Guide · Injury · Chicago

How to Get Your Chicago Crash Report (the RD Number)

One string of characters unlocks your whole case file. Here is how to find the RD number, pull the report, and read it correctly.

By Lincoln Square Law · 7-minute read

After a Chicago crash, the traffic crash report quickly becomes the most requested document in the claim. Your insurer asks for it in the first call. The other driver’s insurer reads it before deciding whether to accept responsibility. If the case goes further, lawyers on both sides use it to find witnesses, identify the investigating officer, and test each driver’s account. Knowing how the report is created, how to get it, and what to do when it is wrong saves time and prevents an error from hardening into an assumption.

Two different reports, two different duties

People often use “the police report” to mean two separate things. The first is the report prepared by the investigating agency, such as the Chicago Police Department. The second is the driver’s own written report, which Illinois law requires in many crashes whether or not police came to the scene.

Under the Illinois Vehicle Code, the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash that causes injury, death, or property damage over $1,500 (or over $500 if any vehicle involved is uninsured) must file a written report within ten days (625 ILCS 5/11-406). When no officer is present at the scene, the driver must also notify the local police by the fastest available means (625 ILCS 5/11-407). The state provides an online Illinois Motorist Report for the driver’s filing. Filing your own report does not replace the police report, and the police report does not relieve you of your own duty.

The RD number and the exchange card

When Chicago police document a crash, the officer typically gives each driver a Driver Information Exchange card with the report number, called the RD number, the date, and the reporting officer’s name and star number. Keep that card with your insurance documents. The RD number is what you will use to request the report, and the officer’s information is how a lawyer later identifies who investigated.

The Chicago Police Department also offers a free online Driver Information Exchange, where the other driver’s information usually becomes available within about a day. That lookup is not the full report, but it is often the quickest way to confirm the other driver’s insurance information for an initial claim.

How to get the full report

For crashes investigated by the Chicago Police Department, the full traffic crash report can be requested through the department’s website for a small fee, or in person or by mail from the Records Division at police headquarters, 3510 South Michigan Avenue. You will typically need the RD number, the date of the crash, and a driver’s name. Reports are often not available on the day of the crash, because the officer completes and submits the report afterward and the state assigns a control number.

Not every crash in Chicago is handled by CPD. Crashes on the expressways are generally investigated by the Illinois State Police, and crashes in suburban municipalities or unincorporated areas are handled by the local department or the county sheriff. Each agency has its own request process. If you are unsure which agency responded, the exchange card or the officer’s name usually answers the question.

What the report contains, and what it does not

A typical crash report records:

• the date, time, and location
• the vehicles, drivers, owners, and insurers
• passengers and witnesses
• a diagram and short narrative
• weather, lighting, and road conditions
• any injuries observed and whether anyone was transported
• any citations issued

It may also record contributing circumstances the officer identified.

What the report usually does not contain is a full investigation. Officers at a busy scene work quickly, often after the vehicles have been moved, and rely on short statements from drivers who are shaken. The narrative is a summary, not a finding. Insurers treat it as important, but it is one piece of evidence among many, and it does not decide fault in a lawsuit.

The officer’s opinion about fault, and a citation, can influence how insurers respond, but they are not binding in the civil case. Illinois uses modified comparative fault, and a jury decides the percentages based on all the evidence (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). Whether a citation or a guilty plea to a traffic offense can be used in the civil case depends on how the ticket was resolved, which is one reason to get advice before paying or contesting a citation after a serious crash.

When the report is wrong

Errors are common: a wrong street name or direction of travel, reversed vehicle numbers, a missing witness, an injury recorded as “none” because symptoms appeared later, or a statement attributed to the wrong driver. The sooner an error is addressed, the easier it is to correct and the less weight it carries later.

• Read the report as soon as it is available and compare it with your photographs and notes.
• Separate factual errors, such as the location or vehicle information, from disagreements about what happened. Agencies are more likely to supplement factual errors.
• Contact the reporting agency and ask how it accepts supplemental information or corrections. Put your request in writing, attach supporting documents, and keep a copy.
• If a witness was missed, ask the agency whether a supplemental statement can be added, and give the witness information to your lawyer regardless.
• If an injury was not recorded, make sure your medical records clearly document when symptoms began and how they relate to the crash.

An agency may decline to change an officer’s narrative or conclusions. That is not the end of the matter. The evidence you gather, including photographs, witness statements, video, and vehicle data, can contradict the report in the civil claim.

Sharing the report with insurers

Your own insurer will usually obtain the report itself, but sending a copy with your claim can speed things up, especially for property damage. With the other driver’s insurer, be more deliberate. Providing the report is fine. Adding your own written explanation of the crash, or agreeing to a recorded statement to “clarify” it, is where people create problems for themselves. If the report is favorable, it speaks for itself. If it contains errors, correct them through the agency and your own evidence, not through an informal conversation with the adjuster whose job is to evaluate your claim.

Other records the report leads to

The crash report is also a map to other evidence. It identifies witnesses who should be contacted while memories are fresh. It notes locations where cameras may have recorded the crash. It identifies the officers who can be asked about what they saw, and sometimes indicates whether 911 calls or body-worn camera footage may exist. Many of those records are kept only for limited periods, so they should be requested or preserved early. A party on notice of a claim can face consequences for failing to preserve relevant evidence (Boyd v. Travelers Insurance Co., 166 Ill. 2d 188 (1995)), but only if the request is made in time.

Deadlines keep running

Waiting for the report does not pause any deadline. A personal injury claim in Illinois generally must be filed within two years (735 ILCS 5/13-202), and claims against local public entities generally within one year (745 ILCS 10/8-101(a)). If the crash involved a CTA vehicle or other public entity, the timelines can be shorter still.

Practical checklist

• Keep the exchange card and write the RD number in your phone.
• File your own Illinois Motorist Report within ten days if the crash meets the reporting threshold.
• Request the full report as soon as it is available, and read it carefully.
• Correct factual errors in writing, and document disagreements with your own evidence.
• Use the report to identify witnesses, officers, and cameras, and preserve those sources promptly.
• Talk to a lawyer before resolving any traffic ticket connected to a serious crash.