Orlando Sentinel Lauren Ritchie column

Feb. 28--Fran Murphy was driving south on State Road 19 in Tavares last week when she suddenly came upon a garbage truck stopped in one of the two lanes with no flashing lights -- just the truck blocking the road.

She stopped, no problem. However, the driver in his 90s behind her didn't, and he hit her from the rear, pushing her little Hyundai up onto the sidewalk.

The elderly driver was badly upset, and both cars were damaged, but nobody was hurt. Police came and took a report, and that's when the annoying part of this scenario started.

Murphy, 74, first needed a copy of the police report for her insurance company. The Tavares officer told her to go to buycrash.com to obtain and download a copy online.

Cost: $16.

"I thought it was kind of a ripoff to charge people $16 for a police report," said Murphy, who lives in the Royal Harbor community in Tavares.

Indeed, it is. Welcome to the digital world.

In a state that had more than 253,000 crashes in 2012 -- about 700 a day -- the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles struggles with record keeping. Even in Lake County, motorists slam into each other more than eight times every day on average, with the annual total number of reportable crashes -- fender benders aren't logged -- hitting 3,012 in 2012.

The DMV contracted with a private vendor in February 2012 and over the last couple years smaller agencies have been finding and contracting with services to put crash reports online. The agencies get a cut of the fees paid by motorists -- after all, it's a little stream of money that smaller cities didn't have before.

For drivers, is it a ripoff or a convenience? That depends on your point of view. But consider that in Tavares, Murphy had an option she didn't know about.

A Tavares resident can go to the police station three days after the accident and get a copy of the crash report for free. If a party to the accident can't get to the station, the department will either mail or email the report, City Administrator John Drury said.

So who gets the $16buycrash.com charges for a Tavares report? The owners of the website get $6, the state rakes in $5 and the agency that wrote the report gets $5, police Chief Stoney Lubins wrote in an email. He said he reminded officers last week to tell people involved in wrecks that can also get the report for free.

Here's a sample of how other local agencies handle reports of accidents:

At least two Lake County cities, Lady Lake and Eustis, contract with the website authorizetransaction.com for crash records. Eustis police Chief Fred Cobb said drivers involved in the accident can get a copy of the report from the police department for free; others pay 15 cents for a single-sided copy.

The cost to get the Eustis report from the website is $9, and the city gets $2 of it. It's far cheaper to wreck a car in Eustis than in Lady Lake, where the cost from the same website is $17 for the report, and the city scoops up $10 of it.

Lady Lake police Chief Chris McKinstry said the reports are free at the police department to those involved in the wreck, but he suggested that motorists have their insurance companies obtain the report to avoid any inconvenience or expense.

The Mount Dora Police Department's accident reports and those filed by the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Highway Patrol and Clermont also are on buycrash.com. The reports are public record and available to anyone who is merely snoopy.

The sheriff, Mount Dora and Clermont offer the reports for 15 cents a page at the agencys' headquarters. FHP Sgt. Kim Montes said drivers also can get her agency's report "the old-fashioned way" by going to any FHP station and paying $10 ($25 if the accident involved a death.) The agency also will send a report if a self-addressed stamped envelope is provided.

Groveland doesn't use any online service, but reports are available for 15 cents a page with a maximum of $2 for the public, police Chief Melvin Tennyson said.

Get used to the digital world of wrecks. By 2015, the state wants all agencies that take accident reports to get signed up with an online service.

[email protected]. Lauren invites you to send her a friend request on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/laurenonlake

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