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Witness to an accident, what's the law/etiquette?

jay

jay

built for speed
This afternoon I witnessed a traffic accident. No one hurt (thankfully) but it was a fairly energetic coming together with both cars damaged. One could drive but perhaps not the other, broken glass, etc...

There were quite a few other cars people around and I wasn't involved in any way (waiting at the lights). I understand that the cars involved shouldn't be moved and there was clear space to safely drive around, which I did. It only struck me later (sorry if this makes me look like a right pillock) that perhaps I should've assisted in some way. There wasn't really much I could do to but I wonder if I should call the local plod and at least give them a statement if they need one.

Anyway, whats the legals on this? Did I actually have to stop?

Jay
 
No requirement in law for you to stop. Perhaps the question is: if you were in an accident that wasn't your fault, would you prefer a witness to stop and give you his/her details?

Someone tapped my new car whilst I was away from it last year. A witness left their details and gave a statement by post to the police. Were it not for him, I might have lost my no claims or had to pay for the damage myself.
 
Witness to an accident, what's the law/etiquette?
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These days it seems to be that you should contact a no win no fee lawyer and sue either/both parties for psychological distress in being forced to witness their crash.
 
Ginger said:
No requirement in law for you to stop. Perhaps the question is: if you were in an accident that wasn't your fault, would you prefer a witness to stop and give you his/her details?

Someone tapped my new car whilst I was away from it last year. A witness left their details and gave a statement by post to the police. Were it not for him, I might have lost my no claims or had to pay for the damage myself.
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I don't know who's fault it was to be honest. I think a call to local Police tomorrow will be a good idea.
 
jay, you have no obligations here (other than a self-imposed moral dimension if you're feeling guilty). If nobody is injured and if there is no clear and substantial carelessness or recklessness that led to the collision, the police won't be remotely interested in doing an insurance company's job for them and so won't investigate it. They might attend if the road is obstructed but that's likely the extent of their interest. The two drivers are required to stop (and furnish certain details to each other).
 
Two accidents this morning on my 10 mile trip to work. I picked another route after a five mile tailback from the first and then came another accident involving a Porsche Boxster and something else, just as the ambulance was arriving. Very weird, maybe black ice but it didn't feel particularly cold. Anyway, got in an hour late.
 
mjw said:
jay, you have no obligations here (other than a self-imposed moral dimension if you're feeling guilty). If nobody is injured and if there is no clear and substantial carelessness or recklessness that led to the collision, the police won't be remotely interested in doing an insurance company's job for them and so won't investigate it. They might attend if the road is obstructed but that's likely the extent of their interest. The two drivers are required to stop (and furnish certain details to each other).
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Thanks mjw, at the time I followed the other vehicles around the accident. I'd seen that everyone appeared ok (moving around, debating, etc). I did see the vehicles hit and know what each was attempting to do but I've no idea who was at fault (probably both of them!).
 
Presumably this was in the UK.

In some European countries it us a legal requirement that you stop and offer assistance.

E.g. France.
 
Then you have nothing to offer the police or insurers but ginger's point is a good one.
 
Ginger said:
No requirement in law for you to stop. Perhaps the question is: if you were in an accident that wasn't your fault, would you prefer a witness to stop and give you his/her details?

Someone tapped my new car whilst I was away from it last year. A witness left their details and gave a statement by post to the police. Were it not for him, I might have lost my no claims or had to pay for the damage myself.
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I saw a similar accident last weekend. Some jerk reversed into a disabled Grannie's car in a car park and drove off. I took his number plate, left a message on her car and sent a statement in. Hope he gets done for failing to stop at the scene of an accident as well as losing his no claims.
 
I had the same as the guy above, some stupid bint reversed into my wife's car in a supermarket car park then drove off and parked in another parking bay then went into the store to do her shopping (my son was working in the supermarket and had the car) but a guy on a building site clocked the whole thing and left his mobile no on the windscreen and then gave my insurer a statement which resulted in said stupid bint's insurer accepting liability on her behalf as she denied she damaged the car.

Without the witness being prepared to put his head above the parapet we would have had a damaged car and probably the loss of our no claims.

I would certainly not hesitate to do the same as the builder did for us if I'm ever in that situation.

