Wisconsin Legislature: Trans 100.025(1)(i)

(4m) “Emergency medical technician” or “EMT” has the meaning in s. 256.01 (5), Stats.

(5) “Fire fighter” has the meaning set forth in s. 102.475 (8) (b), Stats.

(6) “First responder” has the meaning set forth in s. 256.01 (9), Stats.

(7) “Injured party” means a person who suffers personal injury or whose property is damaged in an accident.

(8) “Law enforcement officer” has the meaning set forth in s. 165.85 (2) (c), Stats.,

(9) “Legally parked” means a vehicle which is parked under ss. 346.03 (2) (a) or 346.51 to s. 346.54, Stats., or is indicated in writing to be legally parked at the time of the accident by the investigating law enforcement agency or the operators of other vehicles involved in the accident. A vehicle parked with doors or any part of a load extending into an adjoining space intended for vehicular travel may not be considered “legally parked.”

(10) “Licensee” means a person to whom the department has granted an operator’s license.

(11) “Motor vehicle” has the meaning specified in s. 344.01 (2) (b), Stats.

Note: See s. 344.01 (2) (b), Stats.

(11m) “Multiple injury minimum coverage” means $50,000.

(12) “Owner” or “vehicle owner” has the meaning set forth in ss. 340.01 (42) and 344.01 (2) (cm), Stats.

(12m) “Property damage minimum coverage” means $10,000.

(13) “Report” means an accident report received on an approved form or one received in an automated format approved by the department.

Note: Forms MV 4000—Wisconsin Motor Vehicle Accident Report, MV 4002 Driver Report of Accident and MV 4004, Report Supplement, are available from the DOT Traffic Accident Section, P.O. Box 7919, Madison, WI 53707-7919.

(13m) “Single injury minimum coverage” means $25,000.

(14) “Winter highway maintenance worker” means a person involved in the types of winter highway maintenance described in s. 343.23 (2) (a) 2., Stats.

History: Cr. Register, October, 1985, No. 358, eff. 11-1-85; am. (intro.), (1), (3), r. (2), r. and recr. (5), (6), renum. (7) to be (9) and am. (9), cr. (7), (8), Register, April, 1994, No. 460, eff. 5-1-94; CR 01-156: am. (intro.) and (1), cr. (2), (4), (4m), (5), (6), (8), (12) and (14), r. and recr. (3) and (7), renum. (4) to be (9), (6) to be (11), (8) to be (13) and am., renum. (5) to be (10), r. (9) Register October 2005 No. 598, eff. 11-1-05; CR 10-070: cr. (11m), (12m), and (13m) Register November 2010 No. 659, eff. 12-1-10; corrections in (4m) and (6) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register November 2010 No. 659; CR 11-043: am. (11m), (12m), (13m) Register May 2013 No. 689, eff. 6-1-13.

Trans 100.025 Accident involvement.

(1) A vehicle or person shall be considered to have been involved in an accident if any of the following conditions are met:

(a) The person is injured by an accident.

(b) The person or the vehicle’s operator commits some act that contributes to cause an accident, regardless of physical contact.

(d) The vehicle makes contact with any other person or property and causes damage.

(e) The vehicle is damaged by a failure of a mechanical or electrical system resulting in fire or accident when it is in use primarily for moving persons or property, including the vehicle itself, from one place to another and is in motion, or in readiness for motion, and is unattended and not legally parked in a designated parking area.

(f) Property, parts or debris falls from the vehicle and causes an accident.

(g) A vehicle contacts or avoids debris or property on a roadway that has fallen from another vehicle or is not ordinarily found in a roadway, and causes an accident.

(h) The vehicle moves without an operator controlling its movements and causes an accident.

(i) One or more doors or any part of the load of a parked vehicle extends into an adjoining space intended for vehicular travel and an accident occurs as a result of that extension.

Note: Accidents may be the result of “acts of God,” or negligence or intentional acts. s. Trans 100.02 (1).

(2) Except as provided in sub. (1) (i), the operator of a vehicle shall be considered to not have been involved in an accident if the vehicle was legally parked at the time of any damage to the vehicle.

History: CR 01-156: cr. Register October 2005 No. 598, eff. 11-1-05.

Trans 100.03 Reporting an accident.

(1) In this section, “reportable” refers to an accident in which the minimum damage requirements of s. 346.70, Stats., are met or exceeded, and for which reporting the accident is mandatory under that section, or an accident to which the safety responsibility law applies under s. 344.12, Stats.

