Crashes in Houston

Houston's city limits are not where most people assume. The ring of Interstate 610 sits well inside them, Beltway 8 runs outside it, and the built-up area keeps going past both into unincorporated Harris County. Two crashes a mile apart can therefore be worked by two different agencies, and the report ends up in two different records offices.

If the officer who attended wore a Harris County Sheriff's Office uniform, requesting your report from Houston Police will find nothing. If the crash happened on a state highway outside the city, it may be the Texas Highway Patrol who filed it. Establishing which of the three wrote the report is the first thing to do, and the crash report card handed out at the scene names the agency.

Harris County adds a wrinkle almost nowhere else has. Alongside the Sheriff's Office, the county's constable precincts run their own patrols and work collisions in parts of the unincorporated county. A report carrying a constable precinct number is held by that precinct, not downtown, so read the agency line on the form before you queue anywhere.

Harris County in the federal crash data

Fatal crashes in Harris County2024

NHTSA FARS

551 fatal crashes, 583 killed.

County FIPS 48201. The Texas counties with the most fatal crashes.

Who responded, and why it matters

The report you need is held by whichever agency attended, not by the city you think you were in. Boundaries here are not obvious from the road.

  • Houston Police Department, anywhere inside the city limits
  • Harris County Sheriff's Office, across unincorporated Harris County
  • A Harris County constable precinct, which also patrols parts of the unincorporated county
  • Texas Highway Patrol, on the interstates and state highways beyond the city

Getting your Houston crash report

Requested from Houston Police Department, Records Division. Usually available five to eight days after the crash.

In person. 1200 Travis Street, Houston, Texas 77002

By post. Send the H.B. 2633 form to the Records Division at 1200 Travis with a $6 money order payable to the City of Houston and a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Worth knowing before you go. The copy sold online is redacted. It omits the other driver's name and contact details, which is usually the reason you wanted the report. The unredacted version has to be requested from the Records Division.

Houston Police Department, Records Division · H.B. 2633 crash report request form

The statewide route, the CR-3 form and what TxDOT charges for it, is on crash reports in Texas.

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