Motorists who fail to stop after an accident or fail to report the incident to the police can land huge punishments and fines.
Drivers are required by law to stop after an accident and report it to the police.
If for whatever reason a motorist does not stop they could land an unlimited fine, prison sentence and enough penalty points to lead to a driving ban.
The motorist can be charged with ‘failure to stop after an accident’ and be issued with the fines/ban/prison sentence if they do not report the accident to the police within 24 hours of it occurring.
Motorists can land up to 10 points or an immediate disqualification if they do not report it to the police.
Rare cases could lead to the driver serving time in prison for the offence.
The police can break down the offence into a number of categories which will determine the severity the severity of the offence made by the motorist.
These are:
Category 1 – Higher culpability and greater harm
Category 2 – Higher culpability and lesser harm or lower culpability and greater harm
Category 3 – Lower culpability and lesser harm
High culpability is categorised by the Sentencing Council using four different factors:
-Offence committed in circumstances where a request for a sample of breath, blood or urine would have been made had the offender stopped
-Offence committed by offender seeking to avoid arrest for another offence
-Offender knew or suspected that personal injury caused and/or left injured party at scene
-Giving false details
Lower culpability relates to all other cases outside of these different factors.
In terms of determining the severity of harm, the police will look at what injuries and significant damage has been cause, all other cars fall under ‘lesser harm’.
In addition to the penalty point endorsement drivers can also receive an unlimited fine and/or six months prison sentence.
Jason Wakeford, campaigns director for Brake, the road safety charity, said: “Under the Road Traffic Act, it’s illegal if you don’t stop and report an accident.
“This includes all situations where there has been injury or damage to people, vehicles or property.
“If it isn’t possible to stop it must be for a safety reason and you must report the accident, in person, to a police station or to a police officer within 24 hours.”