Look up a Tennessee 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 Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security? No — Jerk Alert filings are community records between drivers. They never reach the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, 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.
Tennessee 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.
- *THP (*847) — Tennessee Highway Patrol. Highway patrol line for dangerous driving as it happens.
It reaches a dispatcher who may send a trooper to a driver still on the road — use it while the driving is happening, and 911 for an immediate danger. THP's own wording: "Contact Us Statewide via Mobile Phone: *THP (*847) for Highway Emergencies to connect to the THP District Headquarters nearest you at the time of your call." Each of the eight districts also publishes a toll-free dispatch number.
2. Reporting to Tennessee 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 Tennessee
- The non-emergency line of the Tennessee municipal 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
A named form a member of the public can file with the licensing agency.
Who can file: “Any reliable individual”, by signed letter — the departmental rule's words; law enforcement and driver licence examiners file written complaints, and crash report data is a third trigger.
Administrative fitness process
- Agency
- Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security
- Unit
- Driver Improvement Unit
- Form
- Written request to the Driver Improvement Section. The Department offers the Special/Medical Examination Request Form (SF-0365) as an optional way to write it — "You may use" it, in the Department's words.
- Where to send
- Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Driver Improvement Section, 1150 Foster Avenue, Nashville TN 37243
- Contact
- driver.improvement@tn.gov · fax 615-253-3104 · Driver Improvement Section (615) 251-5235
What information do I need to report a driver?
- Submit a written request with the driver's name and birthdate, a brief description of the problem, and your own name and phone number. A written request is the requirement; the Department says you MAY use its Special/Medical Examination Request Form, so not having the form does not stop you.
- Send the referral by fax to 615-253-3104 or by email to driver.improvement@tn.gov — the two routes the Department publishes for it.
Will the driver find out who reported them?
Not anonymous — the Department says so in plain words: “We cannot accept anonymous referrals.” Your name and phone number are part of what makes a referral valid, and the referral has to be signed. Beyond that, no Tennessee agency page states whether your identity is withheld from the driver, so do not assume it is. Tennessee has no published promise either way.
What can the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security do after a report?
- When Driver Improvement receives a signed, written referral or complaint that a driver has a medical or physical disability, the driver is given the opportunity to have their medical professional complete and submit a medical form for review.
- Action taken against the driver, if any, is based on the completed medical form or other information submitted by their medical professional. Their driving privileges may be suspended or restrictions may be added, and they may be required to retake all or any part of the driver licence examination.
- The Department may require re-examination or other information within 30 days of receiving the information; the notice also tells the driver they may request an administrative hearing within 30 days.
- Failure to submit to re-examination, provide information, or request a hearing in time results in suspension.
- The driver may retake the written and vision portions without limit, with a 7-day wait between retests; the on-road skills test may be taken three times at 30-day intervals, after which they wait six months.
- Periodic re-examination, such as annually, may be required for mental or physical conditions.
- Restrictions or conditions may be placed on a licence where there is good cause to believe safety requires them.
Statutory authority: T.C.A. § 55-50-505(b) (evidence of incompetence, twenty days' written notice, examination and the outcomes that follow); § 55-50-331(d)–(e) (restricted licence); Rules ch. 1340-01-04 (Driver Improvement Program), § 1340-01-04-.07 (suspension for failing or refusing, the 30-day windows, retest limits and the hearing right) — which names a signed letter from any reliable individual among the sources an unfit driver is identified from.
What this route can and cannot do
Tennessee is one of the few states whose process covers observed driving behaviour and not only medical impairment — but it is still a fitness-to-drive referral: it asks for the driver’s name and date of birth, which a plate number does not give you, and its remedy is a competence re-test that a capable but aggressive driver passes.
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