Caution and discipline while driving will definitely play into the driver’s hands and save him from many problems. But no one can have one hundred percent confidence that this will help avoid an accident. Even if you strictly follow all traffic rules and constantly monitor your own vehicle, you can get into an accident. The reason could be either inattention or an accident that does not adhere to any rules. Let's look at more detailed instructions for 2021 on what to do if you get into an accident and are the culprit.
The first actions of the culprit
Often, it is the behavior of the person at fault in the accident that becomes the decisive factor in reaching a verdict. Often this can affect the lives of others involved in the accident.
The first thing to do if you are in an accident is to calmly assess the situation and not panic. Under no circumstances should you resort to using medications based on ethyl alcohol: such a practice often only leads to complications in the situation of the culprit.
In case of a minor incident
The vehicle may be slightly damaged, and no one was injured in the collision. In this case, the accident is equivalent to a minor incident.
The requirements that this type of traffic accident satisfies are:
- No more than 2 cars are involved in the collision;
- The damage from the accident is less than 100 thousand rubles.
Often this category includes incidents that occurred while parking a vehicle and careless movement in yards.
Actions to be taken if the incident is minor:
- It is necessary to stop the vehicle, fixing the position of the car with the hand brake;
- It is necessary to use the emergency alarm by pressing the button in the car interior and place the corresponding sign in the form of a red triangle on the road;
- Regardless of the speed and nature of the damage to the cars, each participant must be checked for any bodily injury;
- It is necessary to contact the witnesses of the accident and be sure to obtain their contact information for communication if necessary.
Only property was damaged and there were no disagreements between the parties to the accident
In this case, the parties to the process can fill out the notice themselves.
For your information, participants in the incident are required to send the completed “European protocol” to their insurers within 5 working days. Otherwise, the insurance company has the right to subsequently recover the insurance amount by way of recourse from the perpetrator.
For example, in the judicial practice of the city of Izhevsk, cases have become more frequent when insurance companies, a couple of years after a “non-controversial accident”, filed in a simplified manner, file a lawsuit against the culprit of the accident to collect insurance compensation. They justify their claims by the fact that the tortfeasor violated clause 2 of Article 11.1 of the law on compulsory motor liability insurance, namely, did not provide notification of the accident to the insurer.
There are disagreements among participants
It often happens that participants cannot come to a solution to the problem themselves and disputes arise. In this case, you need to record all the details using the camera on your phone and go to the nearest state traffic police station to complete the documentation.
Before leaving the scene of the incident, the guilty party must reach an agreement with the victim. Often, in the event of a collision with a parked car, this option is not available. If you find yourself in such a situation, you need to call the state traffic inspector, no matter what the damage or damage caused.
Evgeniy Baidalin
Auto lawyer. More than 10 years of experience
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In case of leaving the scene of an accident, the culprit faces administrative liability in the form of deprivation of a driver’s license for a period of 1 to 1.5 years or administrative arrest for up to fifteen days.
An inspector will also be needed when either party does not have a compulsory insurance policy.
Calling the emergency commissioner without calling the traffic police
Avarkom examines the accident site, records vehicle defects, details of the accident, takes copies of driver's documents, interviews eyewitnesses, collects their contacts, estimates the cost of damage and draws up a specialist report on the accident - a document confirming the damage to the vehicle and the reasons for its receipt. Helps motorists prepare a receipt, explanatory note and statement to the head of the traffic police of the district in which the accident occurred.
To call an independent emergency response specialist, you can contact any specialized company. Take care of this in advance and always keep the emergency contact number with you. You pay for the services of an independent specialist yourself. However, the list of its services is wider than that of your insurance commissioner - from registration of an accident to delivery of you home and psychological assistance. At the same time, the commissioner defends your interests. Calling a commissioner is justified if you get lost in stressful situations. A specialist will file the incident for you. The services of an emergency response company will also be useful if you suspect the second participant in an accident of fraud. Usually a specialist can easily spot such scams.
An unpaid call to the commissioner is possible if you have purchased an extended version of OSAGO or CASCO. Carefully study your insurance agreement: does it indicate that Avarcom provides the service free of charge as part of the policy or that its work is paid for separately. Some insurance policies contain a clause stating that compensation for an accident is only possible if a commissioner is called to the scene of the accident. Other agents, upon receipt of an application, independently decide whether you need to call an emergency dispatcher. The commissioner from the insurance organization protects its interests and helps reduce the expected payment amount.
Carefully study the specialist's statement about the accident. Clarify the details of the case, controversial wording, additional comments from a specialist. When determining compensation, insurance agents will rely on the commissioner’s report and compare it with information from traffic police and medical workers.
In case of an accident with victims
If there is any kind of bodily injury to one of the participants in the incident, the traffic police should handle the registration. Victims should immediately receive qualified assistance. Until the ambulance arrives, a set of measures must be carried out to help the victim.
Only after calling the doctors, you need to contact the state traffic inspectorate to draw up a protocol. While waiting, employees must be notified of the incident using emergency lights and a red triangle.
Immediately after you are involved in an accident, identify witnesses to the accident. This is necessary to establish the true picture of what happened in the trial. This will pose a lot of difficulties later, so it is better to immediately contact road users for contact information.
The punishment and its extent for the guilty party directly depends on the harm caused to other people during the incident.
In case of minor damage, you can get by with a large fine, but in case of significant damage, the punishment can be either imprisonment for two years or imprisonment, depending on the severity of the harm caused.