Our car was written off by the insurer BTW.
 
Funny you should mention this. My youngest daughter called me around 5:00 pm.Today. She was sounding pretty calm considering some moronic bus driver had entered a traffic island Stef was already on and sideswiped her car so hard it did a 360 and just missed a further collision with a barrier and pedestrians but picked up nasty damage to the opposite side too. Only 12k miles and a lovely car, but very likely a write off. Then, seemingly unaware of the 'give way to traffic from the right' rule the idiot apparently got agressive with her, blamed her for the collision and then refused to give his name. Sounds like a real charmer. I was down there in 20 minutes to find a very helpful Police officer sorting things out. Didn't take him long to get the driver's name, but he and his bus were gone so I didn't get the opportunity to 'congratulate' him in person.

We waited two hours for the recovery vehicle to turn up duriing which time Stef called the insurance co who also seem to be incapable of understanding what happened and were talking about 'partial blame' Er excuse me? Already on an island and you get rammed side on by a vehicle entering from your left? And it's your fault? I don't think so.

Mercifully Stef is Ok apart from a bit of a shaking up and quite probably more neck injury to add to what she got when some idiot Taxi driver drove into her from behind a year ago and bounced her into the car in front writing off her last car.

Also, a chap came forward tonight and volunteered to be a witness for Stef as he said he 'watched in disbelief' as he realised the bus was going to drive into Stef. She has his number.

My advice to her is to complain to the bus company for the Driver's attitude,and to the insurance company for the apparent assumption that she is in the wrong.
Then get the witness to write, or sign a statement and go from there.
The bus should have a camera.
Stef is going on about it over and over and I'm trying to tell her to let it go until tomorrow as she can't do anything just now. I'm trying to appear all calm and collected and get her to relax, but I am seething inside.

Many years ago, I drove into a young lad who ran out from behind a bus. I was well under the 30 mph speed limit, but had nowhere to go when the lad appeared in front of me. I bounced him about 10 feet into the air and 20 or so feet along the road. He didn't bounce when he landed and I feared he was dead. Turned out he had a fractured skull and a broken leg. Mercifully, a driver who was behind the bus saw it all and offered to give a witness statement in my support. Fortunately the attending police saw no fault in my driving so my witness wasn't needed, but I was glad I had him. The lad made a full recovery.

Mull
 
jay said:
I don't know who's fault it was to be honest. I think a call to local Police tomorrow will be a good idea.
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I would always stop if I could help but in this case it doesn`t sound as if you could.
The police will have zero interest unless someone was hurt, in my experience.
 
Thanks for sharing that Mull, quite a nasty incident.

To be clear, the accident was at a very busy intersection with plenty of witnesses. Given that I couldn't really help I thought getting out of the way, safely of course, was the best course of action.

I suspect that one vehicle ran a orange/red whilst the other was turning in front. But as I said, I only saw the impact and the whole situation.

Taking about red lights. I have noticed more and more cars doing it here in North/Central London. I walk my son to school in the mornings and invariably someone won't stop at the red light pedestrian crossing. A holes...
 
thebiglebowski said:
These days it seems to be that you should contact a no win no fee lawyer and sue either/both parties for psychological distress in being forced to witness their crash.
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this of course after you've taken dozens of photos (including some selfies) and video footage...
 
jay said:
Thanks for sharing that Mull, quite a nasty incident.

To be clear, the accident was at a very busy intersection with plenty of witnesses. Given that I couldn't really help I thought getting out of the way, safely of course, was the best course of action.

I suspect that one vehicle ran a orange/red whilst the other was turning in front. But as I said, I only saw the impact and the whole situation.

Taking about red lights. I have noticed more and more cars doing it here in North/Central London. I walk my son to school in the mornings and invariably someone won't stop at the red light pedestrian crossing. A holes...
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what country are you in? - I've never seen an orange traffic light here in the UK before.
 
Mullardman said:
the insurance co who also seem to be incapable of understanding what happened and were talking about 'partial blame' Er excuse me? Already on an island and you get rammed side on by a vehicle entering from your left? And it's your fault? I don't think so.
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If island = roundabout then insurance companies tend to take the joint liability approach for crashes.
 
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