When An Accident Is Met

[sltcdma]

Hi,

Can any expert suggest what a good citizen should do when his vehicle met an accident and damaged the third party, under following conditins

1. It is my fault.

2. It is not my fault.

[The Don]

Hi,

Can any expert suggest what a good citizen should do when his vehicle met an accident and damaged the third party, under following conditins

1. It is my fault.

2. It is not my fault.

Establishing whose fault it is is not straight forward all the time. From an insurance point of view its best to deny liability and tell the other party you will prefer if the police or the courts to make a judgment on that. The reason for this is it becomes very complicated later on if the other party decides to take you to court over the matter, if you've already accepted liability. This happens when an insurer refuses to cover the full some of the repair.

According to the law you should stop as soon as possible after the accident (in certain places it means drive on until you get to a police station because the local people will beat you up !!!)

Contact the nearest police station of the accident (if there are any casualties you should first make arrangements to rush them to hospital and then inform the police)

Provide your driving license, insurance details on demand

But in a practical sense what you should probably do is,

1. Stop

3. In case of light damage, mark the position of the stationary positions of the vehicles or take a picture of their positions after the accident, before moving the vehicles off the road (I do not think its wise to move the vehicle by yourself if there is a casualty involved or if the damage is serious)

2. Speak to the other party involved in the accident and see if a settlement is possible

3. If the other party gets abusive or is unwilling to co-operate call the police and let them deal with the matter from then onwards.

[ruwds]

http://www.police.lk/divisions/traffic_act...to_be_taken.asp

Traffic Police - Action to be taken in the Eve of an Accident

It is defined in Section: 161(1) of the Motor Traffic Act

1.

(a).

If a motor vehicle meets with an accident on a highway, it is the duty of the driver to attend to the following

i.

immediately stop the vehicle;

ii

Furnish his name and address, the name and address of the owner of the vehicle, the distinctive number of the vehicle and other particulars relating thereto, if requested so to do by any person to whom, or by the owner or person in charge of the property or the animal to which, the injury has been caused, or by any Police Officer or Grama Seva Niladhari;

iii

In any case where the person to whom injury has been caused so requests, or if he is unconscious or if the injury caused to that person appears to endanger life, take that person immediately to a hospital or to a medical practitioner, and thereafter report the accident forthwith to the officer in charge of the nearest Police Station ; and

iv

In every case not referred to in paragraph (iii), report the accident forthwith to the officer in charge of the nearest Police Station.

(.

The owner of the motor vehicle, whether or not he was present at the time of the accident, shall on demand by any Police Officer or Grama Seva Niladhari, furnish all information in his possession as to the name, address, description, antecedents and whereabouts of the driver of the vehicle and of every person in the vehicle at the time of the accident. Every such owner who, in compliance with any such demand, gives any information pertaining to his knowledge is false or in any particular misleading, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

©.

Every, person, other than the driver, who was in the vehicle at the time of the accident shall ;

i

Furnish his name and address and all such information as may be in his possession as to the names and addresses of the driver and of the owner of the vehicle and the distinctive number of the vehicle and other particulars relating thereto, if requested so to do by any person to whom, or the owner or person in charge of the property or animal to which, the injury has been caused, or by any Police Officer or Grama Seva Niladhari ; or

ii

Within twenty-four hours of the accident communicate his name and address and the fact that he was in the vehicle at the time of the accident to the officer in charge of a Police Station.

2.

Where in any accident due to the use of a motor vehicle on a highway any injury is caused to any person, and the driver of the motor vehicle on being requested so to do by a Police Officer or a Grama Seva Niladhari, or by the person who has been injured or any other person acting on his behalf, does not at the time produce the certificate of insurance or of security relating to that vehicle –

(a)

The driver shall, as soon as possible, and in any case within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the accident, produce such certificate for inspection at the nearest Police Station;

Provided, however, that no person shall be deemed to have contravened the provisions of this subsection by reason only of his failure to produce such certificate, if, before the expiry of a period of five days from the date on which the production of the certificate was so required, he produces the certificate in person at such Police Station as may have been specified by him on that date;

(

The owner of the motor vehicle shall give such information as may be required by a Police Officer for the purpose of determining whether or not the vehicle was being driven in contravention of the provisions of section 99 at the time when the driver was required to produce the certificate.

3.

i

Duties of the Police When an Accident is reported.

ii

Information to be recorded.

iii

Immediately to proceed to the scene of accident.

iv

Dispatch injured to the hospital without delay.

v

To make observations and to take down the sketch of the accident and to clear for traffic or to divert traffic.

vi

Commence investigations and record all evidence.

4.

Settlement of a Trivial Accident

If the inquiries or damages caused are of minor nature and damages are of trivial nature and if parties are willing to come to a settlement it should be allowed.

However, the Police have the right to file a plaint for rash and negligent driving. If the damage caused involved Govt/Public property Police will take legal action.

Police will take action to release such vehicles involved in minor accidents without delay having tested mechanical condition of the vehicles, and all other accidents where damages caused are heavy Police will get the RMV to examine the vehicles and release vehicles.

5.

Prosecutions in Accidents

In all accidents, Police will take action when there is sufficient evidence to prosecute offenders other than trivial accidents.

In certain trivial accidents if parties are willing to come to a settlement where slight negligence on the part of the offending driver is surfaced, action would not be taken to prosecute. However power of prosecution in Courts is vested with the Police.

In all serious accidents Police should file plaints having consulted Hon. A.G. in prosecuting offending drivers.

