Remember these golden rules and carry a guide
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111My work involves writing handbooks for goods vehicle drivers in which I include a fairly detailed section on what should and should not be done when one is involved in accident. Yet when I saw an accident the other evening and became involved in the subsequent discussion about responsibility and blame, I suddenly realised that I was behaving in a fairly random fashion.
This experience had led me to think that it will be helpful this month ill set out some views on the subject, starting from the fact that the law imposes two positive and immediate requirements on a driver: 1, to stop; and 2, to report the accident.
The maximum penalty for failing to stop after an accident or to report it is £1,000 with discretionary disqualification (five to nine penalty points for failing to stop; four to nine for failing to report). These penalties emphasise the importance of the two requirements, probably because of the practice of some motorists who have been drinking to abandon the scene of an accident.
"Stopping" means just what it says. You have a duty to stop your vehicle as near as possible to the scene. The problem arises when for whatever reason, the motorist does not know that an accident has occurred. Perhaps one of the most commone examples can be a collision at the end of a 40ft articulated trailer with either some other vehicle or some stationary object.
The duty to report is a duty to provide any other person who might have an interest in the accident with your name and address and, where that cannot be done, to report the circumstances to the police.
The law requires that the report is made at the earliest moment and in any event within 24 hours. As a matter of practice a successful prosecution will follow if the accident is not reported immediately, and by that I mean as soon as possible after it has happened.
Apart from those two requirements there is no other legal obligation. It is particularly important to remember that there is no legal obligation to make a statement either at the time of the incident or subsequently.
There are broadly two sorts of accident: those where the damage is minimal, and those in which the damage is severe and in which there may be some personal injury. Where the damage is extremely slight, the common practice was to see if the other person might be persuaded to be content with the exchange of names and addresses. That practice, which had attractions particularly if you felt that you were the guilty party, has really become less and less desirable. The fundamental difficulty arises because, if the other person subsequently reports the matter to the police, you may well be disadvantaged by being the second person to given an account of the incident. Indeed, one of the problems with any motoring occurrence is the fact that, whether subconsciously or not, we all tend to impose a subjective view on the circumstances which, with the elapse of even a short period of time, may produce a recollection totally inconsistent with the real circumstances I do not say that you should never agree to rely merely upon an exchange of names and addresses, but it is important that you should understand that the apparent benefits are not as persuasive as you might have thought. If, for instance, you are driving a company vehicle you may well create problems for yourself if there is a subsequent complaint to the police and it transpires that you had not reported the matter formally and yet you are on the receiving end of a prosecution or, indeed, an insurance claim.
When in doubt, report the matter to the police. As a matter of practice, if the police themselves take the view that the incident is insignificant, they will probably urge you to be content with a simple exchange of information. That is the time to make that decision which may well be the right one.
Where the incident is serious, these considerations really do not apply. Inevitably the police will be called and they will sort out those who are involved and those who are not and in due course they will seek to interview the people who are directly concerned.
I must point out again that there is no obligation to make a statement to the police. You may be told that that will count against you, but that is not strictly accurate. What is far more important is that a statement made immediately after an accident is likely to be wrong, frequently damaging, and usually, and this is perhaps the most important point of all, reflects the views of the person taking the statement.
Policemen called to the scene are often experienced road traffic officers. Inevitably, because of their experience, they, like the rest of us, will form an immediate view as to the likely cause of the incident. This is particularly true if the accident occurs at a notorious spot. This means that when they interview the driver of the vehicle which they presume to be responsible for the incident, that will be reflected in the way that the interview is conducted.
Police officers are trained to take statements; they are trained to record the information in a particular way; they, for those reasons, will persuade you to express yourself in a way which is consistent with their approach to the recording of the events. Unfortunately this frequently means that a motorist finds that he has made, and signed, a statement which, on reflection, bears little or no relationship to his real understanding or the circumstances. What you should do is to advise the police officer that you do not wish to make a statement at the time, but that you will, if you are so minded, make a statement in due course. This will have the double advantage of allowing your own thoughts to settle and clear and also, and whether or not this is an advantage is a matter of opinion, to take the advice of a solicitor whether or not a statement should be made.
