Failure to report an accident is an offence in terms of section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. As a case type, we have noticed it is becoming more and more common and we have written about it extensively.
The law requires that, if there is an accident in which damage is caused, the driver must stop. Then, if required to do so by a person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, provide their name, address and vehicle registration. If, for any reason, you do not stop and/or do not provide details then you must report the accident to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case within 24 hours.
Failure to report an accident can be tricky for the prosecution to prove because the prosecution must first prove that an accident which caused damage has occurred and thereafter that the accused failed to stop and provide details.
“Stop” means stopping for sufficient time to allow someone who may require your details to do so. You are not required to hang around indefinitely but you cannot simply leave immediately because no-one else is around. Each case is fact-sensitive. But even if this is proved, it is still a defence to failure to report an accident if the accused was genuinely unaware that there had been an accident causing damage.
In this case there was CCTV evidence which demonstrated without any doubt that a minor collision had occurred. It was also clear that, although our client stopped for a short while, he did not do so for a sufficient amount of time. It was also 100% clear that our client knew about the accident because he was seen checking both vehicles for damage.
The defence to the charge was that our client was genuinely unaware of damage being caused. Our opinion is that if you were aware that you had been in an accident, being genuinely unaware of damage because you simply did not check would not, in our opinion, amount to a defence to leaving the scene of an accident. However if you stopped, checked and simply did not see damage due to its minor nature then you should be acquitted.
We were able to establish in evidence that the damage here was relatively minor. However the court did not accept our client’s evidence that he was unaware of the damage. Unfortunately, therefore, our client was found Guilty.
Case defended by Steven Farmer at Perth JP Court, 10 October 2023