Look up a Maine plate
See whether other drivers have filed reports against a plate.
A plate with no reports comes back clean — that is the common result, and it is not an error.
Avoidance & safety rules
- Do not follow or pursue the vehicle, under any circumstances.
- Do not try to read or photograph the plate if doing so means getting closer or driving unsafely.
- Do not engage. No gestures, no eye contact, no reply to an aggressive driver.
- Keep your distance and let them pass. Pull over somewhere public before you make a call, or have a passenger call.
- Note details only if it is safe: make, model and colour, full or partial plate, direction of travel, and the exact location or mile marker.
Does a Jerk Alert report reach the Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles? No — Jerk Alert filings are community records between drivers. They never reach the Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, any other government body, or law enforcement, and they do not replace the calls in sections 1 and 2. If you are in danger, call 911. The Terms prohibit following, approaching, or identifying another driver on any Jerk Alert platform.
Maine 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.
- No Maine-specific line is listed here. We publish a patrol code only when a state police or DOT page carries it.
2. Reporting to Maine 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 Maine
- The non-emergency line of the Maine municipal police department, county sheriff’s office or Maine State Police troop 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.
3. State DMV & licensing agency review
Public reporting accessYes — citizens can report dangerous drivers
By letter — Maine publishes no citizen form. You write to the unit below.
Who can file: A person with direct knowledge of the driver's specific conduct or specific events indicating a disqualifying medical condition. The BMV lists signed statements from citizens among the ways it obtains medical information.
Administrative fitness process
- Agency
- Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
- Unit
- Driver License Services Division — Medical Section
- Where to send
- Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Driver License Services Division — Medical Section, 29 State House Station, Augusta ME 04333-0029
- Contact
- medical.bmv@maine.gov · 207-624-9000 ext. 52124
What information do I need to report a driver?
- Include the name, address and date of birth of the driver.
- No action will be taken unless the person submitting the report signs the letter and includes their name, address, phone and/or email address.
- The standard is direct knowledge of specific conduct or specific events — not a general worry, and not something you were told.
- Physicians caring for patients with impairments that may affect driving safety are responsible for making their recommendations available to the patient in writing, including the patient's name, address and date of birth.
Will the driver find out who reported them?
Two different protections. On confidentiality: every effort will be made to maintain the confidentiality of the person making the report, but this cannot be guaranteed — a report can still be reached by subpoena or open-records disclosure under Maine's Freedom of Access Act. Reports to the Medical Advisory Board are classified confidential for administrative use under § 1258(7), but that classification is what yields in a judicial appeal or a contested administrative proceeding. On liability: 29-A M.R.S. § 1258(6) gives immunity from criminal and civil liability to a physician or other person who, in good faith, reports an impairment that appears to present an imminent threat to driving safety.
The law protects you for reporting. Any citizen in the State who, in good faith, submits a report of a driver's impairment is immune from civil or criminal liability for making the report. That is the BMV's own sentence, and § 1258(6) carries it in the statute — "a physician or other person", not clinicians alone. One limit is in the statute and worth knowing: the immunity for damages applies only to the extent that it is not in conflict with federal law or regulation.
What can the Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles do after a report?
- Once the BMV receives your information, its only contact will be with the driver. It will not notify the reporting person of any outcome — expect to hear nothing back.
- Where a written or road test is required, an appointment is scheduled at the examination location closest to the driver's home.
Statutory authority: 29-A M.R.S. § 1258 — (6) good-faith immunity for a physician or other person reporting an impairment; (7) reports are confidential.
What this route can and cannot do
A fitness-to-drive referral, not a bad-driving complaint: it is built around a medical, cognitive or physical condition and asks for the driver’s name and date of birth, which a plate number does not give you.
Jerk Alert