Failure to Stop/Failure to Report an Accident

What is the offence of Failure to Stop/Failure to Report an Accident

Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 places certain duties upon drivers who are involved in accidents. The short version is as follows: If you are involved in an accident while driving and as a result of this accident a person other than you is injured or there is damage to property other than your own then you must:

• Stop
• Provide your details to any person who has reasonable grounds for requiring them
• If, for any reason you cannot provide such details (for example there is no-one else there) then you must report the accident to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any event, within 24 hours.

Therefore failure to stop at the scene of an accident you are involved in is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 170(2). If you do stop but refuse to give your details to the other driver then it is still an offence under that section. If there is no-one else present then failure to report the accident to the police as soon as reasonably practicable is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 170(3).

Example

The classic example of failure to stop or failure to report is while parking a car or leaving a parking place:

• a driver is entering or exiting a parking space.
• In doing so, he strikes the wing mirror of an adjacent car and knocks it to the ground.
• This constitutes (a) an accident which (b) has caused damage to property other than the driver’s.
• If the driver just drives off, an offence is committed. Even if the driver stops for a second or two and then he drives off, the court is likely to conclude he has not “stopped” in the legal sense.
• If the driver stops and is asked for his details by the driver of the other car but refuses then it is likely that an offence has been committed. Finally, and this is the one which catches many people out, there is the situation where the driver stops but there is no-one around to provide details to. The driver looks at the damage, thinks it is “not too bad” and does nothing else. By failing to report the accident to the police, an offence is committed.

In practice many drivers will find themselves facing both charges. If, for example, the driver does not stop and does not report after damaging the other car, he commits offences under both the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 170 subsection 2 (failure to stop) and subsection 3 (failure to report).

Penalties for failure to stop/failure to report

• Fixed penalty: this is not an offence for which a fixed penalty can be offered
• Prosecution: 5-10 penalty points or a discretionary period of disqualification plus a fine of up to £5,000

Source:

• schedule 2 of the Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988

Explanation

Penalty points can be imposed in respect of both offences. Theoretically, therefore, if a person commits both offences, they could face up to 20 penalty points on their licence. However, when two offences arise out of the same occasion, the court should only impose points in respect of one of them. The court can, on cause shown, impose points in respect of both offences. This is called “aggregation”. It has, however, been judicially determined that a failure to report does occur on the “same occasion” as the initial offence. Aggregation should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

Sources:

• Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988 section 28(4) and (5)
• MacLean v Murphy, 2015 SCCR 369

Will I Be Disqualified?

• Discretionary disqualification for an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 170 is competent but we have never dealt with a case where a discretionary disqualification was imposed. A reported example of discretionary disqualification occured when a driver advised the court he did not stop because he suspected he was over the drink drive limit.
• Totting up: this occurs where the he amount of points imposed takes the driver to 12 points in a 3-year period. This can lead to a disqualification under section 35 of the Road Traffic (Offenders) Act 1988 – more commonly known as “totting up”. Anyone on 9 points or more is at risk of totting up and should seek specialist legal advice as soon as possible because all is not lost. You may be able to argue that ”Exceptional Hardship” would occur if you lost your licence. See our dedicated page here.
• It is crucially important that any mitigating factors are placed before the court and presented in the best possible way. In the overwhelming majority of our cases, our client is not disqualified:

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Defences to failure to stop/failure to report

The burden of proof lies with the prosecution

• Explanation: The prosecution must prove, by corroborated evidence, that the offence was committed and was committed by the accused. The prosecution, crucially, must prove that there was damage or injury caused by the accident and our view is that this must also be by corroborated evidence.
• Defence: the prosecution fails to lead such evidence.

Behaviour of the other driver

• Explanation: The other driver is verbally or physically abusive
• Defence: This is not a strict liability offence. It is our view that it is a defence to failure to provide details if the other driver is verbally or physically abusive or behaving in a threatening manner. In such an instance, however, there would still be a duty to report to the police.

Unaware of the accident

• Explanation: you cannot stop at an accident or report an accident if you were unaware of it
• Defence: this is where the driver is genuinely and reasonably unaware of either the accident. Or where the driver thinks there may have been an accident, stops, and satisfies himself that – in fact – there was not. This remains a defence even if – in fact – there was an accident. Whether the lack of awareness was genuine will depend on the precise cirucmstances.

Aware of the accident but reasonably unaware of damage

• Explanation: if there is no damage caused, there is no offence
• Defence: We have successfully defended cases where the damage was no more than an (easily missed) scratch. We recall one case where a police officer conceded he could only see the damage after it was specifically pointed out to him and even then he had to strain his eyes. These cases will ultimately be a matter of facts and circumstances and they are far from straightforward for the prosecution.

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Since our inception in 2001, when our founder Graham Walker identified a critical gap in the Scottish legal market, we have pioneered how to win failure to stop/failure to report cases. Other firms also claim this. But see when the domain was registered to see how long the firm have actually been online. We believe we were registered years in advance of any rival firm. We are invited, founder members of the Association of Motor Offence Lawyers. Under the current leadership of Steven Farmer (pictured), our founding principles of specialisation, expertise, communication and client dedication remain central to the firm and to winning your case.

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We base our success rate on 1000 independently analysed cases chosen at random. Other firms may claim even higher success rates but do not simply accept them at face value. Ask them what their case sample size was. How do they define case success? We have successfully defended sports stars, famous personalities, peers of the realm, members of the Royal Family, fellow solicitors, advocates, leading QCs and police officers. We do not name names unless the case is already in the public domain but you can see some of our reported cases here.  As we helped them, so we can help you.

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Although our offices are in Glasgow, we regularly defend motorists in every Court in Scotland. On any given month, our solicitors appear in courts across the country, including Aberdeen, Dumfries, Edinburgh and Paisley. Wherever your case is being heard, we have the experience and resources to represent you effectively.

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I have been accused of not stopping at an accident I did not know about. How is that fair?

It isn’t, in most cases. If you were genuinely and reasonable unaware of the accident, you have a defence and should contact a specialist lawyer.

Can I really get 10 points for this?

In theory, yes. The court will take into account any aggravating or mitigating circumstances and also credit you for an early plea of Guilty. It is crucial to engage a lawyer to ensure your mitigation is properly presented.

It was only a scratch – this is a waste of everyone’s time!

If you are aware of the damage, you must comply with the law or you will be punished according to the law. However very minor damage is likely to result in a penalty towards the lower end of the scale.

Do I have 24 hours to report the accident to the police?

Not exactly. You are meant to report the accident as soon as reasonably practicable and, in all cases, within 24 hours

How long do I need to wait before I can leave?

This is tricky. You must stop long enough to give someone with reasonable grounds enough time to ask for your details. But you are not expected to wait around in perpetuity. Whether you have stopped long enough will depend on the circumstances. And you should report the accident to the police as soon as you can.