BILL REQ. #:  H-2414.1 

READ FIRST TIME 03/07/05.   

     AN ACT Relating to access to accident reports and information compiled by the Washington state patrol; amending RCW 46.52.060 and 46.52.080; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is the intent of this act to clarify that the public shall have access under the public disclosure act to all accident reports and information compiled or collected by the Washington state patrol under this statute.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.52.060 and 1998 c 169 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) It shall be the duty of the chief of the Washington state patrol to file, tabulate, and analyze all accident reports and to publish annually, immediately following the close of each fiscal year, and monthly during the course of the year, statistical information based thereon showing the number of accidents, the location, the frequency and circumstances thereof and other statistical information which may prove of assistance in determining the cause of vehicular accidents.
     (2) Such accident reports and analysis or reports thereof shall be available to the director of licensing, the department of transportation, the utilities and transportation commission, the traffic safety commission, and other public entities authorized by the chief of the Washington state patrol, or their duly authorized representatives, for further tabulation and analysis for pertinent data relating to the regulation of highway traffic, highway construction, vehicle operators and all other purposes, and to publish information so derived as may be deemed of publication value.
     (3) Such accident reports and information and any statistical analysis thereof under this section shall be available from the Washington state patrol to the general public upon request under the provisions of chapter 42.17 RCW.

Sec. 3   RCW 46.52.080 and 1979 c 158 s 162 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) All required accident reports and supplemental reports and copies thereof shall be without prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for the confidential use of the county prosecuting attorney and chief of police or county sheriff, as the case may be, and the director of licensing and the chief of the Washington state patrol, and other officer or commission as authorized by law, except that any such officer shall disclose the names and addresses of persons reported as involved in an accident or as witnesses thereto, the vehicle license plate numbers and descriptions of vehicles involved, and the date, time and location of an accident, to any person who may have a proper interest therein, including the driver or drivers involved, or the legal guardian thereof, the parent of a minor driver, any person injured therein, the owner of vehicles or property damaged thereby, or any authorized representative of such an interested party, or the attorney or insurer thereof. No such accident report or copy thereof shall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of an accident, except that any officer above named for receiving accident reports shall furnish, upon demand of any person who has, or who claims to have, made such a report, or, upon demand of any court, a certificate showing that a specified accident report has or has not been made to the chief of the Washington state patrol solely to prove a compliance or a failure to comply with the requirement that such a report be made in the manner required by law: PROVIDED, That the reports may be used as evidence when necessary to prosecute charges filed in connection with a violation of RCW 46.52.088.
     (2) This section does not apply to accident reports filed, tabulated, and analyzed under RCW 46.52.060.