Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 180-H.F.No. 687 
           An act relating to collection and dissemination of 
          data; allowing law enforcement agencies to release the 
          date of birth of persons involved in traffic accidents;
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 169.09, 
          subdivision 13.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 169.09, 
subdivision 13, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 13.  [ACCIDENT REPORTS CONFIDENTIAL.] All written 
reports and supplemental reports required under this section to 
be provided to the department of public safety shall be without 
prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for the 
confidential use of the department of public safety and other 
appropriate state, federal, county and municipal governmental 
agencies for accident analysis purposes, except that the 
department of public safety or any law enforcement department of 
any municipality or county in this state shall, upon written 
request of any person involved in an accident or upon written 
request of the representative of the person's estate, surviving 
spouse, or one or more surviving next of kin, or a trustee 
appointed pursuant to section 573.02, disclose to the requester, 
the requester's legal counsel or a representative of the 
requester's insurer any information contained therein except the 
parties' version of the accident as set out in the written 
report filed by the parties or may disclose identity of a person 
involved in an accident when the identity is not otherwise known 
or when the person denies presence at the accident.  No report 
shall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, 
arising out of an accident, except that the department of public 
safety shall furnish upon the demand of any person who has, or 
claims to have, made a report, or, upon demand of any court, a 
certificate showing that a specified accident report has or has 
not been made to the department of public safety solely to prove 
a compliance or a failure to comply with the requirements that 
the report be made to the department of public safety.  
Disclosing any information contained in any accident report, 
except as provided herein, is unlawful and a misdemeanor. 
     Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent any person who 
has made a report pursuant to this chapter from providing 
information to any persons involved in an accident or their 
representatives or from testifying in any trial, civil or 
criminal, arising out of an accident, as to facts within the 
person's knowledge.  It is intended by this subdivision to 
render privileged the reports required but it is not intended to 
prohibit proof of the facts to which the reports relate.  
Legally qualified newspaper publications and licensed radio and 
television stations shall upon request to a law enforcement 
agency be given an oral statement covering only the time and 
place of the accident, the names and, addresses, and dates of 
birth of the parties involved, whether a citation was issued, 
and if so, what it was for, and whether the parties involved 
were wearing seat belts, and a general statement as to how the 
accident happened without attempting to fix liability upon 
anyone, but said legally qualified newspaper publications and 
licensed radio and television stations shall not be given access 
to the hereinbefore mentioned confidential reports, nor shall 
any such statements or information so orally given be used as 
evidence in any court proceeding, but shall merely be used for 
the purpose of a proper publication or broadcast of the news. 
     When these reports are released for accident analysis 
purposes the identity of any involved person shall not be 
revealed.  Data contained in these reports shall only be used 
for accident analysis purposes, except as otherwise provided by 
this subdivision.  Accident reports and data contained therein 
which may be in the possession or control of departments or 
agencies other than the department of public safety shall not be 
discoverable under any provision of law or rule of court. 
     The department may charge authorized persons a $5 fee for a 
copy of an accident report. 
    Approved May 20, 1987