It is worthwhile observing that the solicitor's role is not to make any moral decisions as to who is, or who is not, responsible for an accident. While that may become necessary at some stage, the solicitors primary role is to protect the client from prosecution. There are circumstances in which, provided the motorist says nothing at all, it is difficult if not impossible for the prosecution to make out a case. The converse is that if a statement is made which enables the prosecution to proceed then the prosecution may be extremely serious.
Positively, however, a number of actions should be taken by any person involved in a traffic accident. The first is to obtain the names and addresses of any other driver involved. The trick is to get the registration number and description of the vehicle, which can be done without speaking to anyone, and then to approach the driver for the information. That information the driver is obliged to provide and if, for any reason, you feel that it is inaccurate or if the driver declines to give you the information then, having recorded the details of the vehicle, you should ask the police for the information The second thing to do is to try to identify any independent witnesses and to obtain their names and addresses. In purely practical terms this is the most important step although in practice it really is impossible to do that until you have dealt with the driver of any other involved vehicle.
So many clients have told me of independent witness to accidents who, by the time that the matter comes to my attention which normally means following the issue of proceedings have disappeared. The police will be interested in independent witnesses, but not necessarily as a matter of immediacy. The independent witness might well, as frequently happens suddenly realise that he or she is a witness and find a good reason to leave the scene so as to not 'become involved".
The next thing to do is, so far as is possible, to make some notes as to the damage that is done to the other persons vehicle. That may seem a strange thing to suggest, but, frequently, arguments will arise as to the precise point of impact. Where some time elapses between the accident and the subsequent realisation that proceedings are to follow, or indeed an insurance claim is to be made, the vehicles may not be in the state that they were immediately following the accident and disputes as to the point of impact may become difficult to resolve even though they are clearly cntical. Those are all matters that need to be done quickly because the people or the vehicles may well be moved and the information might prove subsequently extremely difficult to get.
Make a sketch of the scene as a matter of urgency. So far as is possible you should indicate the position of the vehicles and, again so far as is possible, record some view as to any relevant distances.
People forget that it is not merely a police officer who has the right to refer to notes of an incident which are made at the time or shortly thereafter. Any person who has the forethought to make an contemporaneous record of the event which is dated and signed can refer to it in any subsequent proceedings. While it is part of a policeman's training to make that type of record, there is no reason at all why any motorist should not do precisely the same thing, One "don't is of critical importance. Never, in any circumstances, admit fault or responsibility unless you are absolutely certain that you propose paying any damage yourself and that there is no question of police proceedings.
The first problem is the purely financial one. All insurance policies impose a duty on a motorist not to admit fault. Contracts of insurance have a specific and special legal effect. BecausP the insurer carries a high financial risk which depends upon the integrity of the person who takes out the insurance, any departure from the terms of the policy will normally allow that policy to be invalidated. If, in a moment of goodwill, you elect to admit responsibility for the accident or damage, your insurers may well, and properly, advise you that they will wish to be indemnified if they have to make any payment under the policy.
In my experience those who are anxious to tell the other person that they are to blame for the accident normally do so in the hope that that will mean that the matter will not be reported to the police whether because they have been drinking, or because they believe that they might be prosecuted; it matters not. The effect is precisely as I have stated. It is a temptation that should be avoided at all costs, not only because of the insurance difficulties but also because no roadside agreement will be binding on either party and the other motorist may well elect to rush to the nearest police station and report the matter notwithstanding any "agreement" that you feel may have been reached.
Frequently a motorist who has entered into such an agreement quite happily will suddenly wonder whether or not their own relationship with their insurance company is at risk and will, for that reason, go to the police. More often a friend advises that it is a matter of importance that the police are notified.
Whatever the motivation, an admission should never be made except in the special circumstances to which 1 have referred. The trouble is with all this is that while sitting quietly reading an article such as this, the advice may (or may not!) seem to be common sense, all of this falls by the wayside when one is acutally involved in an accident. It is for this reason that it is worthwhile carrying about some written reminder what or what not to do. Hopefully, that will ensure that everything that needs to be done is done, but also, and no less important, a written guide will help to steady you, in the aftermath of an accident.
As I have already admitted, I was surprised at my own inability to conduct myself in accordance with the advice that I give to others, but I did console myself with the thought that that is probably everyone's experience. To summarise, I would say that there are three golden rules and these are: I. To report the incident 2. Not to make a statement to the police without advice: 3. Not to admit liability or blame in any circumstances. by Jonathan Lawton