Minor collision at zebra crossing: seeking advice

gihans

I was already at the zebra crossing when a pedestrian stepped onto it. Despite my speed being less than 5 miles per hour, my car made slight contact with the pedestrian. I immediately stopped my car and got out to check on the person. He assured me he was fine and left the scene without much conversation. I attempted to engage with the pedestrian and offered my contact information, yet he swiftly departed, affirming he was unharmed.

There was no visible damage to my car, and the pedestrian didn't seem to have any injuries. 

I'm uncertain whether I should inform the police and my insurance company, given that I couldn't gather any evidence of the incident. Additionally, I'm concerned that reporting it might cause unnecessary problems for me.

Is there anything else I should do in this situation? Any steps I might be overlooking?

I appreciate any insights or advice you can offer. Thank you in advance

DullGreyGuy

As there is no known injury or property damage there isn't a require to report it to the police though you are free to do so if you wanted... some forces have a simple online tool for doing so. 

At present there is no loss and so your insurers would be a similar situation, if you were to report it to them they'd open an at fault claim and leave it open for 6 months to see if the person approaches. If they didnt then they'd close the file as non-fault but warn they may have to reopen the file in the future if they get an approach as a person has 3 years to make an injury claim. 

If you renew before the 6 months is up then you have an open claim on your record with the inevitable impact to premiums and NCD

gihans

@DullGreyGuy thanks for your comment. 

What could potentially be the adverse consequences of not informing the insurance or police if the person decides to pursue the case later on

DullGreyGuy

gihans said:

@DullGreyGuy thanks for your comment. 

What could potentially be the adverse consequences of not informing the insurance or police if the person decides to pursue the case later on

Insurers deal with unreported claims every day, the main issue tends to be misreported claims (eg the claimant has the wrong registration), the policy has lapsed and the policyholder has moved away. We therefore write/phone to their old address as the only thing on file and after no response ultimately deal with the claim. Some point in the future their new insurer flags up there is a claim on CUE that they haven't declared and they get hit with higher premiums and a complaint goes into the original insurer. 

Given this incident did happen and you will be at fault for it it's a much lesser issue. As long as you open your (e)mail from insurers rather than binning it assuming its spam/advertisement etc then the risks are low. 

Did they even take a photo of the car to have you reg plate? 


When someone accused me of leaving a scene of an accident without stopping I just got a producer, went to the police station with the docs (not many as it was a hire car) and pointed out I had stopped and indeed was stationary when she hit my car. Never heard anything more of it.

gihans

@DullGreyGuy

I'm quite confident that the pedestrian didn't take any photographs, and from what I observed, it seemed like he didn't even glance at my registration plate. Initially, he asked me if I was serious that I didn't see him. He seemed hurried and disinterested in engaging with me, despite my attempts. Instead, he simply walked away from the scene after saying he was okay. 

TripleH

Many years ago when I was a lad...

My friend had just passed his driving test and we'd been for a drive, we were just turning into his estate when a lad on a bike shot out in front of us (he'd been hidden by trees on the side of the road). My friend hit him and knocked him off of his bike.

As we were going about 5mph (or very slowly) the lad was able to get up and ride off before we could get out of the car.

We continued to his house where his dad (a solicitor) contacted the police and I agreed to have my details passed on if I needed to be contacted.

We heard nothing more about it.

Ganga

I worked for a man who knocked down a young lad who had run out onto a road ,he was not going that fast and the lad seemed ok ,my boss called the police but the lad ran off ,when the police turned up they asked where the injured person was ,when my boss explained he had ran off the police just took a statement and he never heard a thing about it again  ,