Accident data is a privacy issue

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

MILFORD – After the crash last month on Route 101 that killed a young Milford woman, the Milford Police Department’s accident reconstruction team began the work of analyzing every detail that might have played a part.

To identify the cause and contributing factors the team is looking at the roads, vehicles and operators. It is interviewing witnesses and analyzing physical evidence such as tire marks, skid marks and vehicle speeds. It is also trying to determine the role of the drivers and their physical and mental conditions, as well as the road surface, steering angles, braking, use of lights, turn signals and speed.

When the report is complete the Milford Police Department will send it to the state Department of Safety and police might also send out an updated press release regarding the cause of the crash.

But because of a state law known as the Driver Privacy Act, the technical accident reconstruction report itself will not be available to the press or the public at large.

The Driver Privacy Act essentially exempts motor vehicle records from the state’s Right to Know law, and law enforcement agencies are forbidden to release accident reconstruction reports to newspapers and other media outlets.

Milford Police Chief Fred Douglas said that under the law police are allowed to release basic information about a crash, including the names of the vehicle owners, operators, passengers and a pedestrian if the pedestrian was hit by a motor vehicle.

When the reconstruction report is complete, the chief said, he might decide to update the Police Department’s press release regarding the cause of a crash, especially if someone receives a summons.

However, the report itself is off-limits to the press, and anyone who releases information inappropriately is subject to prosecution, said the chief.

“Unfortunately, I have to adhere to the law,” said Douglas, although a media outlet or citizen can appeal to the state for the information.

On Jan. 20, Alisha Zibolis, 20, of Milford, was killed and her passenger, Derek Mossey, 21, was seriously injured after her Subaru and a Shaw’s Supermarket tractor-trailer collided at the intersection of Wilton Road and Route 101 in Milford.

The tractor-trailer, driven by Kevin R. Ruehrwein, 52, of Maine, was heading west on Route 101.

“She never cleared the intersection,” said Douglas, but he said it’s too soon to say which vehicle had the right of way, since there are traffic lights at the intersection.

The Driver Privacy Act, RSA 260:14, makes motor vehicle records confidential, with only certain people having access, “for legitimate governmental or business purposes,” according to a state Department of Safety explanation available online, “including insurance companies and their agents.”

Last summer, after courts rejected requests from the Union Leader to see records from a motorcycle crash in Rochester involving a state trooper, and from the Portsmouth Herald regarding a Seabrook officer’s crash in North Hampton, state lawmakers changed the law to exempt crashes involving state vehicles. County and local vehicles are still covered by the privacy law as are privately owned vehicles.

Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, who sponsored the original privacy law about 10 years ago, has said it was meant to protect private citizens from having their motor vehicle records used by marketers, not to protect public officials who were driving public vehicles.