Involved in an Accident With a Pedestrian?

It's a day you dread, but sooner or later it comes. You're involved in a collision with a pedestrian. Pedestrians account for 12% of all those injured in road accidents each year in Britain and for 21% of fatalities. When it happens to you, what do you do? What are your obligations?

Road Traffic Accident - Your Obligations

First of all, you must stop. You should remain on the scene of the accident for some time, making yourself available to provide your personal details to anyone involved in the accident, directly or indirectly. Upon being asked, you are obliged to provide your name and address, the name and address of the owner of the vehicle (if different), and the vehicle's registration number. If you do not provide your personal details to anyone at the scene of the accident, you are obliged to contact the police and report the accident within 24 hours.

You must also produce your insurance certificate at the request of a police officer or anyone involved in the accident. If you do not show your insurance certificate at the scene of the accident, you must report the accident to the police within 24 hours, and must produce your insurance certificate at a police station within 7 days.

As with all other types of accident, in the case of an accident with a pedestrian you are obliged to inform your insurance company of what has occurred.

Accident Compensation Claims

The pedestrian victim of the accident may choose to sue you for compensation. Most claims of this type are settled out of court, and your insurance company would normally cover the bill. Occasionally, if liability for the accident, or the amount claimed as compensation, is in dispute, the case will go to court.

If you feel that the pedestrian was at fault, and you suffered injury or incurred expense as a result of the accident, you too have the option to make a claim for compensation. Note that, in most cases, a pedestrian would not be insured for a situation like this; the sum claimed would therefore be coming from the person's own pocket and he or she may simply not have the means to be able to satisfy the claim.

Road Traffic Accident - Thinking Ahead

If you feel that the details of the accident may later become the subject of dispute, you should try and collect contact information from any witnesses present at the scene. They are not obliged to provide this contact information to you so you are dependent on their goodwill. If you can acquire their name and address indirectly, in some circumstances it may be possible to compel testimony from them in future, even if they are unwilling.

When you get home, you should also make a written account of what occurred, while the events are still fresh in your mind. The other party need not make a compensation claim against you right away, but, under normal circumstances, could do so at any time within the next three years.

Hopefully, you will never be involved in a road traffic accident with a pedestrian. It is a nightmare scenario which may never become real for you. Giving some thought to the possibility in advance, however, should help you deal calmly and competently with the situation should it ever arise.