Witnessed a bump

RichMan20

Quentin wrote: »

Which "technicality" are you referring to??

It's not necessary at all to report "any" accidents to the police! (Either as a witness or as an involved party)

Section 170(2) and Section 170(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.


Places an obligation on the driver, if he does not give his name and address under subsection (2) above, to report the accident to a police constable or police station as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case within 24 hours. The duty to report means "as soon as reasonably practicable": Bulman v Bennett [1974] RTR. It does not mean the driver has 24 hours within which to report the collision.


If we are getting down to the pedantic technicalities then the word "Accident" is depreciated in favour of the word "Collision" as accident has the connotation that it was done without intent and or without the ability to apportion blame.
If you dont wish to report any collison you may be in then that is your choice, I am simply saying I would much rather report it than run the risk of someone trying to argue that I Failed to report an accident (I've seen more ludicrous cases attempted :rotfl:)
Just my thoughts/advice and nothing more :beer:

jblack_2

I thought it was just accidents where injury has occurred that need to be reported?

slyracoon

Keep some business cards in your car. You can then simply hand a card with you contact details, tell them you can't stop but that you are willing to be an independant witness if needed.

Wh05apk

I thought you only had to report it if someone was injured?

I can just imagine the call now:

"emergency which service!
"police"
"I just clipped the bumper of the car behind whilst parking.....................hello.........................hello..........................."

RichMan20

Wh05apk wrote: »

I thought you only had to report it if someone was injured?

I can just imagine the call now:

"emergency which service!
"police"
"I just clipped the bumper of the car behind whilst parking.....................hello.........................hello..........................."

there are other telephone numbers to contact the police aside from 999!
for example: http://www.police.uk/overview/?q=Sutton%20in%20Ashfield,%20Nottinghamshire%20NG17%202HS,%20UK

Quentin

RichMan20 wrote: »

Se I am simply saying I would much rather report it than run the risk of someone trying to argue that I Failed to report an accident

No.

You didn't "simply" say that all.

In fact you wrongly, and scaremongered when you told us (with the authority that you are an ex-copper):

RichMan20 wrote:

As a retired policeman .....you are technically legally obligated to report any accidents.

This is nothing to do with being pedantic!

Your advice is wrong, so have the grace to stand corrected!

RichMan20

Quentin wrote: »

No.

You didn't "simply" say that all.

In fact you wrongly, and scaremongered when you told us (with the authority that you are an ex-copper):


This is nothing to do with being pedantic!

Your advice is wrong, so have the grace to stand corrected!

I'm not going to argue, I will edit my post to say that "I would" rather than "technically you are obligated to". I still stand by my interpretation of the RTA :P

Regards

Richard

Quentin

RichMan20 wrote: »

I'm not going to argue, I will edit my post to say that "I would" rather than "technically you are obligated to". I still stand by my interpretation of the RTA :P

Regards

Richard

There's no argument here - you are wrong.

As is your interpretation of the RTA.

Nowhere does it say "you are technically legally obligated to report any accidents"!

verybigchris

I witnessed a bump in a supermarket car park a couple of months ago. There was a queue of stationary traffic, and one driver just decided to reverse for no apparent reason, and bumped the car behind. I went to the victim to offer myself as a witness and he told me to ****-off and mind my own ****ing business.

Next time I'll probably just walk away.

mcjordi

i stopped and gave my details to a lad who had been side smacked at traffic lights out light was on green and the other light must of been red..

he lost my details.. luckily i saw him in the garden near where i live ( he lived a few streets away) flag me over and asked if i would be prepared to give a statement to his insurers.. i did this willingly.. as the other party was denying all knowledge of the accident.. 2 days after he got the statement from me he was paid out from the other parties insurance.. bought me a bottle of plonk to say thanks.. so it does pay to help..