Alabama Crash Reports: ALEA Copies and Accident Rules
Who has your crash report, what drivers must report, insurance rules and traffic deaths in Alabama.
With so many major highways connecting cities and smaller communities, traffic moves through both busy urban areas and long stretches of rural roads. Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) troopers patrol about 69,500 miles of rural roads, while local police handle traffic and crashes within city limits. If you have been in a wreck, where it happened matters because that determines which agency handled the scene and where you will need to request a copy of your crash report.
Who Has Your Alabama Crash Report
An Alabama crash report comes from the agency that investigated the crash. ALEA’s Highway Patrol Division investigates crashes on the state’s rural roads and highways, through 17 Highway Patrol offices from Huntsville and Decatur down to Dothan and Mobile.
City police departments release the reports their own officers write inside city limits. Huntsville’s police records page sends people with a trooper-worked crash to a separate state trooper contact.
ALEA crash reports are sold through ALEA’s driver license services. A copy costs $15, and you can buy it online or at any ALEA Driver License Office; the online link goes to ALEA’s driver license site, alabamadl.alea.gov.
Alabama Code section 32-10-7 decides who can buy one: the drivers; passengers and pedestrians involved; the parent or guardian of an involved minor; the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate; insurers; vehicle owners and lienholders, and an attorney with the involved person’s signed consent.
Anyone with a subpoena or court order can get one too. News outlets get only names and ages for the first 30 days, then the report with personal details removed.
Don’t want to track down the right agency or fill out the request yourself? We can get a copy of your report for you at no cost.
Police Reports From Alabama Cities
Alabama city departments release their own crash reports, and four of the seven below sell them online through CrashDocs or LexisNexis. Request routes for the departments we confirmed:
| Department | How to request | Fee |
| Birmingham Police | City online payment portal, or Records Division, 1710 1st Ave. N., weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | $10; $25 for accident reports from before January 2015 |
| Huntsville Police | CrashDocs or LexisNexis online, or Records Division at 815 Wheeler Ave. NW with ID and the accident number. May take 72 hs | $10 in person; online fee set by the vendor |
| Montgomery Police | Records Bureau, 320 N. Ripley St., weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or BuyCrash online | Set at request |
| Mobile Police | Online, in person, or by mail to MPD Records, 2460 Government Blvd., Mobile 36606, with the case number or exact location | $15 |
| Tuscaloosa Police | Can be acquired through LexisNexis or directly from the Tuscaloosa Police Department | $15 from LexisNexis; $10 charge if bought from the Tuscaloosa Police Department |
| Mountain Brook Police | CrashDocs online | Set at request |
| Muscle Shoals Police | 1000 E. Avalon Ave., by mail to P.O. Box 2624, or online by card; ready within five working days | $8 in person or by mail; $15 online |
Start with the department that responded to your crash. Birmingham’s records page cites the same state law, Alabama Code section 32-10-7, that limits who may buy an ALEA report.
What Alabama Drivers Must Report
Under Alabama Code section 32-10-5, the driver in any crash that injures or kills someone must notify police immediately, by the quickest means available: the city police department inside a city, or the county sheriff or the state Highway Patrol outside one. A crash with property damage only does not trigger this notice.
A second law, section 32-7-5, requires a written report to the Director of Public Safety within 30 days when a crash causes injury, death, or more than $250 in damage to any one person’s property, including the driver’s own. The report goes on a form the director prescribes.
If the driver is physically unable to file it, the vehicle owner must report within 10 days of learning about the crash.
If an uninsured driver caused the crash and you have not been paid for your losses, ALEA’s SR-31 Accident Claim Form applies when the crash caused death, injury or more than $500 in damage to any one owner. Mail it to ALEA’s Safety Responsibility Unit, P.O. Box 1471, Montgomery, AL 36102-1471.
Alabama Insurance Rules After a Crash
Every vehicle driven or registered in Alabama must carry liability coverage of at least $25,000 for injury or death to one person, $50,000 for two or more people and $25,000 for property damage in each crash (Alabama Code section 32-7-6 and 32-7A-4). A bond or cash deposit meeting the same amounts also satisfies the law.
Uninsured motorist coverage comes with every Alabama policy unless you reject it, and once rejected, an insurer does not have to add it back at renewal unless you ask in writing (Alabama Code section 32-7-23). It also pays when the other driver has insurance but their injury limits fall short of what they owe you.
Alabama follows contributory negligence: someone found even partly at fault for a crash generally cannot recover damages from the other driver. A federal appeals court, citing Alabama Supreme Court rulings, called it an absolute bar to recovery, and in 1993 the Alabama Supreme Court declined to replace it with comparative negligence.
