A state legislative committee has been told that the number of vehicle accident reports which have to be filled out is preventing police officers from Omaha and Lincoln from fighting crime.
However, the committee was also told that the police play a vital role in issuing the impartial accident report which often prevents costly lawsuits.
There are two key proposals. The first is to limit accident reports to those crashes with more than $5,000 of property damage in metropolitan cities in the state, such as Omaha, and $1,000 elsewhere rather than the current limit of $1,000 which applies everywhere.
Apparently the limit has not been increased since 2003 and about half of the 8,600 crashes in Omaha in 2012 were under $5,000 so it could save around 45 minutes an accident freeing the police for other matters such as fighting crime on the streets.
However lobbyists for insurance companies and trial attorneys opposed the idea, saying that motorists rely on the impartial report by the police to help sort out who was at fault and whose insurance policy will pay the damages and if there were no accident report there would be more lawsuits to determine who was at fault and the police would be called to testify, which would take much longer than the 45 minutes needed to fill out the report in the first place.
The second proposal was to charge a $15 fee for a copy of an accident report which currently costs $5 from the Omaha Police Department, although that received little support.
If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident in Omaha, please call the Omaha accident attorneys of Harris & Associates, P.C., L.L.O., at (402) 397-1200 or contact us online today. We can help you review your compensation options and ensure you are receiving the compensation you deserve.
