Look up a New York 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 New York State Department of Motor Vehicles? No — Jerk Alert filings are community records between drivers. They never reach the New York State Department 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.
New York 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 New York-specific line is listed here. We publish a patrol code only when a state police or DOT page carries it.
2. Reporting to New York 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 New York
- The non-emergency line of the New York city, town or village police department, county sheriff’s office or New York 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
A named form a member of the public can file with the licensing agency.
Who can file: Concerned citizens — DS-7 is their form. Law enforcement use DS-5; physicians use DS-6.
Administrative fitness process
- Agency
- New York State Department of Motor Vehicles
- Unit
- Medical Review Unit
- Form
- DS-7 — Request for Driver Review (rev. 6/21)
- Where to send
- Medical Review Unit, NYS Department of Motor Vehicles, 6 Empire State Plaza, Room 337, Albany NY 12228
What information do I need to report a driver?
- No notary is required. Part 4 is a self-certification signed under penalty of law: the reporter certifies the information is true and accurate and acknowledges that a false statement may be punishable by law.
- The report cannot be anonymous. Part 1 asks for the reporter's full name, date of birth, mailing address, daytime telephone number and NYS Client ID Number where they have one.
- Part 3 requires firsthand, specific observations — dates, times, locations and the driving behaviour seen. A general complaint is not enough.
- Page 2 invites you to name other people who share your assessment and whom DMV may contact.
- The Department will not act on the request unless all four parts are completed and all required information supplied.
- The form must be signed and the original mailed to the Medical Review Unit, NYS Department of Motor Vehicles, 6 Empire State Plaza, Room 337, Albany NY 12228.
- The form warns plainly that the review may lead to suspension or revocation of the reported driver's licence.
- A DMV representative may contact you about your request.
Will the driver find out who reported them?
A copy of the DS-7 report IS available under the Freedom of Information Law, but DMV does not reveal the identity of the person who reported a driver's medical condition in response to a FOIL request.
What can the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles do after a report?
- The Medical Review Unit investigates reports of drivers whose medical condition may interfere with safe operation; board-certified medical consultants help DMV decide.
- Where the report comes from someone who is not a physician, each case is decided separately.
- The Medical Review Unit forwards the form to the DMV Testing and Investigation Unit in the area where the driver lives. A licence examiner reviews it to decide whether there is reason to re-evaluate the driver, and if the request is valid, sends the driver a certified letter asking them to come to a DMV office for an interview.
- DMV may schedule a re-examination or an evaluation interview with a licence examiner, who then decides what tests are needed.
Statutory authority: N.Y. Vehicle & Traffic Law § 506(1), (3) — if the Commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe a licence holder is not qualified to drive, the Commissioner may require an examination; a driver who passes is told so and keeps the licence, a driver who fails may face restrictions, definite or indefinite suspension, or revocation, and refusing the examination is itself grounds for revocation or indefinite suspension. The DMV's own Driver Re-Evaluation page reads 'reasonable grounds' as a specific driving-related reason reported by a physician, a police officer, or someone who knows or has observed the driver
What this route can and cannot do
New York is one of the more realistic forms for a witness: DS-7 requires the driver's date of birth but accepts an approximate age if you do not know it, and it carries optional fields for the vehicle's make, colour and licence plate number — so a plate and a description are not useless here, though not enough on their own. It is still a fitness-to-drive referral: the Medical Review Unit decides whether a medical condition makes the person unsafe to drive, not whether they behaved badly, and DMV does not act on reports based on age alone.
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