STATES / NEW YORK / NEW YORK CITY
Find an NYPD collision report, understand when to use New York DMV, and explore safety information for the five boroughs. Keep the borough and investigating agency with your records: a New York City crash and a crash elsewhere in New York State follow different local request routes.
LOCAL ROAD SAFETY CONTEXT
Read NYC safety data by place and time
NYC’s Vision Zero View maps traffic injuries, fatalities, and street-safety work. Its underlying data is also available through the city’s Open Data resources. Select the relevant borough, location, and reporting period before comparing results.
Use these records to understand historical street patterns. They are not a live dispatch feed, a complete account of your collision, or proof that a specific driver caused a crash.
Start with NYPD for a recent collision report
NYPD’s Collision Report Retrieval Portal provides access to reports taken after September 30, 2016. The department says a report may take up to seven business days after the incident to appear. An unsuccessful early search does not establish that no report was filed.
NYPD also describes mail and in-person requests through the precinct where the collision occurred during the first 30 days after the report was filed. Use the department’s request form and current instructions rather than sending sensitive documents to a third-party website.
NYPD report instructions and online portal ↗
After the precinct retention period, use DMV
NYPD directs requests after 30 days from the collision report date to New York DMV. Our New York guide links to DMV’s ordering service and explains the separate motorist-report route. Ordering a police report is different from submitting a required motorist report.
If another agency investigated a bridge, tunnel, or other location, use the agency shown on your paperwork. Do not assume an NYPD search covers every agency operating in the city.
Current traffic sources: New York City
Use 511NY to review travel conditions in the NYC region. Select the relevant incident and closure layers, and distinguish agency information from any separately labeled crowdsourced events.
These links open external traffic services. An automated New York City feed is not connected to Accident Advisory. Check each source’s update time; a missing alert does not mean that a road is clear. Do not use traffic maps while driving.
Build a useful five-borough location record
- Write down the borough, street names, travel direction, and nearest intersection.
- For a bridge, tunnel, or expressway, identify the approach, direction, and nearest exit when known.
- Keep the precinct or agency name and collision number separate from your insurance claim number.
- If you were walking or cycling, retain your own location notes and photographs even if you have no vehicle registration to enter in a portal.
Prepare for the next step
Use the evidence guide to organize originals and the insurance call guide to track conversations. Statewide reporting and general lawsuit-period information belongs in the New York state guide.
Sources checked October 23, 2026. Procedures, fees, and availability may change. Educational information, not legal advice; no attorney review is represented. Call 911 for emergencies. Accident Advisory does not dispatch assistance.