The NC Traffic and Criminal Software
NCTraCS

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  • NC Traffic and Criminal Software (NC TraCS)

    ​The NC Traffic and Criminal Software (NC TraCS) is North Carolina's implementation of the national model of the Traffic and Criminal Software package, originally created for the state of Iowa.

    TRCS is designed to facilitate secure electronic communication and data exchange between law enforcement agencies, N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles and other authorized entities involved in traffic crash reporting and records management.

    TraCS Support & Agency Responsibilities

    The TraCS application is available at no cost to North Carolina law enforcement agencies and helps agencies meet the 10-day crash report submission requirement outlined in North Carolina General Statute 20-166.1(e).

    Each participating agency must designate a TraCS Administrator to serve as the agency’s primary point of contact. The administrator is responsible for installing TraCS, managing user accounts and access levels, providing basic troubleshooting and user support, and training agency staff. Mandatory Training: The designated TraCS Administrator must complete the DMV’s Train-the-Trainer course before administering TraCS or training agency users. DMV provides Train-the-Trainer sessions to prepare administrators for these responsibilities.

    Interested in training?

    NCDMV offers in-person training on TraCS  multiple times each month. Check out our calendar below for upcoming classes. Please register for training sessions by clicking on the class in the Calendar or Events list below and use the Registration link to sign up at least 3 business days in advance of the start date. Please be aware that each registration is for a single attendee. If multiple people plan to attend, each person must register separately.

    ​If there's enough interest in your area and you'd like to request a training in another location, please contact Operations Support at (919) 861-3084 or operations-support@ncdot.gov​.​

  • ​Open Classes are Blue

    ​ Full Classes are Red
    Closed Classes are Brown​

  • Video Training

    We also offer on-demand video training on how to use TRCS. To view these videos, click the button below.​​​

Download TraCS Training Videos​​​​

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  • Frequently Asked Questions

    ​

    TraCS is an application used by law enforcement officers investigating motor vehicle crashes. It is designed to reduce the necessity for paper forms by allowing for the collection, validation, and transmission of crash data electronically. The application provides auto-enabling/disabling of fields based on data entered and provides drop-down lists where applicable. The application also allows for the creation of field defaults which helps to reduce the time officers spend entering crash data. TraCS also allows users to search DMV databases for North Carolina driver and registration information and auto-fills driver/vehicle fields on the report for your investigating officers.

    The NCDMV offers TraCS at no cost to law enforcement agencies reporting motor vehicle crashes.

    NCDMV will provide TraCS access to law enforcement agencies once your trainer completes TraCS training and all required paperwork is submitted. For details, contact Operations Support at (919) 861-3084, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can also email operations-support@ncdot.gov.

    ​TraCS is an ECRS vendor alternative that is free to all LEA’s who use it. TraCS helps to provide accurate and timely crash data for all crash data stakeholders, which ultimately helps to improve the safety of our highways.

    ​The application is loaded to your investigating officer’s desktop computer or Mobile Data Terminal (MDT). The reporting officer (reporter) can collect, validate, save and send crash reports to their supervisor for review and approval. Reporters must be working online to send crash reports to their supervisor. The supervisor must be working online to retrieve a report submitted for review by a reporter. After supervisors have reviewed and approved a report, they can accept the report. Supervisors can also reject reports and return them to the reporting officer for correction. Supervisors can also provide rejection reasons to the reporting officer informing them of what corrections are needed.

    ​Once reports have been submitted to NCDMV they will be processed.

    TRCS is the Traffic Records Communication System and is the server used to transmit crash data between users and to NCDMV’s Crash Reporting System (CRS). The TRCS Server has an internal process that forwards supervisor accepted reports to CRS using the NCDMV TRCS Service process. CRS processes crash report data nightly and applies its internal business rules to validate the supervisor-accepted reports. If validation is successful, CRS assigns a NCDMV Crash ID and creates a document image of the crash report. If the crash report fails CRS validations, an error report will be created. A message is returned to the TraCS server with either an NCDMV Crash ID number (report passed validations) or an error message (report failed validations).

    The individual submitting the report may retrieve the reports that have been approved. However, if the report was rejected, they will be able to view the reason for rejection..

    An example of the process would be as follows:

    1. The reporter enters crash information into TraCS and verifies the data, using database lookups for vehicle or driver details when needed.
    2. The reporter transmits the completed crash report to the TraCS Server.
    3. A supervisor reviews the submitted crash report and, once approved, sends it to the TRCS Server.
    4. The TRCS Server forwards the approved report to CRS for processing.
    5. CRS accepts or rejects the report.
    6. Accepted reports are assigned an official NCDMV crash ID number.
    • ​​Expedites entry of crash reports by providing drop-down lists (instead of using a DMV-349 paper pad to look up codes), disables and enables fields based on data already entered, and allows for validation/cross-validation of fields.
    • N.C. TraCS allows N.C. driver/vehicle data searches which allows for the auto-filling of returned data to the crash reporting form. This saves investigating officers valuable time.
    • Avoids repeated data entry into the form thereby reducing errors.
    • All transactions are paperless, unless a report is printed (i.e. Driver Exchange, uncertified copy of the DMV-349).
    • Expedited public availability of crash data.
    • Has a built-in, user friendly diagram creation tool. NCDMV also provides a limited number of Diagram Editor (Trancite Application) licenses to law enforcement agencies at no cost.
    • User friendly and functionality is intuitive and easy to adopt.
    • It is free to law enforcement agencies.

    TraCS also allows users to search DMV databases by entering a driver license number, VIN or plate number. The data returned can be populated within the TraCS form thus reducing the need for additional data entry. TraCS is free to law enforcement agencies.

    North Carolina Crash Reporting Form (NCCRF) automatically enables/disables data fields based upon previously keyed fields.

    Data entered into the NCCRF is validated within TraCS, thus minimizing data entry error.

    ​Submitting crashes electronically is far more efficient than submitting paper reports. The crash report is created and validated on a Reporter's MDT, electronically sent to their Supervisor's MDT or PC, and then ultimately submitted electronically to DMV for processing. Once a crash report has been approved by DMV, the DMV-349 is available typically within 24 hours after submission.

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