A police officer responded to the scene of your Oregon collision, which caused $4,000 in damage to your vehicle, and filed a police report. Does that satisfy your DMV reporting obligation?
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A.
Yes, the officer's report covers it for DMV.
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B.
No, you must still file your own DMV report. Correct
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C.
Yes, if the officer says no DMV report is needed.
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D.
Yes, if you were not at fault in the collision.
The answer is "No, you must still file your own DMV report."
No. The Oregon manual states plainly that a police report does not replace your requirement to file a report with DMV. With $4,000 in damage to the vehicle you were driving, this collision is well over the $2,500 reporting threshold, so you must file a collision report (Form 735-32) with DMV within 72 hours, whether or not an officer responded. The manual's reporting triggers include damage to the vehicle you were driving over $2,500; damage to property other than a vehicle over $2,500; damage to any vehicle over $2,500 when a vehicle is towed from the scene due to collision damage; injury or death; and, for a vehicle owner, the driver's failure to report a reportable collision. None of those triggers can be satisfied or waived by an officer's report.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Yes, the officer's report covers it for DMV.
The manual is explicit that a police report does not replace your requirement to file a report with DMV. Misreading: Treats the police report as a substitute for the DMV filing, which the manual explicitly rejects.
C. Yes, if the officer says no DMV report is needed.
Officers cannot waive the DMV reporting requirement; the obligation is yours. Misreading: Imagines the responding officer can waive the driver's DMV filing duty; the manual grants no such discretion.
D. Yes, if you were not at fault in the collision.
Fault does not waive the DMV report. The triggers are damage, injury, or towing thresholds, and the $4,000 damage here requires the filing regardless of fault. Misreading: Treats fault as the trigger; the manual ties the filing duty to damage, injury, and towing thresholds, not fault.
This question tests your knowledge of Crash Procedures in Oregon. Source: Oregon Driver Manual, "Your Responsibilities (Traffic Collisions)," p.94..
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