A deputy’s workflow for completing a Florida Traffic Crash Report.
Reviewed October 7, 2026. Reporting law verified against the 2026 Florida Statutes. Coding concepts use the official FLHSMV manual with revision history through February 2019 and its 2019 training materials. Use current agency software, FLHSMV validation instructions, and agency policy for field codes and submission procedures.
Use a Long Form for death, injury, or any indication of pain/discomfort; a violation of §316.061(1) or §316.193; a vehicle made inoperable enough to require a wrecker to remove it; OR involvement of a commercial motor vehicle. No visible injury is needed when someone complains of pain. A voluntary tow of an otherwise operable vehicle does not by itself establish the inoperability trigger.
When a Long Form is not required, §316.066(1)(c) calls for a short-form report or driver exchange-of-information form. Follow agency requirements for investigating and documenting these crashes. Do not use an old dollar-damage threshold as the current Long Form test.
Both law-enforcement report forms require crash date, time and location; vehicle descriptions; involved parties’ names and addresses, including all drivers/passengers and their vehicle associations; witness names and addresses; the investigating officer’s name, badge number and agency; and the parties’ insurance companies. The exchange-form alternative also identifies all drivers/passengers and their vehicles. Complete the applicable form and agency-required fields; do not assume a short form excuses documenting occupants or witnesses.
The officer’s Long Form must be submitted within 10 days after the investigation is completed. The driver’s required self-report under §316.066(1)(e) is due within 10 days after the crash when property damage does not require a law-enforcement report. These are separate duties. Law-enforcement Long Forms and short forms must be submitted to FLHSMV; meet any earlier agency deadlines.
The manual assigns vehicles sequential numbers beginning with 1. FLHSMV’s 2019 training recommends entering the violating vehicle as Vehicle 1. That is a best practice, not a statutory rule that the first numbered vehicle is automatically at fault. Support any contributing action or citation with the investigation. When responsibility remains unresolved, follow agency numbering procedures and document the uncertainty rather than forcing a conclusion.
Use the same Vehicle 1, Vehicle 2, and later vehicle numbers in the vehicle entries, person associations, narrative, diagram, and updates. Vehicle number is not the order of impacts. Account for involved parked vehicles and unknown hit-and-run vehicles using the current reporting instructions; do not fabricate identifiers.
Give each person a unique sequential person number. Associate every driver and passenger with the correct vehicle and record the person type and seat position. A driver of Vehicle 2 is not automatically Person 2. Enter pedestrians and pedalcyclists as the appropriate non-motorist person type; do not turn a pedestrian into a motor vehicle entry.
Identify the earliest event that produces injury or property damage in the crash. It is not necessarily the first driving error, roadway departure, largest impact, or final resting position. Locate it on the roadway, shoulder, median, roadside, or other applicable location where that event occurred.
For each motor vehicle, choose the event associated with the most severe injury; if there was no injury, choose the event with the greatest property damage involving that vehicle. It can differ from the crash’s first harmful event and from another vehicle’s most harmful event. Do not assume the last impact was the most harmful.
Record that vehicle’s events in chronological order, including relevant non-collision events and collisions, in the four available sequence fields. In the cited manual, codes 40–46 are sequence-only entries; they are not first/most harmful event selections. For longer chains, use the manual’s Appendix F examples and current validation instructions, and explain the complete sequence in the narrative.
This describes the initial collision configuration only when the first harmful event involves two motor vehicles in transport. A later vehicle-to-vehicle collision does not change an earlier tree impact into a rear-end first harmful event. Select the applicable not-applicable option for other first harmful events using the current form.
A vehicle stopped at a signal or in a travel lane remains in transport under the manual. A legally parked vehicle in a parking space is treated differently. Working vehicles performing equipment work are also a separate status. Determine the actual status and location; do not choose parked solely because the vehicle was motionless.
Record direction of travel and pre-crash maneuver for the period before the crash. Keep damage areas, impact location, and final rest separate. Verify road names, intersection relationship, lane configuration, controls, lighting, weather, and surface conditions against observations and available evidence.
Document the basis of an estimated speed and distinguish it from a driver’s claimed speed. Use each field’s approved unknown or not-applicable option when justified; these codes are not interchangeable across fields. Explain Other when that field requires it. Do not guess to clear a validation error.
Check the reporting definition and required commercial-vehicle fields, including configuration, carrier information, and hazardous-material details where applicable. A company logo alone does not settle commercial motor vehicle classification. Use the current agency software and manual for the specific field requirements.
Verify names, addresses, driver/passenger roles, vehicle associations, seating, restraints, ejection, and EMS/transport information as applicable. Keep witnesses distinct from involved persons. Reconcile occupant counts with the narrative and diagram.
Document reported symptoms and observed injuries separately. The manual’s possible-injury category covers reported or claimed injury without visible evidence. Do not record no injury merely because the person declined transport or you could not see a wound. Apply the current severity definitions to the information available.
