Hit by a car, driver refused to give insurance details – what next?

[thirdcrank]

Thanks A change since my days at work.

BTW, I only knew because on a previous similar thread, somebody pointed it out to me.

[philvantwo]

Having been knocked off 3 times now, the first time I got up off the road and his insurance paid for a new frame. The second time was in 1991 a car overtook me a bit close and his caravan hit me, I stayed down in the road and pretended my leg was broken, ambulance came and they radioed the police. Driver got fined for dangerous driving, I saw a solicitor and got £4,500.
January last year I got hit by a car from behind who witnesses say was doing 40mph, car never braked and didn't stop, police arrived first then an ambulance. I was taken to hospital and an x-ray revealed no broken bones. In the july the police called me, they'd viewed the ctcv film and saw me then the car but were unable to read the numberplate!!!
They sent a letter with a crime no. stating that the case was now closed! My bike cost £120 to repair, main things were new mudguards and a new crank as my right pedal had pulled out of the crank. Having had 5 weeks off work I wasn't too impressed so I got in touch with the MIB.
After seeing 2 private consultants and having an MRI scan they made me an offer last October. I was expecting £4,000 or maybe £5,000, pleasantly surprised when I read they were offering me £12,382.
So if a car knocks you off, stay on the floor and pretend you're injured!!

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Hope the insurance company's not reading this.

Yes probably the only way to get action is to act dumb and injured.

If you were a pedestrian or in a another vehicle they would act, as I said earlier animals get more respect.

Not quite sure how I would handle getting hit by a vehicle, assuming I was not dead.

[irc]

Isn't a driver compelled by law to give insurance details? Almost the same as not remaining at the scene of an accident?

Short answer - No.

For non injury accidents the driver needs to stop, give name and address and vehicle reg number.

If it is an injury accident then the driver also needs to give insurance details. (or alternatively report the accident)

As per RTA 1988 Section 170. Which is not particularly easy to read and understand.

Essex Police explain it pretty well.

If your (motorised) vehicle is involved in an accident you need to take the following steps to ensure you do not break the law.

Your duties are to stop, to give information, in some cases to produce your insurance certificate and in some cases to report the accident to the police.
Further Detail

If, as a driver, you are involved in a road-traffic accident and one or more of the following occurs:

a person, other than yourself, is injured,
damage is caused to another vehicle or to someone else’s property
an animal has been killed or injured, except in your own vehicle or trailer (an ‘animal’ is defined as ‘any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog’)

You must:

stop and remain at the scene for a reasonable period
give your vehicle registration number, your name and address, and that of the vehicle owner (if different), to anyone with reasonable grounds for asking for those details
If you do not exchange those details at the scene, you must report the accident at a police station or to a police constable as soon as you can, and in any case within 24 hours.

In the case of injuries

Where injury is caused to another person, then in addition to the above you must also:

Produce your certificate of insurance, if anyone at the scene has reasonable grounds to see it. If you do not, you must report the accident at a police station or to a constable as soon as is practicable and in any case within 24 hours. You’ll need to produce your certificate of insurance.

https://www.essex.police.uk/contact-us/ ... questions/

[landsurfer]

The "produce your certificate of insurance" is a new one to me.

Mine only exists somewhere in Arizona in a Cray supercomputer called the iCloud.

[bikes4two]

The "produce your certificate of insurance" is a new one to me.

Mine only exists somewhere in Arizona in a Cray supercomputer called the iCloud.

Call me dumb, but aren't that what printers are for?

[landsurfer]

Lets have a poll.
How many people have a hard copy of their insurance certificate in their car or about there person every time they travel ?

[irc]

duplicate post

[Vorpal]

Lets have a poll.
How many people have a hard copy of their insurance certificate in their car or about there person every time they travel ?

I do. I have done since I first began driving.

It is not, however a legal obligation. It *is* a legal obligation to have insurance. If a police officer asks, you should be able to produce evidence that the vehicle is insured. If you don't carry it with you, you may need to take it to a police station within 7 days. Insurance companies and employers (in the case of company vehicles) often require drivers to carry the insurance certificate with them. Your insurance company may have something in fine print somewhere that says you should print it out and keep it with the car.

https://www.gov.uk/legal-obligations-drivers-riders

[irc]

Lets have a poll.
How many people have a hard copy of their insurance certificate in their car or about there person every time they travel ?

Not many, which is why the simple answer is if you are in an injury accident you need to report it to the police to be legal. Though you would be pretty unlucky to be charged if you had stopped and swapped other details I've known it happen.

I did know one person who carried his insurance cert with him so he could produce it if involved in an accident. I'd guess a poll would be close to zero though.

[Flinders]

Lets have a poll.
How many people have a hard copy of their insurance certificate in their car or about there person every time they travel ?

We do- or usually we do. Your post is a good reminder to check. Not all that difficult to do, really. If you were in an accident and were on holiday, you might have trouble getting yours to a copshop in time otherwise if the only way you could get a copy was to go home if you didn't have one with you.
Mind you, I don't carry my driver's licence with me (it's the long paper sort), so that could be a problem as I think the same applies to that.

[Keith Bennett]

Unless the law has changed, If a motor vehicle is involved in an accident or if the fact that it is on a road and there is an accident because it is there the driver must stop and give their name and address, the registration number of the vehicle and the name and address of the owner to any person who has reasonable grounds for requiring it, If a person is injured they must also provide the Insurance particulars. If this is not done they must report the accident to police as soon as possible, in any case within 24 hours.

[djnotts]

Lets have a poll.
How many people have a hard copy of their insurance certificate in their car or about there person every time they travel ?

Me. In my wallet. And MoT. I don't carry my licence because it's an old paper one and doesn't easily fit in my wallet!

Probably simple habit from days when riding a m'cycle one was likely to be stopped very frequently (in Leeds at least). Three times in just a few urban miles once as I recall!

[landsurfer]

In reality when i was stopped recently the police officer just called in my registration to his ops centre, they checked my insurance and mot and licence in less than a minute...it's all on the DVLA database, and i was on my way.

[thirdcrank]

AFAIK, the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) - now even included in some speed cameras - can identify a vehicle that isn't kosher (tax, insurance, MOT) by comparing the reg with the databases, and police can also check driving licence details online. A while ago, somebody (irc?) posted some data about ANPR alerts which did not result in action. Some were false positives but IIRC, a lot went uninvestigated. That's the underlying problem, the less attention being paid by the police to checking thse things, the greater the numbers of people who will give it a miss. If the police don't investigate crashes as a matter of routine, the experience-based expertise / determination to persist with the more difficult cases will be less.

People keep posting about the requirements to stop etc., after an accident. The goodies usually conform but an increasing number don't, often because they know their documentation, or lack of it would get them into trouble, but also they know that if they simply ignore the requirements, they will get away with it. Obviously, that's not universal because people are convicted but the figures bandied about, about how much uninsured drivers are adding to the cost of insurance policies for the people who bother with them give an idea of the extent of the problems.