Request By:
Mr. O. B. Arnold
Commissioner
Bureau of Vehicle Regulation
Department of Transportation
State Office Building
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General pertaining to the statutory requirement to report motor vehicle accidents to the Department of Transportation. The following three statutory provisions are involved in your questions:
1. KRS 187.320(1) "The operator of every motor vehicle which is in any manner involved in an accident within this state, in which any person is killed or injured or in which total property damage of two hundred dollars or more is sustained, shall, within ten days, report the matter in writing to the department of transportation . . . ."
2. KRS 189.580(3). "The operator of a vehicle involved in an accident in subsection (1) or (2) above resulting in injury to or death of any person or in which total property damage of two hundred dollars ($200) or more is sustained shall, within twenty (20) days, report the matter in writing to the department of transportation. "
3. KRS 189.635(4) "Any person operating a vehicle on the highways of this state who is involved in an accident resulting in any property damage exceeding two hundred dollars $200) in which an investigation is not conducted by a law enforcement officer shall file a written report of the accident with the bureau of state police within ten (10) days of occurrence of the accident upon forms provided by the bureau. "
There is a direct conflict between KRS 187.320(1) and KRS 189.580(3) in that the former requires a report within 10 days and the latter within 20 days to the Department of Transportation. The former statute is a part of the Financial Responsibility Law which was substantially gutted by repeal of KRS 187.330 to KRS 187.309, effective July 1, 1975. Since the purpose of reporting under KRS Chapter 187 has been practicably eliminated and since the latter statute was amended by House Bill 87 in 1976 Acts to allow 20 days instead of 10 days to report to the Department of Transportation, we believe that KRS 187.320 has been superseded and may be disregarded.
There is no conflict between KRS 189.580(3) and KRS 189.635(4) in that the former requires the reporting of an accident involving either injury to persons or property damage of $200 or more to the Department of Transportation and the latter involves only property damage accidents which must be reported to the Bureau of State Police whenever there is not conducted an investigation by a law enforcement officer. In regard to the latter statute, a person operating a vehicle who has an accident involving only property damage need not make any report to the State Police if the accident is investigated by a law enforcement officer. Subsection (3) of the same statute requires the law enforcement officer to make a report within 10 days. If no investigation was made by an officer, such person will have to make a report to the State Police within 10 days and to the Department of Transportation within 20 days.
Now, to answer your questions which are as follows:
(1) "In the coutest of KRS 189.635, when a law enforcement officer is summoned, and a written report is provided by the law enforcement agency to the Bureau of the State Police which forwards a copy of that report to the Department of Transportation, may the Department of Transportation for the purposes of the requirements of KRS 187.320 and 189.580, treat the statutes as having been complied with and not require the motor vehicle operator's report to be filed?"
(2) "[W]hich time period is to govern: the ten (10) days of KRS 187.320 or the twenty (20) days of KRS 189.580?"
In answer to question No. (1), it is hard to tell what the legislative intent is or whether the legislature wittingly intended two separate reports to be made. Doubts in the construction of statutes which carry a penalty are to be resolved in favor of lenity. Commonwealth v. Colonial Stores, Ky., 350 S.W.2d 465 (1961). We are therefore of the opinion that the practical purpose of accident reporting will be accomplished if one report is made by the police officer who investigated the accident and who files the report with the Bureau of State Police which in turn forwards a copy of the report to the Department of Transportation. Since the officer's report must be filed with the Bureau of State Police within 10 days and (we conclude) the report to the Department of Transportation must be filed within 20 days, there will be adequate time for the report to be transmitted by the State Police to the Department of Transportation.
In answer to question No. (2), where no law enforcement officer investigates the accident, both parties to the accident should file their report with the Department of Transportation within 20 days.