A report injury code does not independently prove a statute’s serious-bodily-injury element. Obtain the evidence needed for any criminal charge separately. Under the manual, a crash-related death within 30 days requires updating the fatal-injury classification; follow the supplement process and document the verified date and source.
The manual allows up to four driver actions based on the investigating officer’s judgment; they need not match the violations entered. Explain the factual basis for contributing actions, including observations, damage, physical evidence, and attributed statements. Issuing a citation is not a substitute for explaining how the crash happened.
Document conflicting accounts and the evidence that resolves them—or explain that they remain unresolved. Use the applicable unknown selection when warranted; do not use no contributing action merely because you have not established what occurred. Confirm the actual citation, statute, and cited person before recording a violation.
Describe each vehicle’s location, direction, lane, and maneuver before the crash; the harmful events and their order; and post-impact movement and final rest. Use assigned vehicle/person numbers consistently. Include relevant roadway/control conditions and identify the basis for conclusions. Keep the agency report number and HSMV report number consistent on every page.
Separate what you observed from what a driver or witness reported and what you concluded. Explain evidence such as damage compatibility, debris, tire marks, video, or measurements. Record relevant discrepancies, injuries/complaints, EMS response, citations, towing, and pending follow-up. Avoid unsupported phrases such as failed to maintain control without the underlying facts.
Vehicle 2 was stopped eastbound in the through lane at a red signal. Vehicle 1 was traveling eastbound behind Vehicle 2. Driver 1 stated that he did not stop before contact. I observed damage to Vehicle 1’s front and Vehicle 2’s rear, with debris near the reported contact location. Vehicle 1’s front struck Vehicle 2’s rear. Both vehicles came to rest in the eastbound lane. Driver 2 reported neck pain; EMS evaluated Driver 2. No second impact was identified. The first harmful event was collision with a motor vehicle in transport; manner of collision was front-to-rear. [Complete the actual identities, contributing-action basis, disposition, citation and tow information.] This is a teaching example, not an official form transcription or a substitute for the full report.
Follow agency diagram procedures. Show roadway names, lane widths and markings, relevant controls, and a north arrow oriented up or right as the manual instructs. Label vehicles and relevant non-motorists with the same numbers used in the report.
Depict pre-impact paths, contact locations, post-impact paths, and final rest as supported by evidence. Identify relevant fixed objects and measurements. Distinguish measured information from a schematic drawing; do not infer an exact speed or distance from an unscaled sketch. Compare the diagram with the narrative and event fields before submission.
Assume the roadway departure causes no injury/damage, the curb strike damages a wheel, and the later tree impact causes the vehicle’s most severe injury. First harmful event: curb. This vehicle’s most harmful event: tree. Sequence: roadway departure, curb, tree. If the curb contact causes no injury or damage, the tree becomes the first harmful event. Manner of collision is not a two-motor-vehicle collision in either version.
Assume the first damaging contact is Vehicle 1 striking the rear of stopped Vehicle 2, then Vehicle 2 strikes Vehicle 3. First harmful event: motor vehicle in transport; manner: front-to-rear. Vehicle 1’s sequence includes its contact with Vehicle 2. Vehicle 2’s sequence includes the rear impact and subsequent contact with Vehicle 3. Vehicle 3’s sequence includes its contact with Vehicle 2. Select each vehicle’s most harmful event from the actual injury/damage evidence. Do not give every vehicle the same sequence automatically.
Assume a rollover first causes damage and a later tree strike causes the most severe injury. First harmful event: overturn/rollover. This vehicle’s most harmful event: tree. Sequence: rollover, tree, plus any supported preceding nonharmful events. A later tree strike does not erase the earlier damaging rollover.
An impact into a car legally parked in a parking space uses the parked-motor-vehicle event, with manner of collision not applicable to two vehicles in transport. An impact into a car stopped in a travel lane at a signal involves a vehicle in transport, so the applicable collision manner must be assessed. Stationary does not mean parked.
Confirm report type; date/time/location; report identifiers; vehicle/person counts and associations; witness and insurance information; first harmful event and its location; each vehicle’s most harmful event and sequence; injuries; driver actions and violations; and agreement between narrative and diagram. Resolve current eCrash validation errors without inventing facts, then complete agency review and verify successful submission.
Use the agency’s update/supplement process for verified new identities, injuries, fatalities, test results, or corrected facts. Preserve the original vehicle/person associations and report identifiers. Explain the correction and its source, and follow current follow-up deadlines and approval requirements.
Use approved agency systems for real crash information. This guide has no report-entry form. Section 316.066 restricts crash-report access for 60 days after filing, and access/use restrictions can continue afterward. Its subsection (4) also limits evidentiary use of reports and statements made for report completion, with exceptions. When a criminal investigation is implicated, follow agency and State Attorney guidance for the transition, questioning, self-incrimination safeguards, and separate evidence documentation; a routine report statement is not automatically usable criminal evidence.
Educational reference, not an official report form or a replacement for certified training, agency policy, or legal guidance. Examples are fictional; report conclusions and enforcement decisions require their own factual support.