How to Report a Car Accident in Wisconsin: A Madison Driver's Guide

Wisconsin Statute § 346.70 requires you to report a motor vehicle accident if it results in injury to any person, death, or property damage of $1,000 or more to any one person's property. The $1,000 threshold refers to the cost to repair or replace the damaged property to its pre-accident condition — for vehicle damage, this is the repair estimate, not the vehicle's total value. Damage to government-owned property (other than government vehicles) has a lower threshold of $200.

If police respond to the scene, the officer completes a DT4000 crash report form and submits it to WisDOT through the BadgerTraCS electronic reporting system. When this happens, you do not need to file a separate report. The officer handles the WisDOT filing on your behalf. You should still exchange insurance information and take photos at the scene, but the official reporting obligation is satisfied.

If police do not respond — common with minor fender-benders in parking lots or low-speed collisions where no one appears injured — you are responsible for filing your own report with WisDOT. This is where most Madison drivers get confused: Madison Police do not accept self-reported crashes at their offices. You must file directly with WisDOT using Form DT4002.

Wisconsin law requires you to immediately notify the nearest law enforcement agency if the accident involves injury, death, or property damage meeting the reporting threshold (Wis. Stat. § 346.70(1)). In Madison, call 911 for any accident involving injuries or major vehicle damage. For minor accidents with no injuries, you can call the Madison Police non-emergency line.

While waiting for police, move vehicles out of traffic if it is safe to do so — Wisconsin law allows you to move a vehicle from the roadway after an accident if it can be driven and is blocking traffic. Do not leave the scene. Exchange names, addresses, driver license numbers, vehicle registration information, and insurance details with the other driver. Take photos of vehicle damage, the accident scene, road conditions, traffic signals, and any visible injuries.

If you are injured, seek medical attention before worrying about reporting. Your health comes first. Wisconsin's statute of limitations for personal injury claims is 3 years (Wis. Stat. § 893.54), so you have time to deal with the paperwork — but reporting deadlines are much shorter at 10 days, so handle the report as soon as you are physically able.

If police responded to your accident, the officer files the report and you are done with the reporting obligation. Skip to the section on getting your police report. If police did not respond, you need to file Form DT4002 (Driver Report of Crash) with WisDOT within 10 days of the accident.

The fastest way to file is online at the WisDOT Driver Report of Crash portal. To use the online system, you will need your Wisconsin driver license number, the last four digits of your Social Security number, and your date of birth to verify your identity. The system has a 30-minute inactivity timeout, so gather all your information before you start: the date, time, and location of the crash, the other driver's information, a description of what happened, and the extent of vehicle damage and injuries. The online system may be unavailable on Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. for maintenance.

If you prefer paper, you can print Form DT4002 and mail it to: Traffic Accident Section, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 7919, Madison, WI 53707-7919. Mail your completed form promptly — the 10-day deadline is measured from the date of the accident, not the date you mail the form. For assistance with either method, call WisDOT at (608) 266-8753.

Whether you file online or by mail, you will need the following information for Form DT4002: the exact date, time, and location of the accident (street name, nearest intersection or landmark, city, and county), your personal information (name, address, date of birth, driver license number), your vehicle information (year, make, model, license plate, VIN), and your insurance company name and policy number.

You also need the same information for the other driver and vehicle involved. If there were passengers in either vehicle, include their names and whether they were injured. Describe the accident in as much detail as possible: the direction each vehicle was traveling, the speed, what happened immediately before the collision, and the point of impact. If there were witnesses, include their names and contact information.

Estimate the property damage for each vehicle involved. Remember, the $1,000 threshold applies to any one person's property — so even if your car sustained only $500 in damage, if the other driver's car has $1,000 or more in damage, the accident is reportable. When in doubt, file the report. There is no penalty for reporting an accident that turns out to be below the threshold, but there are penalties for failing to report one that meets it.

Failing to file a required crash report carries real consequences under Wisconsin law. For a first offense of failing to file the written report (violating Wis. Stat. § 346.70(2)), you face a fine of $40 to $200. A second or subsequent offense within one year jumps to $100 to $500 (Wis. Stat. § 346.74(2)).

The bigger risk is to your driving privileges. Under Wisconsin Statute § 344.08, the Secretary of Transportation may suspend your driver's license or vehicle registration if you fail to report an accident as required. A suspension under this section can last up to one year. The suspension applies unless you had excusable cause for not reporting or the accident did not injure anyone or damage anyone else's property.

Beyond the legal penalties, failing to report an accident can damage your personal injury claim. If you later file an insurance claim or lawsuit, the other side will point to the missing report as evidence that the accident was not serious or that your account of what happened is unreliable. A contemporaneous report — even a self-filed DT4002 — is far better than trying to document the accident weeks or months later from memory. File within the 10-day window, even if the process feels inconvenient.

Whether a police officer filed the report or you filed a DT4002 yourself, crash reports in Wisconsin are available through the WisDOT crash report portal at crashreports.wi.gov. Reports cost $6 for an immediate PDF download. You can search using the document number, your Wisconsin driver license number plus the accident date, or the crash number assigned by the responding officer.

Officer-filed reports (DT4000) typically take 7 to 10 business days to become available after the accident. Self-filed reports (DT4002) may take slightly longer as they go through WisDOT processing. If your report does not appear within 2 weeks, contact WisDOT Crash Records at (608) 266-8753 or Madison PD at (608) 261-8015 to check the status.

Keep a copy of your crash report — you will need it for your insurance claim, and it is a critical document if you pursue a personal injury claim. The report documents the facts of the accident at or near the time it happened, which makes it far more credible than a description written from memory weeks later.

The crash report — whether an officer-completed DT4000 or a self-filed DT4002 — is one of the most important documents in a personal injury claim. Insurance adjusters treat it as a foundational record when assessing liability and calculating settlement offers. The report establishes the date, location, and circumstances of the accident, identifies the parties involved, and documents the extent of damage and injuries.

Under Wisconsin's modified comparative negligence system (Wis. Stat. § 895.045), you can recover damages as long as your percentage of fault is less than 51%, but your award is reduced by your fault percentage. The fault assessment in the crash report — based on the officer's investigation or, for self-filed reports, the factual description you provide — heavily influences how insurers allocate fault. Be thorough and accurate when describing what happened, but do not speculate about fault or admit liability in your report.

Wisconsin's statute of limitations for most personal injury claims is 3 years from the date of injury (Wis. Stat. § 893.54). For wrongful death resulting from a motor vehicle accident, the deadline is 2 years (Wis. Stat. § 893.54(2m)). If a government entity is involved — the City of Madison, Dane County, WisDOT, or Madison Metro Transit — you must serve a notice of claim within 120 days (Wis. Stat. § 893.80). The reporting deadline of 10 days is separate from and much shorter than these claim deadlines, so handle the report first.

If you have been in an accident in Madison, get your free Injury Claim Check now. You will answer a few quick questions about your accident and injuries, and we will give you a personalized report that includes Wisconsin's filing deadline for your specific claim, your legal options based on the circumstances of your crash, and whether connecting with a Madison personal injury attorney makes sense for your situation.

Filing a crash report is an important first step, but it is not the only one. Our Injury Claim Check looks at the full picture — your injuries, your timeline, your coverage — and gives you clear, actionable information about what comes next. Free, confidential, and takes less time than filling out the DT4002.