What To Do If ....
Your Car Has Been Ticketed or Towed ...
You've Been in an Automobile Accident ...
- VPD officers do NOT ticket and tow vehicles as a routine part of their daily responsibilities.
- The Office of Traffic and Parking is generally responsible for ticketing and towing cars on campus during business hours. When Traffic and Parking officers are not available, VPD officers enforce parking regulations relating to safety issues such as fire lane and "no parking area" violations.
- Owners of parking spaces, which are reserved 24 hours a day, may also call VPD for enforcement if the Office of Traffic and Parking is closed.
- The Office of Traffic and Parking uses Martin's Wrecker Service to tow vehicles from campus. Martin's number is (615) 256-9502.
- Office of Traffic and Parking website
You've Been in an Automobile Accident ...
- VPD should always be called if an auto accident occurs on campus or the streets running through campus.
- The number to VPD Communications is (615) 322-2745 (2-2745 from a campus extension)
- Dial 911 for accidents involving injuries. If the accident involves serious injuries, Metro Police Traffic Investigators will be called to assist in the investigation of the accident. VPD Communications Specialist have direct contact with Medcom, Nashville Fire Department, and Metro Police to request response if necessary.
- Vanderbilt Police Officers will respond and complete a report of the accident Tennessee Law requires that property damage accidents, which result in damage over $50.00 be reported to the Police in the quickest manner possible. Tennessee law requires a report to be filed if damage to any vehicle exceeds $400.00.
- Vehicles involved in an accident should stop and remain at the scene without obstructing traffic more than is necessary. All accident reports completed by VPD officers are forwarded to Metropolitan Police Nashville Department. Requests for copies of accident reports should be directed to MNPD.
- Tennessee law requires that all drivers and front seat passengers be properly restrained with a seat belt when the vehicle is in operation.
TN Department of Safety Owner / Driver Form
As set forth under the provisions of 55-12-104, T.C.A., you must file, or have filed in your behalf, a personal accident report with the Department of Safety, if you were involved in an automobile accident as an owner or driver involving death or injury, or in which damage to property was in excess of four hundred dollars ($400) to any person involved. This report is required regardless of who was at fault and in addition to any report filed by an investigating officer.
Failure to file a personal accident report with the Department of Safety shall result in the suspension of driver license and registrations or nonresident operating privileges of any person involved in an accident.
Your report must be submitted to the Department of Safety within twenty (20) days from the accident in order to avoid the proposed suspension of your driving and registration privileges. You can satisfy this requirement by downloading, printing out and completing the Owner / Driver Report Form and returning it to the Financial Responsibility Section.
Financial Responsibility Section
P. O. Box 945
Nashville, TN 37202
Download Owner/Driver Report >
NOTE: This report form must be downloaded, printed out and completed by hand. It can not be submitted online.
- First step: call to VPD Communications at (615) 322-2745 (2-2745 on campus)
- If the theft is in progress call 911 (from a cell phone call (615) 421-1911 to reach VPD 911). The Communications Specialist will obtain brief information such as your name, address and a phone number where you can be reached.
- When you call VPD an officer will be sent to meet with you to take a report. Calls for service are generally dispatched to an officer as they are received; however calls are prioritized by the urgency of the situation. Because of this prioritization, on rare occasions you may have to wait several minutes for an officer to be available to take your report.
- Once a report has been completed, it is forwarded downtown to Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Records. If you need a copy of this report for insurance purposes, contact MNPD Records. Even though you think your stolen property may never be recovered, it just might! VPD detectives work closely with MNPD and local pawn shops and do in fact recover items which have been stolen from campus.
- If a report is never made, we don't know who to return recovered property to. VPD tracks the locations of incidents of crime on campus and the medical center and targets those areas for preventive patrols by officers. When we know that a crime has occurred in 'a particular area, we work hard to ensure that the opportunity to commit a crime in that area is reduced. By reporting incidents of crime and suspicious persons, you help us to concentrate our resources in a manner which will prevent future criminal acts and keep our campus safe.
- Tennessee State law prohibits guns on campus and in the medical center unless they are carried by police officers.
- VPD provides a secure "safe keeping" area for weapons which are brought to campus for "sporting purposes". This safe keeping service is provided for residential students.
- The person responsible for the weapon should bring the weapon to Vanderbilt Police Department, which is located at 2800 Vanderbilt Place. The weapon(s) should be transported by car to this office as soon as it is brought to campus (Please don't walk down the sidewalk with your rifle or shotgun as this may tend to alarm some).
- The weapon should be unloaded prior to arrival at VPD. You will be asked to fill out safe keeping forms. Only yourself, or a designated person you list on the safekeeping form, will be allowed to retrieve the weapon.
- Students are allowed to check-in or retrieve weapons which have been left with VPD for safekeeping, 24-hours a day.
- When retrieving a weapon an appointment must be made during business hours to schedule drop-off or pick-up. Officers are unable to retrieve your weapon after hours unless an appointment is made. Call VPD at (615) 322-2745 for information or to make an appointment. Students may check in more than one weapon and the weapon(s) may be checked in and out, as many times as necessary.
