After a collision — the legal duty to stop, give details and report

A scrape in a car park, a clipped wing mirror, a bumper tap at a roundabout. What you owe at that moment is set by one section of one Act, and it is shorter than the arguments about it: stop, give your details if anyone with reasonable grounds asks for them, and report to the police only if those details were not given — with one extra step whenever somebody is injured. The theory test examines it, and the two things people most often get wrong — the twenty-four hours, and what happens when the other car is parked and empty — are exactly the two the law is clearest about. Who eventually pays for the damage is a separate question, settled between insurers; nothing on this page touches it.

What triggers the duty

Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 applies when an accident happens “owing to the presence of a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place” and someone other than you is injured, or damage is caused to another vehicle or a trailer, to an animal, or to property forming part of the land.

Three parts of that wording do most of the work.

• “Road or other public place.” The duty does not stop at the kerb. A car park open to the public is not the exception drivers assume it is.
• “Mechanically propelled vehicle,” not “motor vehicle” — a broader class, and it does not need to be moving. The section is triggered by the vehicle’s presence.
• “A person other than the driver.” Injuring only yourself does not engage section 170. Damaging only your own car does not either.

Property has a precise definition, and it is the one that catches people who hit something that is not a car.

to any other property constructed on, fixed to, growing in or otherwise forming part of the land on which the road or place in question is situated or land adjacent to such land

A bollard, a lamp post, a sign post, a garden wall, a fence, a hedge — all of them are property under section 170, and hitting one engages the same duties as hitting a car.

The Act also defines “animal”, exhaustively, and the list is shorter than most people expect.

In this section “animal” means horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.

A dog is on the list. A cat is not, and neither is a fox, a badger or a deer. Hitting one of those does not by itself trigger section 170, and a cat does not come back in through the property limb either — subsection (1)(b)(iii) reaches only property forming part of the land. The section still bites if the same collision damages another vehicle or the roadside.

The two duties, and the order they come in

The first duty is unconditional. The second only exists if the first was not completed.

The driver of the mechanically propelled vehicle must stop and, if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address and also the name and address of the owner and the identification marks of the vehicle.

If for any reason the driver of the mechanically propelled vehicle does not give his name and address under subsection (2) above, he must report the accident.

Read those two together and the whole structure falls out.

1. You must stop. Always. There is no qualifier on it, and stopping means staying long enough for anyone entitled to your details to ask for them.
2. You must give your details when someone with reasonable grounds asks. Not to a passing spectator with no interest — to the other driver, an owner, an injured person, a police officer.
3. The details are specified: your name and address, the vehicle owner’s name and address, and the vehicle’s identification marks. If you are driving a car that is not yours, you need the owner’s details too.
4. Only if those details were not given does the police report become due.

The Highway Code carries the same three bullets in the same order, and cites section 170 underneath them.

If you are involved in a collision which causes damage or injury to any other person, vehicle, animal or property, you MUST stop. If possible, stop in a place of relative safety; give your own and the vehicle owner’s name and address, and the registration number of the vehicle, to anyone having reasonable grounds for requiring them; if you do not give your name and address at the time of the collision, report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case within 24 hours.

Note what is not on that list. Section 170(2) does not require you to hand over your insurance details, your policy number or your phone number. Insurance documents come into it only where someone is injured — the next section but one.

“You have 24 hours to report it” is the wrong reading

This is the single most repeated mistake about section 170, and the statutory wording refutes it in one clause.

To comply with a duty under this section to report an accident … the driver — (a) must do so at a police station or to a constable, and (b) must do so as soon as is reasonably practicable and, in any case, within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the accident.

Two limbs, both binding. The primary obligation is as soon as is reasonably practicable. The twenty-four hours is a longstop that closes the door — it is not a window you are entitled to use up. Driving home, sleeping on it and reporting twenty-three hours later can still fail subsection (6) if reporting sooner was reasonably practicable, and “I was within the day” is not an answer to that.

The second limb of subsection (6) is also specific about where: at a police station, or to a constable.

If anyone is injured, a second duty starts

Injury cases add an insurance limb that has nothing to do with whether you swapped names.

If, in a case where this section applies by virtue of subsection (1)(a) above, the driver of a motor vehicle does not at the time of the accident produce such a certificate of insurance or other evidence, as is mentioned in section 165(2)(a) of this Act — (a) to a constable, or (b) to some person who, having reasonable grounds for so doing, has required him to produce it, the driver must report the accident and produce such a certificate or other evidence.

So where someone else is injured and you did not produce your certificate of insurance at the scene, you must report the accident even if you gave your name and address. The Act then gives you a seven-day route for the paperwork itself.

A person who fails to comply with a duty under subsection (5) above is guilty of an offence, but he shall not be convicted by reason only of a failure to produce a certificate or other evidence if, within seven days after the occurrence of the accident, the certificate or other evidence is produced at a police station that was specified by him at the time when the accident was reported.

The Highway Code compresses both of those into a single rule.

If another person is injured and you do not produce your insurance certificate at the time of the crash to a police officer or to anyone having reasonable grounds to request it, you MUST report it to the police as soon as possible and in any case within 24 hours; produce your insurance certificate for the police within seven days.

Note the split: the report is as soon as possible, within twenty-four hours. The certificate is the seven-day item. They are different clocks and they are not interchangeable.