Fatal Accidents:

In all fatal accidents files will be submitted to Hon. A.G. seeking advice to file plaint against the offending driver.

In certain cases Hon. A.G. would initiate action in High Courts and in some cases in Magistrate Courts all depending on the gravity of the accident.

Parties are summoned by warning to appear in Courts by Police or issue of summons by the respective Courts.

...

[Ripper]

I always carry my Digi cam just in case few well taken shots can be of great help to anybody to get a better understanding of the scenario

[StarScream]

I always carry my Digi cam just in case few well taken shots can be of great help to anybody to get a better understanding of the scenario

I'm not sure if digi cam evidence is admissable in court in case push comes to shove. But if it helps the police officer to get a better understanding and act accordingly, its a bloody good idea.

[Ripper]

I'm not sure if digi cam evidence is admissable in court in case push comes to shove. But if it helps the police officer to get a better understanding and act accordingly, its a bloody good idea.

yeah machang not too sure about the court thing etc cos i never got to use it Not yet

In my biking days once a trishaw bugger cur right into me when i was cruising at a cool 60km something... the idiot didn't see me coming for some weird reason and i dint have enough time to avoid him so bang... I went flying over the trishaw and the bike slammed right into it taking that hand crank starter thing with it... shockingly i only suffered a few scrapes and the bike handle got bent and i busted some light and that's all...

trishaw could'nt be started cos that whole side panel thing with it's starter lever had gone in about 6-7 inches...

Anyways... the trishaw bugger admitted it was his fault and pleaded not to go to cops etc.. .But few mins later as the trishaw mafia gathered up they were trying to pin the blame on me and demand money... Unlucky for them my uncle is the DIG for the area so i was all for going to cops

when cops showed up and did their thing with tapes etc etc they quickly said the tishaw dude was at fault...this is without me having to call my uncle etc..

They took down notes with a small sketch of the scene but when we went to the cop shed... the sketch was changed and the cop was singing a different tune... obviously the trishaw bugger had bribed him and they trying to pin it on me showing sketches with different measuremeants etc finally called my uncle and got him to sort it out and the cops admitted my side of the story which in fact was the truth...

So after that thing mahcnag i'll be happy with a few shots with cops also in the scene of the accident... and hell maybe i'll take footage too just to be safe..cos then it'll be damn tough for bad cops to change their story

[Pericles]

I'm not sure if digi cam evidence is admissable in court in case push comes to shove. But if it helps the police officer to get a better understanding and act accordingly, its a bloody good idea.

Well, the insurance dudes come and take pics with the digi cam anyway. Never did ask them why they do it.

[The Don]

Well, the insurance dudes come and take pics with the digi cam anyway. Never did ask them why they do it.

I think they probably need it for their reporting purposes.

I think images taken on your phone could be used as "persuasive evidence" but not as primary evidence should the matter ever go to court. But most importantly it will make corrupt cops etc rethink their strategy when confronted with them !

[Rastima]

yeah machang not too sure about the court thing etc cos i never got to use it Not yet

In my biking days once a trishaw bugger cur right into me when i was cruising at a cool 60km something... the idiot didn't see me coming for some weird reason and i dint have enough time to avoid him so bang... I went flying over the trishaw and the bike slammed right into it taking that hand crank starter thing with it... shockingly i only suffered a few scrapes and the bike handle got bent and i busted some light and that's all...

trishaw could'nt be started cos that whole side panel thing with it's starter lever had gone in about 6-7 inches...

Anyways... the trishaw bugger admitted it was his fault and pleaded not to go to cops etc.. .But few mins later as the trishaw mafia gathered up they were trying to pin the blame on me and demand money... Unlucky for them my uncle is the DIG for the area so i was all for going to cops

when cops showed up and did their thing with tapes etc etc they quickly said the tishaw dude was at fault...this is without me having to call my uncle etc..

They took down notes with a small sketch of the scene but when we went to the cop shed... the sketch was changed and the cop was singing a different tune... obviously the trishaw bugger had bribed him and they trying to pin it on me showing sketches with different measuremeants etc finally called my uncle and got him to sort it out and the cops admitted my side of the story which in fact was the truth...

So after that thing mahcnag i'll be happy with a few shots with cops also in the scene of the accident... and hell maybe i'll take footage too just to be safe..cos then it'll be damn tough for bad cops to change their story

You are a lucky guy in that case, you had your uncle in police. If it happens to a person like me (has no contact in police or anything), I dont know what to do, because we cant bribe the the cope ever again cos, then they start saying that we are trying to bribe them etc etc.

Once same kind of thing happen to me and finally I decide to call up my insurence guys and bare my damages. Its hard manage with these bus guys and trishaw guys.

Edited July 4, 2008 by Rastima

[Saturn]

Well, the insurance dudes come and take pics with the digi cam anyway. Never did ask them why they do it.

that's so that they can gather around during lunch break, and show each other the funniest crash pictures of the day, and have a good laugh

Edited July 4, 2008 by Saturn

[Dinesh_S]

that's so that they can gather around during lunch break, and show each other the funniest crash pictures of the day, and have a good laugh

Recently my car got an accident had a major damage in back side(Obiviously faulty was in the other party). Insurance said to come with a estimation and and they will bare all cost. When I went to dominent garage in the city they said some recondition parts diffictly to find (Quarter Panels) and do the reapir with brand new parts so I will have to bare the price difference since insurance pass money only for recondition parts for recondition vehicals. I did not go to police since insurance told me of giving full claim.

My advice is always make a entry in the police even you going to repair by your own insurance it will help you .