Reporting a bad driver in Louisiana

Louisiana bad driver reporting & safety guide

1. If it is happening now immediate danger

Emergency hotlines

• 911 — for a driver who is an active danger to other people right now. That is a police matter, and no app is a substitute for the call.
• *LSP (*577) — from a mobile phone. LSP's own instruction is to dial it “to report roadway emergencies”, and its troop pages give it as the alternative to 911 for reporting a crash or requesting emergency assistance
• 1-800-469-4828 — the statewide Louisiana State Police number, listed by the state's own Department of Transportation and Development alongside the star code

The Louisiana State Police publishes these numbers for Louisiana — they reach a dispatcher who may send a trooper to a driver still on the road; call 911 for an immediate danger.

2. Reporting to Louisiana law enforcement after the fact

Neither the hotlines above nor anything in this section is the licence-review route in section 3, and nothing filed on Jerk Alert reaches any of them.

Who takes the report in Louisiana

• The non-emergency line of the Louisiana municipal police department or parish sheriff’s office with jurisdiction where it happened takes reports of dangerous driving that has already happened.
• Bring: the plate (full or partial) and state, the vehicle’s make, model and colour, the location, the date and time, the direction of travel, and what you saw.
• Expect a record rather than a ticket. An officer who did not witness the driving usually cannot cite for it, and what each agency acts on varies.

A separate channel: the State Police suspicious-activity report

Because Louisiana's licensing route is open only to courts, law enforcement, health care providers, OMV employees and family members, a stranger who witnessed something has no OMV route. The Louisiana State Police run a web form, “To Report Suspicious or Criminal Activity” (speed-online.dps.la.gov/SuspiciousActivity), and a Suspicious Activity Hotline, 1-800-434-8007, also published by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. It is a suspicious-activity channel, not a fitness-to-drive review: the form asks for the incident date, time, location and parish, an incident type and synopsis, and details of any suspicious person or vehicle.

Read before using it. In the State Police's own words, the form “does NOT replace filing a police report with your local police department or sheriff's office”; complaints “may be referred to law enforcement/regulatory agencies for investigation”; “this office will not be able to provide a status of your complaint after submission”; and “we cannot guarantee that your complaint will remain confidential.” It also warns: “Providing false information could make you subject to fine, imprisonment, or both (LRS 14:59 Criminal Mischief).” This is the opposite confidentiality posture from the OMV route above, which keeps a family reporter's name from the driver without a court order. The State Police's own troop pages link this same form under the words “To report crime-related information anonymously” — but the form's text is the governing statement, and it says confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Do not treat it as anonymous.

3. State DMV & licensing agency review

Administrative fitness process

The details, for the people Louisiana allows to file.

Agency

Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (DPS&C)

Unit

Driver's License Suspension Unit, as printed on the form itself

Form

DPSMV 3005 (R 7/05) — Report of Driver Condition or Behavior

Where to send

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Motor Vehicles, PO Box 64886, Baton Rouge LA 70896-4886, Attn: Driver's License Suspension Unit

Contact

225-925-6164

What information do I need to report a driver?

• DPSMV 3005 is the report of a driver's condition or behaviour, not the physician's evaluation — the medical and vision examination forms are completed by the driver's own physician, optometrist or ophthalmologist.
• The report must be completed in its entirety and must contain FIRSTHAND KNOWLEDGE of the driver's behaviour or medical or physical condition that may render them unable to drive safely.
• Identify the driver in full: name, operator's licence number, address, date of birth, sex and race are all fields on the form.
• Tick the reasons — physical impairment, lack of skill, repeated accidents or violations, impaired vision, habitual use of alcohol or drugs, epilepsy or a similar condition, mental incompetence, or Other with an explanation — then describe the incident and give its date.
• The form asks you to list any other people familiar with the case, with each one's name, address, telephone number and relationship.
• Sign it. The signature line reads “signature of person familiar with case”, and asks for your title or relation to the driver, your address and your telephone number, with the date submitted.
• A report from a court or a law enforcement officer must identify the specific court, officer or agency. The form adds its own internal rule: a report submitted by an OMV officer must be approved by a supervisor.
• Mail it to the Office of Motor Vehicles, PO Box 64886, Baton Rouge LA 70896-4886, Attn: Driver's License Suspension Unit — the address and unit printed on the form.

Will the driver find out who reported them?

Stated in current policy. Under OMV Policy 23.00 as revised 6 February 2026, Form DPSMV 3005 “is not considered a public record”, the Department “will not divulge any information contained in the reports regardless of whether the case is outstanding or closed”, and the licensed driver “must seek an order from a court of legal authority for the release of the name of the reporting individual”. Your name must be on the form — there is no anonymous version of this route — but the OMV will not hand it over voluntarily.

Louisiana's immunity statute does not cover you. La. R.S. 40:1356 grants good-faith immunity to licensed health care providers (§ B), members of the Louisiana Medical Advisory Board (§ C), and OMV employees and agents (§ E). Family members and private citizens are omitted, so filing DPSMV 3005 as a relative carries some civil exposure if the driver learns of the report and alleges bad faith. What protects you in practice is the confidentiality rule above: the report is not a public record, the OMV will not voluntarily release it or your identity to the driver, and the driver must obtain a court order to compel disclosure.

What can the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (DPS&C) do after a report?

• Where the OMV suspects a physical or mental infirmity or disability that would be grounds for refusing a licence, it requires one or more medical forms from a treating medical provider before a licence can be issued, or to decide whether driving privileges should be suspended or denied.
• The driver is sent the medical examination form (DPSMV 2302) or the vision examination form (DPSMV 2301) to have completed by their own physician, optometrist or ophthalmologist.
• Either form must be returned within thirty days of the date it was issued. Failure to comply results in suspension of driving privileges.
• A form is only valid if the physician's signature is less than sixty days old.
• To comply, the driver must give the Department a satisfactory medical statement, or pass a special driver's licence examination, or both.
• A road skills test may be required, and restrictions can be applied to the licence.
• There is no hardship licence in Louisiana for a physically or mentally challenged driver whose licence has been suspended on medical grounds.

Statutory authority: La. R.S. 32:403.1, 32:403.2, 32:403.3, 32:403.4, 32:409.1(A)(3), 32:414(E), 32:424 and 40:1356, as listed in OMV Policy 23.00 (revised 6 February 2026).

Do doctors have to report?

Doctors in Louisiana are NOT required by law to report medically unfit drivers.

Louisiana is one of 18 of 51 US jurisdictions where a witness unrelated to the driver has no confirmed way to report them to the licensing agency (the 51-location study). That gap is one reason Jerk Alert exists.