At the scene: what Rule 283 asks of you

The legal duties are section 170. What you actually do in the first two minutes is Rule 283, and it applies whether you were involved or merely stopped to help.

if possible, stop in a place of relative safety; use your hazard warning lights to warn other traffic; put on high-visibility clothing if you have it; ask drivers to switch off their engines; ask drivers and passengers to stop smoking; contact the emergency services on 999 and provide full details of the incident location and any casualties

The rest of Rule 283 is the part that decides outcomes for casualties. Move uninjured people away from the vehicles to a place of relative safety. Do not move injured people from their vehicles unless they are in immediate danger, and do not remove a motorcyclist’s helmet unless it is essential and you are trained to do so. Be prepared to give first aid, stay at the scene until the emergency services arrive, and be prepared to exchange details.

Rule 275 is the cross-reference behind “place of relative safety”, and Rule 281 covers what you do on approach when the incident is someone else’s: emergency and incident support vehicles showing flashing lights mean there may be an incident ahead, you slow down, and you MUST follow any directions given by police or traffic officers as to whether you can safely pass. Rule 282 adds the one people forget — do not slow down unnecessarily for an incident on the other carriageway.

If the vehicle involved is carrying dangerous goods, Rule 285 changes the priorities: switch off engines, do not smoke, keep well away rather than attempting a rescue, and give the emergency services as much information as possible about the labels and markings on the vehicle — without using a mobile phone close to a vehicle carrying flammable loads.

What failing to stop costs

Both failures are offences in their own right, and both are endorsable.

All three stay on the driving record for four years from the date of the offence. Our glossary carries the same definitions at AC10 and AC20.

Section 170(4) makes the failure itself the offence: “A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) above is guilty of an offence.” Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 sets the consequences — trial is summary, endorsement is obligatory, disqualification is discretionary, and the points range is 5 to 10. In England and Wales the maximum sentence is six months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both, the standard scale’s level 5 having become a fine of any amount for offences committed on or after 12 March 2015.

Two knock-on effects are worth knowing before you are ever in that position. A single AC10 or AC20 endorsement can reach ten points on its own — comfortably past the six that revokes a new driver’s licence under the New Drivers Act, and within sight of the twelve that brings a court disqualification. And because “reasonable grounds” is a low bar, walking away from a car park scrape you thought was trivial is the classic route into AC20 — see also our guide to lesser-known driving offences for the other habits that are offences without feeling like them.

Northern Ireland words it differently

Section 170 extends to England, Wales and Scotland. In Northern Ireland the duties come from Article 175 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, and it is not a straight copy — if you are revising for the Northern Ireland theory test, the differences matter.

• The report duty is worded “forthwith”, with a defence available to a driver who had good cause and reported as soon as was reasonably practicable. The twenty-four-hour longstop is a feature of section 170(6), which does not extend to Northern Ireland.
• Injury triggers the report even when details were given. Article 175(1)(iv) requires the report where particulars were not given or where the accident directly or indirectly resulted in injury to any other person.
• The property limb is broader — “damage is caused to any property other than that vehicle or property in or on that vehicle or property of the driver or owner of that vehicle”, with none of the “forming part of the land” narrowing that Great Britain applies.
• The animal list adds the hinny to the same horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat, dog set.
• There is an express duty to keep the vehicle stationary at or near the place of the accident for such period as is reasonable in the circumstances.

Common test questions and the answers

“You are in a collision with another vehicle. Nobody is injured. What must you do?”

Stop, and give your name and address, the vehicle owner’s name and address and the registration number to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask. If you give those details at the scene, no police report is required.

“You damage a parked car and cannot find the owner. What must you do?”

Report the accident to the police as soon as is reasonably practicable, and in any case within twenty-four hours, at a police station or to a constable. Leaving a note is a courtesy; it is not what subsection (3) asks for and it does not replace the report.

“How long do you have to report a collision to the police?”

The question is worded to catch you. The duty is to report as soon as is reasonably practicable, with twenty-four hours as the absolute outer limit. Waiting because you have “got a day” is not compliance.

“You hit a dog on the road. Must you stop?”

Yes. A dog is inside the section 170 definition of animal, so the full stop-and-give-details-or-report duty applies. A cat is not on that list.

“Someone is injured and you did not show your insurance certificate at the scene. What now?”

Report the accident to the police as soon as possible and within twenty-four hours, then produce the certificate within seven days at the police station you named when you reported it.

“You clip a lamp post reversing and there is no other vehicle involved. Does anything apply?”

Yes. A lamp post is property fixed to the land, so if there is nobody present with reasonable grounds to take your details, the report duty applies exactly as it would for a car.

Where this shows up in revision

Collision duties sit in the Incidents, accidents and emergencies revision topic alongside first aid, CPR and breakdowns, and the MUST wording in Rules 286 and 287 is the grammar the exam uses to mark a legal requirement apart from advice. Work the incidents, accidents and emergencies topic, read Rules 275 and 281 to 287 in the Highway Code, then sit a full mock theory test under the real timer. It is free to get started.

Sources

• legislation.gov.uk — Road Traffic Act 1988, section 170 (duty of driver to stop, report accident and give information or documents)
• legislation.gov.uk — Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Schedule 2 (section 170(4): summary trial, six months or level 5, obligatory endorsement, 5-10 points, discretionary disqualification)
• legislation.gov.uk — Sentencing Act 2020, section 122 (the standard scale; level 5 read subject to LASPO 2012 section 85)
• legislation.gov.uk — Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, section 85 (removal of the limit on level 5 fines)
• legislation.gov.uk — Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, Article 175 (duties on occurrence of an accident)
• GOV.UK — Highway Code: breakdowns and incidents (Rules 275, 281, 282, 283, 285, 286, 287)
• GOV.UK — Endorsement codes and penalty points (AC10, AC20, AC30 and the 4-year retention)

Highway Code excerpts are reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0.