A police report is usually prepared if anyone involved in the automobile accident is taken by ambulance from the scene or at least one of the cars has to be towed. The police officer gives all the drivers a Motor Vehicle Collision Information Exchange Form. The form contains the names and addresses of all drivers, other witnesses, and passengers as well as information concerning the vehicles involved and insurance.

The form tells you whether a report will be prepared and contains a case number. Most of the time, a police report, if available, can be downloaded from the internet as soon as it is available. The procedures are different depending upon the county. There is a nominal fee, but you can usually download the report instantly. In some counties, the procedures are different and you may need to request the report by mail or go to Central Records.

The police report is prepared on a form called the State of Maryland Motor Vehicle Crash report. The first page states the date and time of the accident, the specific location of the accident, a diagram of the accident, and the officer's narrative describing how the accident happened. He will refer to each vehicle as "VEH 1", "VEH 2", etc. so you will need to look at the subsequent pages to see which vehicle is which.  It will indicate whether pedestrians or a school bus was involved, a driver was impaired, and whether the officer took photographs.

Each of the subsequent pages will identify the vehicle, driver, and provide all kinds of useful information. It will give you the year, make, and model of the vehicle and the insurance company and policy number. It will give you the driver's name, address, phone number, license number, and age. It will identify where the vehicle was and the area of the vehicle that was damaged. It will tell you if the vehicle was towed and whether the driver was deemed to be at fault. It will also identify any passengers in the motor vehicle and whether anyone was injured.

After the information is provided for each vehicle, the police report will list the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any witnesses. For more serious accidents, there may even witness statements attached.

A police report provides a lot of useful information in connection with a motor vehicle accident. It can often be accessed quickly by downloading it.