Note: Section 346.66, Stats., makes the accident reporting requirements of s. 346.70, Stats., applicable only as follows:

346.66 Applicability of sections relating to accidents and accident reporting. In addition to being applicable upon highways, ss. 346.67 to 346.70 are applicable upon all premises held out to the public for use of their motor vehicles, all premises provided by employers to employees for the use of their motor vehicles and all premises provided to tenants of rental housing in buildings of 4 or more units for the use of their motor vehicles, whether such premises are publicly or privately owned and whether or not a fee is charged for the use thereof. These sections do not apply to private parking areas at farms or single-family residences or to accidents involving only snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles or vehicles propelled by human power or drawn by animals.

Section 344.12, Stats., makes the safety responsibility law apply as follows:

344.12 Applicability of provisions relating to deposit of security for past accidents. Subject to the exceptions contained in s. 344.14, the provisions of this chapter requiring deposit of security and requiring suspension for failure to deposit security apply to the operator and owner of every motor vehicle which is in any manner involved in an accident in this state which has resulted in bodily injury to or death of any person or damage to property of any other person of $1,000 or more.

(1m) A law enforcement agency investigating a reportable accident involving a vehicle shall report the accident to the department as required under s. 346.70 (4), Stats. If a law enforcement agency does not investigate and report the accident within 10 days after the accident, the operators of the vehicles involved in the accident shall report the accident to the department as required under s. 346.70 (2), Stats. The department may accept or require a report of the accident to be filed by the occupant or the owner in lieu of a report by the operator.

Note: Forms MV 4000 Wisconsin Motor Vehicle Accident Report and MV 4002 Driver Report of Accident.

(2) Persons misidentified as an operator in a law enforcement report may file a written report with the department regarding that fact. Upon receipt of such a report, the department shall require the person claiming to have been misidentified to do either of the following:

(a) Have the agency that filed the report file an amended law enforcement agency report with the department.

(b) Provide the department with a copy of court findings meeting any of the following criteria:

1. From any type of proceeding that identifies the true operator of the vehicle at the time of the accident.

2. From a criminal, traffic forfeiture or civil proceeding that concludes the person was not a vehicle operator involved in the accident.

3. From a civil court proceeding related to establishing liability issues related to the accident that the court cannot determine whether the person was the operator of a vehicle involved in the accident.

(2m) If a person filing a report under sub. (2) does not meet one of the requirements of sub. (2) (a) or (b), the department shall accept the identification of the operator in the original police report as correct. If all operators involved in an accident that was reported by a person other than a police agency and all owners of vehicles involved in that accident stipulate that a person was misidentified in an accident report and identify another person as the actual operator, the department may accept the newly identified person as the actual operator of the vehicle and release the misidentified person from further responsibility under this chapter. In all other cases involving the identification of an operator in an accident report, the department shall make a determination of the accuracy of the identification of the operator based on the credibility of the evidence submitted at hearing.

(3) The department shall assume that all accident reports it receives from enforcement agencies or operators meet the reporting criteria of s. 346.70 (1), Stats., or the minimum requirements for safety responsibility act under s. 343.12, Stats. An accident report filed by a police agency for an accident that is not reportable shall be returned to the reporting agency. A report from another source for an accident that is not reportable shall be discarded. If the department determines from credible evidence received, which could include property damage estimates or signed statements, that an accident that has been abstracted as part of a driver’s record is not reportable, the accident will not be included in a public abstract of the driver’s driver record maintained under s. 343.23, Stats.

Note: On the current Wisconsin Motor Vehicle Accident Report form, MV4000, reporters indicate whether they believe an accident is reportable by so indicating in Box 1 of the form.

(4) The department may not suspend a person’s operating privilege or motor vehicle registration for failure to file an accident report, under s. 344.08, Stats., if no further information is needed from the person who failed to file the report.

History: Cr. Register, October, 1985, No. 358, eff. 11-1-85; r. and recr. (1) and (3), am. (2), Register, April, 1994, No. 460, eff. 5-1-94; CR 01-156: renum. (1) to be (1m) and am., (4) renum. from Trans 100.14 (1) and am., cr. (1) and (2m), r. and recr. (2), am. (3) Register October 2005 No. 598, eff. 11-1-05.

Trans 100.04 Required accident information.

(1) Accident report form required. Under s. 346.70 (2), (3m) and (4), Stats., the police, operator, owner or occupant shall complete and submit all accident information requested on the forms or in the automated format approved by the department.

Note: Forms MV 4000 Wisconsin Motor Vehicle Accident Report and MV 4002 Driver Report of Accident.

(2) Incomplete reports. The department may accept an accident report with incomplete accident information if the information is provided to the department from another credible source or is not available.

(3) Lack of insurance reported. When any accident report or notice from a person or insurer filed with the department within one year of an accident indicates that an operator or motor vehicle involved in an accident had no liability insurance coverage in effect at the time of an accident, the department may require the operator or owner, or both, to do one of the following:

(a) Deposit security under s. 344.13, Stats.

