Request By:
Mr. F.E. Hodges, Director
Division of Drivers Licensing
Department of Transportation
State Office Building
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; Carl T. Miller, Jr., Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General concerning records kept by the Department of Transportation, Division of Drivers Licensing, on accidents reported to the Department under the provisions of KRS 187.320 and 189.580. You point out that neither the specific statute pertaining to motor vehicles nor the Kentucky Open Records Law, KRS 61.870 to 61.884 exempt such records from public inspection.
Your specific question is whether the Division of Drivers Licensing is required to note an accident reported to it on the individuals driving history record.
There are two kinds of driving history records mentioned in the statutes. KRS 186.641 provides for a record of conviction under the traffic laws. KRS 187.320 and 187.310 deal with records involving traffic accidents. The two statutes read as follows:
KRS 187.310:
"The Department shall, upon request, furnish any person a certified abstract of the operating record of any person subject to the provisions of KRS 187.290 to 187.620, which abstract shall also fully designate the motor vehicles, if any, registered in the name of such person, and if there shall be no record of any conviction of such person of violating any law relating to the operation of a motor vehicle or of any injury or damage caused by such person, the Department shall so certify. Such abstracts shall not be admissible as evidence in any action for damages or criminal proceedings arising out of a motor vehicle accident."
KRS 187.320:
"The operator of every motor vehicle which is in any manner involved in an accident within this state, in which any person is killed or injured or in which total property damage of two hundred dollars or more is sustained, shall, within ten days, report the matter in writing to the department of transportation. If the operator is physically incapable of making such report, the owner of the motor vehicle involved in such accident, shall, as soon as he learns of the accident, report the matter in writing to the department. The operator or the owner shall make such other and additional reports relating to such accident as the department shall require.
(2) Failure to report an accident as herein provided or failure to give correctly the information required of him by the department in connection with such report shall be a misdemeanor and, in the event of injury or damage to the person or property of another in such accident, shall also constitute a ground for suspension of revocation of:
(a) The license or registration for any motor vehicle, or of all such licenses and registrations of the person failing to make such reports as herein required, and
(b) The nonresident's operating privilege of such person."
The above quoted statutes make it quite clear that the Department is required to keep a record of accidents reported to it and that the records of the department are to be be open to the public. Since these statutes antedated the Open Records Law it has had no effect whatsoever on them.
It is therefore the opinion of the Attorney General that the Department of Transportation must keep on file with a driver's history records a copy of each accident report made to the department by such driver. A person's driving history therefore will contain records of his traffic offenses and of his reported accidents and these records are subject to public inspection.