What to do after a single vehicle accident

rocco1504

Okell said:

rocco1504 said:

Hi
My 22 yr old son had an accident the other night, no one else was involved, he actually fell asleep momentarily and hit a sign. 
 The police attended, breathalysed him which he passed no problems. 
 He's told me that he's not been charged with anything,...

Really?  He fell asleep at the wheel and hit a road sign.  And he hasn't been charged with anything - yet...

I'd be waiting 14 days to see if a NIP arrived before being confident he wasn't going to be charged with anything.

rocco1504 said:

XRS200 said:

rocco1504 said:

Yeah, that's the 1st thing I was terrified that he'd hurt himself, and as you say, he's extremely lucky. 
 

He's extremely lucky he didn't kill someone 

He was on a country road at 2am in the morning 

So you think that's a mitigating factor?

Surely if he was going to be charged they would have given him some sort of paperwork ?? Wouldn't they, which they didn't. 
 They didn't say that they were charging him with anything .
Apparently, they took him to somewhere to be picked up and told him to be more careful in the future. 
I don't even think they gave him an incident number. 

And no I don't think it's a mitigating factor, just explaining that there was very little chance of him hurting anyone else there. 
 Yeah he was stupid, and you've never done anything stupid on the road  ??

Car_54

rocco1504 said:

Car_54 said:

Okell said:

I'd be waiting 14 days to see if a NIP arrived before being confident he wasn't going to be charged with anything.

I wouldn't be so confident. I know the OP said "He's told me that he's not been charged with anything", but people don't always tell their parents the absolute truth. If he was told at the scene that he'd be reported, then no NIP would be needed.

In the same vein, the youth may have felt that "I fell asleep" was a better explanation than "I lost control".

From what the boy has told me, it does sound strange, but he said that the police were almost uninterested in it, he said it was weird the way they treated him, he's got no paperwork given to him by the police, and to be totally truthful, I've never known him to lie to me, ever.
 I taught them both ever since they could understand, I don't care how bad it is, just don't ever lie to me about anything. And I don't think he's lying now 

Fair enough - you know him well.

BTW they don't have to issue any paperwork, though some forces give Traffic Offence Reports (TOR). They no longer issue fixed penalties at the roadside; the decision on what action (if any) is taken at the back office.

sheslookinhot

ButterCheese said:

It is a legal requirement to make a claim and to be honest to the insurer about what happened.  Claiming that it had a mechanical fault is insurance fraud.  Whether your son has been a good driver before this happened is irrelevant.  

I'm not being rude but the fact that he fell asleep whilst driving shows that actually he is not a good and responsible driver.  The right thing to do would have been to not drive if tired, or to pull over and rest when starting to feel tired.  You don't just fall asleep with no warning.  And this is why his insurance will go up, because it's based on risk, and if he's done it once the insurers quite reasonably will assume he might do it again.  

It is most definitely not a legal requirement to make a claim.

prowla

Okell said:

rocco1504 said:

XRS200 said:

rocco1504 said:

Yeah, that's the 1st thing I was terrified that he'd hurt himself, and as you say, he's extremely lucky. 
 

He's extremely lucky he didn't kill someone 

He was on a country road at 2am in the morning 

So you think that's a mitigating factor?

I think they were pointing out that it was unlikely for there to be others about.

MeteredOut

prowla said:

Okell said:

rocco1504 said:

XRS200 said:

rocco1504 said:

Yeah, that's the 1st thing I was terrified that he'd hurt himself, and as you say, he's extremely lucky. 
 

He's extremely lucky he didn't kill someone 

He was on a country road at 2am in the morning 

So you think that's a mitigating factor?

I think they were pointing out that it was unlikely for there to be others about.

But that was just luck. Its not as if he thought "good, there's no-one around, now would be a good time to park my car into this road sign".

Mildly_Miffed

Two choices.

1. Lie consistently for the next five years, and hope the council don't come back with a claim for their sign. They do know who damaged it, after all.

2. Be honest and accept the consequences.

Now, which do you think is a better lesson-for-life to be teaching your children?

As for possible consequences - you're right. Nobody is ever on rural lanes at 2am. Except, well, people like your son. Good job he was the only one, eh? Imagine if the other driver was the one that fell asleep.

prowla

Mildly_Miffed said:

Two choices.

1. Lie consistently for the next five years, and hope the council don't come back with a claim for their sign. They do know who damaged it, after all.

2. Be honest and accept the consequences.

Now, which do you think is a better lesson-for-life to be teaching your children?

As for possible consequences - you're right. Nobody is ever on rural lanes at 2am. Except, well, people like your son. Good job he was the only one, eh? Imagine if the other driver was the one that fell asleep.

What other driver?

Mildly_Miffed

prowla said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

As for possible consequences - you're right. Nobody is ever on rural lanes at 2am. Except, well, people like your son. Good job he was the only one, eh? Imagine if the other driver was the one that fell asleep.

What other driver?

The one who might easily have also been there, because "but it was 2am down a rural lane" is no guarantee of zero vehicles. As we can clearly see, since more than zero vehicles were present.

facade

Mildly_Miffed said:

prowla said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

As for possible consequences - you're right. Nobody is ever on rural lanes at 2am. Except, well, people like your son. Good job he was the only one, eh? Imagine if the other driver was the one that fell asleep.

What other driver?

The one who might easily have also been there, because "but it was 2am down a rural lane" is no guarantee of zero vehicles. As we can clearly see, since more than zero vehicles were present.

"Quiet country lanes" are usually busy with flytippers at that time in the morning.....

Mildly_Miffed

facade said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

prowla said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

As for possible consequences - you're right. Nobody is ever on rural lanes at 2am. Except, well, people like your son. Good job he was the only one, eh? Imagine if the other driver was the one that fell asleep.

What other driver?

The one who might easily have also been there, because "but it was 2am down a rural lane" is no guarantee of zero vehicles. As we can clearly see, since more than zero vehicles were present.

"Quiet country lanes" are usually busy with flytippers at that time in the morning.....

While I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not quite sure you can spin sleep-driving into a sign as a public service that easily.