Road Traffic Accidents
All you wanted was a nice quiet drive in the country on a Sunday afternoon. Instead, as you were driving along that peaceful road, you came face to face with another car coming towards you from the opposite direction and before you know it you have collided with each other.
Or you were driving through town and suddenly someone drives out from a side road and straight into your path and you can’t avoid hitting their car.
These are scenarios that drivers, at some time in their driving career, are likely to come across.
Sometimes, the accident only results in ‘bent metal’. However, there are also occasions when, unfortunately, someone is injured.
So what does one do if this situation arises?
Firstly, the law (Road Traffic Act 1988) requires that any driver involved in an accident where another vehicle is involved must stop and give his name, address and the registration number “to any person having reasonable grounds for requiring those details”. This can of course include not only the police but also the other driver and any passengers. If anyone has suffered an injury in the accident the requirement extends to also giving insurance details.
If for any reason you can’t give this information at the time then you must do so “as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any case within 24 hours” to a police constable or at a police station.
But this only satisfies the Road Traffic Act requirements. What else can you do to make any claim by you, or being made against you, easier to deal with? :-
• If you have a camera with you (and remember most mobile phones now have this facility) then take photographs of the scene showing clearly the position of all the vehicles involved.
If you haven’t got a camera then draw a sketch plan of the accident scene (this would also be helpful even if you have taken photographs). Try and include measurements on the plan even if they are only approximate and have been ‘paced’ out.
• Also take a note of the weather conditions at the time and whether there was any form of street lighting and, if there was, whether it was illuminated. Also make a note of whether the other vehicle(s) had their headlights on.
• Note the names and addresses of everyone involved. The other drivers must give you their details under the requirements of the Road Traffic Act
• Ask witnesses for their names and addresses, or keep a record of their registration numbers if you don’t have time to speak to them.
• Take a note of any explanation given by any party to the accident or a witness.
• Make a note of the damage to each vehicle and any apparent injuries suffered by anyone.
• If the police have been called to the accident scene because someone has been injured then make a note of the Police Officers’ numbers and from which station they have come from. This would help in obtaining a copy of any police accident report that might then be available.
Afterwards you should report the accident to your insurers and write a full report of what happened. If you were injured but were not taken to hospital then do go and consult your GP straight away.
Barry Cramer
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