Your driving reports hold valuable information about your history behind the wheel.
Suppose you received a citation for a traffic violation or criminal traffic charge. Having a copy of your driving reports on hand is a good idea.
Your driving reports can help establish a fact by the information they provide and can have a huge impact on the outcome of the case.
Driving reports can be a significant source of information in a wide range of legal cases.
In this guide, we’ll be talking about how driving reports can be used as an investigative tool to uncover important information on criminal charges. Let’s get started!
What is a Driving Report?
A driving report contains a person’s license history, including information such as traffic violations, incidents, license status, and criminal offenses.
Depending on the driving offense, the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state will have a distinct term about when an offense will drop off your driving record.
You can visit the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state to find out the terms of your offense and how long it will stay on your driving report.
Typically, driving offenses stay on your driving report for 3-10 years.
Also Read: How Far Does A Criminal Background Check Go?
What Information is Included in a Driving Report?
The information on your driving report usually includes:
- Personal details, including name, gender, and location.
- License number, status, and expiry date.
- Details about your driving history
- The number of points, fines, and DUIs
- License revocations, suspensions, and cancellations.
- Accidents, traffic violations, and convictions such as speeding and traffic tickets.
The information does not include in your driving report:
- Non-moving violations
- Non-driving-related criminal history
What Can a Driving Report Reveal in a Criminal Investigation?
Driving reports can be an integral source of information and intelligence in various cases, whether civil litigation or family law.
It helps reveal information such as:
- Vehicles associated with the crime under investigation
- Locations, past and current residences
- Alcohol and drug abuse
- Current and previous residences
- Failure to comply with traffic laws
- Accident history and a host of other useful data
Driving records can also help determine the individual’s background and criminal history.
However, it is only possible when you know how to use them and where to look at them.
How to Obtain Your Driving Report?
There are many ways to obtain a driving report, the most convenient way is to request an official copy of it from the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV).
Depending on the type of driving records you need, you can request a copy online, in person, or by mail.
Here’s the basic information you’ll need to initiate the process:
- Your most recent driver’s license, ID card number, and the audit number from the card.
- Your date of birth.
- And your Social Security Number (Last 4-digits).
- Adobe Reader.
- Any of the following browsers: Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer.
- A valid credit card including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
- A printer to print a record after the purchase.
Wrapping Up
In this blog, we shared the essential things that you should know about driving reports, what’s included in them, why they are important, etc. We hope you found this useful.
Shefali Jain is a Content Writer & Editor at USWorkforce.org
After completing her graduation in hospitality, Shefali decided to follow her passion and started writing. Shefali has been writing for two years now and contributes to our website as a skilled editor and content writer with strong research skills. Writing product and service reviews, biographies, and book reviews are some of her key areas, among many others in which she specializes. In her time at the organization, she has written and edited content on a range of topics, including employment law, human resources, and business management.
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