You asked if (1) police officers have statutory authority to charge motorists involved in an accident for traffic control, (2) volunteer fire departments are prohibited from charging for traffic control, and (3) auto insurance companies factor such charges into rates.

We are unaware of any statutory authority for police officers or volunteer fire departments to charge motorists involved in a traffic accident for related traffic control services. We spoke with the Division of State Police and several randomly selected municipal police departments, including Bloomfield, East Hartford, Manchester, and West Hartford.

The Division of State Police does not charge for traffic control services at accident scenes. The municipalities’ police departments do not charge motorists for traffic control services. Municipalities do charge a utility company if traffic control is necessary for an extended time period following an accident while the utility company makes repairs to damaged utility lines or poles. The bill sent to the utility company includes the accident report, which contains the involved motorists and insurance companies. The utility company then submits these charges to the motorists’ insurance companies.

Auto insurance companies do not isolate and apply these charges as a rating factor when determining premiums, according to the Connecticut Insurance Department. Instead, the charges are reflected as a paid loss, affecting the motorist’s claim history. Companies do consider driving history and past claim experience when developing rates. Thus, these charges may affect a motorist’s future auto insurance premiums. For more information on rate factors used by auto insurance companies, see OLR Report 2004-R-0712 (copy enclosed).

JLK: ro