recovery and insurance identification while imposing a nondissemination restriction on towing operators.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or opposition in the supplied materials. Based on the enacted text, the bill appears to have been treated as a narrow administrative and access-related measure, with a likely neutral to favorable reception because it addresses a practical need for towing and recovery operators without broadly altering crash-report confidentiality rules.
The main policy issue reflected in the text is the balance between broader access to crash reports and privacy or confidentiality concerns. Supporters would likely favor the bill because it helps towing and recovery operators quickly obtain owner and insurance information after a public safety tow, which can speed vehicle disposition and claims handling. Any concern would likely center on the new access granted to non-party operators, but the bill addresses that by limiting use to owner and insurance information and prohibiting further dissemination.