Look up a Maryland 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 Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA)? No — Jerk Alert filings are community records between drivers. They never reach the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA), 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.
Maryland 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 Maryland-specific line is listed here. We publish a patrol code only when a state police or DOT page carries it.
2. Reporting to Maryland 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 Maryland
- The non-emergency line of the Maryland municipal or county police department or county 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.
3. State DMV & licensing agency review
Public reporting accessYes — citizens can report dangerous drivers
By letter — Maryland publishes no citizen form. You write to the unit below.
Who can file: Private citizens. The MVA's list of who may request a medical review includes “friends, family members, and neighbors (after the MVA confirms the information)”, alongside the driver, doctors and hospitals, judges and law enforcement agencies, two MVA units, and the Office of Administrative Hearings or the courts.
Administrative fitness process
- Agency
- Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA)
- Unit
- Driver Wellness & Safety Division (DW&S) — it receives the referral, checks the driver's record and takes a request for a hearing; the Medical Advisory Board advises the MVA and does not decide
- Where to send
- MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration, Attn: Driver Wellness & Safety Division, 6601 Ritchie Highway N.E., Glen Burnie MD 21062
- Contact
- MVA contact centre 410-768-7000 · Maryland Relay 7-1-1. The Driver Wellness & Safety Division's fax 410-768-7627, email mvacs@mdot.state.md.us and TTY 1-800-492-4575 are printed on the MVA's Voluntary Physician Referral form; the MVA's page for private citizens names no channel beyond the letter itself.
What information do I need to report a driver?
- There is no citizen form, and the MVA's instruction for the letter is short: include as much information as possible.
- Any referral to the MVA for medical review should include the driver's full name, date of birth, current mailing address, driver's license number, and the medical condition being reported.
- The MVA's own advice to a worried friend or relative is to talk with the driver's doctor first — “The doctor can contact the MVA directly, which may speed up the review process.”
- Law enforcement and health care providers report directly to the MVA. A health care provider may report through their business portal, on official letterhead, or on the Voluntary Physician Referral form — and that form is for a physician or health care provider only, not for a member of the public.
Will the driver find out who reported them?
Anonymous reports are accepted. If you want to remain anonymous, say so in your letter, and the MVA confirms the information before taking action. Anonymity may not survive a contested case: under Md. Transportation § 16-207(b)(1) the MVA may not suspend or revoke a licence on records or evidence from a person alleging the driver is unsafe or unfit unless that person has been identified to the driver and the driver is given an opportunity to cross-examine them at a hearing. Nothing the MVA publishes says what it does with an anonymous letter once a case reaches that point.
What can the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MDOT MVA) do after a report?
- A referral starts with a record check: the Driver Wellness & Safety Division checks whether the driver has been reviewed before.
- The driver may then be asked to complete a health questionnaire, provide current medical reports, sign a form allowing doctors to share information, or take a Maryland Driver Risk Screening (MaDRS) or a driving skills test. Documents can be uploaded through the driver's myMVA account under “Medical Packet”.
- An interview may be scheduled with a Medical Advisory Board doctor to clarify information. The driver may bring more medical records, and the MVA says this is not a court hearing and a lawyer is not required.
- The Medical Advisory Board — doctors from different medical specialties — reviews the records and sends a recommendation to the MVA. It does not perform medical exams and does not make the final call: the MVA decides and notifies the driver.
- The Board may recommend that the MVA approve the driver and close the case; allow driving but require regular medical reports; allow driving with restrictions, for example daylight driving only; suspend or continue a suspension until the condition is controlled; or require more testing, such as vision, knowledge or driving tests.
- A reexamination comes on at least 7 days' written notice, and the MVA may not use the driver's age as grounds for one. A driver who refuses or neglects to submit to a reexamination may be suspended or revoked for that alone.
- If the MVA refuses, suspends or revokes a licence, the driver may request an administrative hearing through the Driver Wellness & Safety Division. Hearings are held by the Office of Administrative Hearings before an administrative law judge, under the Code of Maryland Regulations (Title 11), and the judge's decision may be appealed to the Circuit Court for the driver's county or city.
- Each case is reviewed individually, and a driver who is not approved at first may be approved later if their health improves.
Statutory authority: Md. Transportation § 16-207 and § 16-207(b)(1) — the reexamination power, its notice period, the bar on age-based grounds, the consequence of refusing, and the rule that no suspension or revocation may rest on one person's allegation unless that person has been identified to the licensee and can be cross-examined at a hearing, all set out above. § 16-118 — referral to the Medical Advisory Board for an advisory opinion on the same good-cause standard.
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