1.    The director shall prepare and supply to law enforcement agencies, garages, and other suitable agencies or individuals forms for crash reports required by law, appropriate with respect to the purposes to be served. The reports to be made by investigating officers shall call for sufficiently detailed information to disclose the cause of a traffic crash, conditions then existing, persons and vehicles involved, and whether the requirements for the deposit of security under section 39-16-05 are applicable.

2.    Every crash report required to be made to the director must be made in the format prescribed by the director and must contain all the information required therein unless not available.

3.    Every law enforcement officer who investigates a vehicle crash for which a report must be made as required in this chapter shall forward a report of such crash to the department within ten days after the crash.

4.    Except as provided in subsection 5, reports required to be forwarded by law enforcement officers and the information contained in the reports is not privileged or confidential. Crash reports held by a public entity other than the department of transportation and a law enforcement agency that contracts with service providers are exempt records. In addition, the following information contained in the report is an exempt record as defined in section 44-04-17.1 unless the requester is a party to the crash, a party’s legal representative, the insurer of any party to the crash, the agent of that insurer, or the legal representative or insurer of an individual involved in defending or investigating a prior or subsequent claim or crash involving a party to the crash:

a.    Driver identification number of a party in the report; b.    Telephone number of a party in the report; c.    Insurance company name and policy number of a party in the report; and d.    Day and month of birth of a party in the report.

5.    Unless the requester is a party to the accident, a party’s legal representative, the insurer of any party to the accident, the agent of that insurer, or the legal representative or insurer of an individual involved in defending or investigating a prior or subsequent claim or accident involving a party to the accident, the following information contained in the report is exempt:

a.    The name of a minor party in the report; b.    Driver identification number of a minor party in the report; and

c.    Telephone number uniquely owned by a minor party in the report.

6.    Upon request from a party to the crash, a party’s legal representative, the insurer of any party to the crash, the agent of the insurer, or the legal representative or insurer of an individual involved in defending or investigating a prior or subsequent claim or crash involving a party to the crash, and upon payment of a fee of up to seven dollars, the director shall release a completed copy of the crash report to the entity requesting the information. The request must be made on the form prescribed by the director.

7.    Upon request of any person and upon payment of a fee of up to seven dollars, the director may furnish to a requester a copy of an investigating officer’s crash report which does not contain any exempt information that may not be disclosed, if the report shows that the crash is one for which a driver is required to file a report under section 39-08-09.

8.    Copies of crash reports are not admissible as evidence in any action for damages or criminal proceedings arising out of a motor vehicle crash.

9.    The director, without a request under subsection 4, 5, or 6 may send a copy of a crash report to the registered owner of each vehicle involved as indicated by the report.