Failing to stop and failing to report
to a Police Station after an accident.
Introduction
If an accident takes place and either
damage or personal injury is caused then
the driver of the vehicle at the time
is required to stop at the scene of the
accident and make him or herself available
to anybody else who may need their details
and their insurance policy number.
To fail to stop at the scene of an accident
is an offence under Section 170 of the
Road Traffic Act 1988.
There is a further obligation (even if
you do stop and provide your details)
to report any accident that results in
injury or damage to a Police Station as
soon as reasonably practicable and in
any case within a maximum of 24 hours.
Failing to report an accident is again
another offence under section 170 of the
Road Traffic Act 1988.
Sentence
The potential sentence in relation to
these offences is onerous. That is because
when they were originally bought in to
effect it was anticipated that these offences
would deal with incidents of hit and run.
For example hitting someone on a zebra
crossing and then driving away.
Most of the cases we deal with involve
bumps and scrapes in supermarket car parks
when our clients tell us that they were
not even aware that an accident had taken
place. Therefore, whilst the sentences
are potentially onerous in the vast majority
of cases, the offences will be dealt with
simply by points and fines.
The penalty point range for these offences
is 5 to10. If both of these offences occur
in relation to the same incident then
the offences are treated as occurring
on the same occasion. That means that
if you get a Summons for both offences
you are only at risk of points for one
of the offences rather than both.
Having said that, 5 to 10 points on your
licence is onerous and if you have been
accused of this offence then you should
send an email asking for further advice.
The fines involved can be anywhere up
to £5,000 and the level imposed will be
affected by the seriousness of the offence
and your personal circumstances.
In the worse case scenario, as outlined
above, these offences can be dealt with
by way of a prison sentence of up to 6
months. Again that would only be the case
if somebody was badly injured and the
Defendant drove away after being aware
that an accident had taken place.
Defences
You can defend these allegations. You
would have a defence if you were not the
driver at the time of the alleged offence.
You would have a defence if you were not
driving on a road or in a public place
at the time when the accident occurred.
You would have a defence if you could
show that you had stopped at the time
of the alleged offence and that you had
reported the incident in question. The
most common defence raised is that the
driver of a vehicle was unaware that an
accident had taken place. Obviously the
more dramatic the impact involved and
the level of damage caused the more likely
it is that would not have known that an
accident had taken place. If you can genuinely
argue that you were unaware that an accident
had taken place then you have a defence
to both of these allegations.
If you are not aware of an accident
at the time when it occurs but you become
aware of the accident within 24 hours
of it taking place you are then under
a duty to report the accident as if you
had known about it in the first place.
The Prosecution have to prove, beyond
reasonable doubt, that damage or injury
was caused. If they can't prove
this, then you will be able to defend
it.