Alabama Traffic Deaths by the Numbers
| Measure | Figure | Year | Source |
| People killed in traffic crashes | 967, down from 975 in 2023 | 2024 | Alabama Crash Facts (University of Alabama CAPS, from ALEA data) |
| People injured in crashes | 36,601 | 2024 | Alabama Crash Facts |
| Deaths involving suspected alcohol or drug impairment | 187 | 2024 | Alabama Crash Facts |
| People killed in traffic crashes (early estimate) | 851 | 2025 | NHTSA |
| Pedestrians killed | 128 | 2024 | NHTSA |
| Motorcyclists killed | 127 | 2024 | NHTSA |
The 2025 row is NHTSA’s early estimate, published in April 2026, and may change when final counts are released. ALDOT says nearly 60% of the people killed in 2024 were not wearing seatbelts, and most deaths happened on rural roads.
Alabama Crash Guides by City and County
At Local Accident Reports, we cover crashes across the country. That means going county by county, and then city by city, focusing on car crashes, motorcycle wrecks, commercial and residential fires, and every other kind of accident happening in every corner of the nation.
Alabama is no exception. With 67 counties and 174 cities, there are crashes to report every single day, and that’s what we do. But we don’t stop there. We don’t just want to tell drivers and commuters when and where a crash happened. We also want to help people get to know the cities they drive in, including the most important roads and the most dangerous intersections, so they have a clear picture of what to expect behind the wheel.
Here you’ll find the latest accidents across Alabama’s counties and communities, along with guides to some of the state’s most important cities.
County accident news: Madison County · Jefferson County · Mobile County · Houston County · Morgan County · Montgomery County · Lee County · Baldwin County
Compare nearby states: Southeast crash reports and car accident laws by state · No-fault states and insurance minimums in all 50 states
Interstate stretches and intersections with high crash counts in older data, mostly 2017 to 2022, are on our Alabama dangerous intersections page.
Help After a Crash
- Local Accident Reports. We can put you in touch with local help after a crash, from doctors and body shops to injury attorneys. Contact our team.
- Alabama Crime Victims’ Compensation Commission Helps crime victims and their families with medical bills, counseling, lost wages, funeral costs and rehabilitation that insurance does not pay, up to $15,000. File within one year, and the crime must have been reported to police within 72 hours unless there is good cause. Call 1-800-541-9388 to ask whether a crash case qualifies.
- Trauma centers. Alabama’s Level I trauma centers are Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, Children’s Hospital of Alabama and University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital in Birmingham, Huntsville Hospital, and USA Health University Hospital in Mobile, per the Department of Public Health’s trauma center list.
Alabama Crash Questions
How do I get an Alabama crash report from ALEA?
Buy it from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency online at alabamadl.alea.gov or in person at any ALEA Driver License Office. A copy costs $15. State law lets the people involved, a minor’s parent or guardian, an estate’s personal representative, insurers, vehicle owners, lienholders and attorneys with signed consent buy one. For a city police report, contact that city’s department.
Do Alabama drivers have to file their own accident report?
Yes, in some crashes. Ala. Code 32-7-5 requires a written report to the Director of Public Safety within 30 days when a crash causes injury, death or more than $250 in damage to one person’s property. Separately, a driver must call police right away after any crash that injures or kills someone.
Is Alabama a no-fault state?
Alabama law requires every vehicle to carry liability insurance of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries, plus $25,000 for property damage. Alabama courts treat contributory negligence as an absolute bar to recovery, so a person found even partly at fault for a crash generally recovers nothing from the other driver.
How long do I have to file a car accident claim in Alabama?
Two years for injury claims under Ala. Code 6-2-38(l), and two years from the date of death for a wrongful death action, which the personal representative brings under Ala. Code 6-5-410(d). A tort claim against a city must be presented to the city within six months under Ala. Code 11-47-23.
Recent Alabama Crash Coverage
Fatal Two-Vehicle Crash on East Lake Blvd in Birmingham, AL
Passenger Killed in Collision on Alabama 119 Near Pelham, AL
Teen Passenger Killed in Single-Vehicle Crash on Greene Co Rd 20 in Boligee, AL
Two Airlifted, Two Hospitalized After Garbage Truck Crash on Johns Rd in Hueytown, AL
Good Samaritan Hospitalized After Being Struck Near Winchester Rd in Huntsville, AL
The full archive is at Alabama accident news, and recent accident alerts track new crashes nationwide as they come in.
Local Accident Reports compiles this information from public agency sources and published reports for general reference. It is not legal advice and is not an official police record. Fees, forms and deadlines change, so confirm with the agency before you send a request. Last updated October 2026.