(b) Provide evidence that a policy was, in fact, in effect.

Note: See s. 344.14 (2), Stats.

(4) Incomplete insurance information. If the liability insurance company name or policy holder’s name, or both, are absent from the accident report form, the department may contact the operator or owner, or both, to obtain additional insurance information. If the operator or owner provide complete insurance information, the department shall assume that the liability insurance policy specified by the owner or operator was in force at the time of the accident.

(5) Self-insured persons. If a motor vehicle owner is self-insured under s. 344.16, Stats., the department may mail notice of the self-insurance to the address furnished by the self-insured owner. The department shall assume that the operator of the motor vehicle is exempt under s. 344.14 (2) (d), Stats., from the security requirements unless the self-insured person notifies the department otherwise within 30 days of mailing or other information is received by the department indicating that the self-insured certificate does not apply to the operator.

(6) Absence of policy holder name on report. If a liability insurance company name is listed on the accident report, but a policy holder’s name is not, and the operator and owner of the motor vehicle involved in the accident are the same person, the department will assume that a valid policy with the liability insurance company specified on the accident report form was in force at the time of the accident for the owner listed.

(7) Requesting additional information. The department may contact the operator of a motor vehicle involved in an accident, its owner, or both persons, for additional insurance information at any time. If the operator or owner provides insurance information, the department may verify the credibility of the information by contacting the insurance company listed. If an insurer determines that the operator or owner who provided the insurance information is not insured, or denies coverage for the claim, the insurer shall immediately notify the department of the person’s uninsured status.

Note: Form T062—Request for Complete Insurance.

History: Cr. Register, October, 1985, No. 358, eff. 11-1-85: r. and recr. (1), am. (2), renum. (3) and (4) to be (4) and (5) and am., cr. (3), (6), (7), Register, April, 1994, No. 460, eff. 5-1-94; CR 01-156: am. (3) to (7) Register October 2005 No. 598, eff. 11-1-05.

Trans 100.05 Recording accident on operator’s record.

(1) All accidents in which the operator was involved shall be identified on a public driver record abstract prepared under s. 343.23 (2), Stats., unless any of the following apply:

(a) The vehicle was legally parked as described in s. Trans 100.025 (2).

(b) The accident did not meet the criteria requiring reporting to the department under s. 346.70 (1), Stats.

(2) If a law enforcement officer, fire fighter, emergency medical technician, first responder, or winter highway maintenance worker is involved in an accident in the course of that employment, any person filing an accident report shall note that the person involved in the accident was on duty at the time of the accident. The department shall note that on-duty status on a public abstract of the on-duty operator’s driver record with the entry related to the accident.

Note: See s. 343.23 (2), Stats. See also s. Trans 100.02 for the definitions of law enforcement officer, EMT, first responder, winter highway maintenance worker and fire fighter.

(3) Notwithstanding sub. (1), a law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician, first responder or fire fighter may request a reportable accident not be reported on a public abstract of their driver record by submitting the approved form. The licensee must show that one or more of the following conditions existed at the time of the accident:

(a) The operated vehicle was legally parked under the exemptions of s. 346.03, Stats., and the flashing, oscillating or rotating warning lights were in use.

(b) The operator of the emergency vehicle intentionally collided with the other vehicle.

Note: Form MV 3347--Emergency Vehicle Involvement. Highway maintenance workers are not eligible for suppression of an accident report under this subsection.

History: Cr. Register, October, 1985, No. 358, eff. 11-1-85; renum. Trans 100.05 to be (1), cr. (2), (3), Register, April, 1994, No. 460, eff. 5-1-94; CR 01-156: am. (1), (2) and (3) (intro.), (b) and (c) Register October 2005 No. 598, eff. 11-1-05; CR 22-048: am. (3) (intro.) Register July 2023 No. 811, eff. 8-1-23.

Trans 100.06 Determining the reasonable possibility of a judgment.

(1) The department may use any of the following sources of information to determine whether an uninsured operator or owner, based on a preponderance of evidence, is exempt under s. 344.14 (2) (k), Stats., from the security requirements of ch. 344, Stats.:

(a) Operator reports of accidents.

(b) Law enforcement agency reports of accidents.

(c) Other information, such as statements of witnesses to the accident and supplementary reports from the investigating law enforcement agency.

(d) Records of convictions or other information on file with the department.

(e) Accident reconstruction reports.

(f) Notices of payment of claims issued by insurance companies.

(g) Coroner reports, except blood test results received by the department under s. 346.71 (2), Stats.

Note: Blood test results obtained from police reports or other sources may be considered by the Department.