Criminal liability
If a driver or passenger is seriously injured in an accident, the culprit is punished under the Criminal Code. Under Article 264 of the Criminal Code the following penalties will apply:
| Violation | Punishment |
| The victim was seriously injured | imprisonment for up to 3 years, forced labor for up to 2 years |
| The victim was seriously injured; the driver was drunk and fled the scene of the accident. | imprisonment for up to 7 years, forced labor for up to five years |
| A man died | imprisonment up to 5 years, forced labor up to 4 years |
| A man died, the driver was drunk and fled the scene of the accident | imprisonment up to 5 years |
| Two or more people died | imprisonment up to 7 years, forced labor up to 5 |
| Two or more died, the driver was drunk and fled the scene of the accident | imprisonment from 8 to 15 years |
Severe injuries, as defined by the government, are those that cause a person to lose hearing, vision, speech or ability to function. Termination of pregnancy is also a serious harm to health.
If there is a fatality
If an accident results in loss of life, the party at fault must be prepared to face serious consequences. Such cases provide for criminal liability for the committed act up to a ten-year term if we are talking about the death of one person, and a much longer imprisonment if two or more died.
First of all, in the event of a serious traffic accident, you need to call an ambulance and call the state traffic police.
Emergency numbers in case of an accident in Izhevsk
| Mobile | City phone |
| Unified Duty Dispatch Service (UDDS) | |
| 112 | 8(3412)51-23-52 |
| Fire Department | |
| 101 | 101 |
| Police | |
| 102 | 102; 8(3412)416-001 |
| Emergency | |
| 103 | 103;; |
| State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan | |
| 8(3412)41-57-00; | |
| State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Industrial District | |
| 8(3412)42-23-33; | |
| Traffic police department of internal affairs of Pervomaisky district | |
| 8(3412)78-38-77 | |
| Traffic Police Department of Internal Affairs of Oktyabrsky District | |
| 8(3412)59-87-79; | |
| State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ustinovsky District | |
| 8(3412)46-32-64; | |
| State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs | |
| 8(3412)71-22-65; | |
| Traffic Police Regiment | |
| 102 | 8(3412)44-57-02 |
All other actions related to warning other road users about the danger and searching for witnesses must be carried out after.
If the car catches fire, you must immediately use a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. In case of a serious condition of the victim, it is better not to resort to first aid, because you can harm the person. It is necessary to call qualified specialists as quickly as possible who can get the person out of the car and remove the debris. You should not perform such actions yourself.
What to do with insurance if you get into an accident as the culprit?
The driver must obtain a compulsory MTPL insurance policy in advance, so at the time of the accident he must already have this document and the necessary European protocol.
As a rule, a notification of an accident is attached when purchasing an insurance policy . you can here.
In the event of a minor incident, such a protocol is filled out by the participants themselves. The injured party does not need a second copy of the document. What the culprit fills out will be sufficient. After this, the copy is copied to a second copy, which is transferred to the affected person.
It is important to indicate the following points:
- Date when the accident occurred;
- Car collision location;
- Witnesses along with contact details;
- How many cars were damaged as a result;
- It is necessary to indicate both who was driving the car and who owns it;
- Name of the organization that issued the MTPL;
- Any damage that the car received;
- Initial impact to the vehicle body (indicated by the arrow in the image);
- Confirmation of the guilt of the guilty party and the innocence of the victim in the notes of the protocol;
- A diagram of the accident showing signs and directions of vehicle movements.
It is important that both parties sign the document.
If the policy implies a traffic inspector who will go to the scene of the accident, the best solution would be not to dismiss this possibility. Then the documentation will be completed by a knowledgeable person in accordance with all the rules.
If the damage verified by the appraiser exceeds 100 thousand rubles and/or there are people injured as a result of the incident, traffic police officers are called to the scene and fill out the protocol themselves.
Sample filling
Filling out the Europrotocol
Actions in case of an accident without casualties under compulsory motor liability insurance deserve special consideration. In this case, the so-called Europrotocol is almost always drawn up. Its preparation means the implementation of a simplified procedure for resolving a conflict without involving the traffic police. In addition to the absence of victims, a prerequisite for its launch is the amount of damage to the injured party’s vehicle within 100 thousand rubles.
The document looks like this: The form is quite simple to fill out as it contains detailed instructions. The document becomes the basis for contacting the insurance company for compensation. It acts as a replacement for an accident certificate from the traffic police.
What actions will help mitigate the punishment?
If the damage was caused only to vehicles, then subject to the insurance company’s limit, the culprit will only pay a larger amount in the following years under insurance.
In cases of harm to road users, as well as the presence of fatalities, mitigation of punishment is possible if:
- Cooperate as much as possible with the investigation. If you are the culprit of the accident, it is better to immediately admit this fact and help the investigation on all issues;
- Pay for the entire period of treatment, as well as rehabilitation of the injured person. Compensate for moral damage caused to the victim. This can often help avoid jail time in the event of an accident.
Is the culprit required to notify his insurance company?
The correct actions of drivers who fall into this category are extremely important. Since not everyone who causes an accident clearly understands what to do with the insurance company responsible for the accident, some of them may not report the incident. It is the responsibility of the person at fault to notify your insurance company. This requirement is established by the content of the article on the legal portal www.consultant.ru by article 11 on compulsory motor liability insurance. Otherwise, the insurer may either refuse to pay or recover through court the amount of its costs from the culprit.
When talking with a representative of the insurer, the driver must inform him that he was the culprit of the accident and provide the following information:
- number of road accident participants;
- place and time;
- data on vehicles (numbers, brands, production dates);
- information about the presence of victims and injured people, as well as their condition.
Reference! The insurance company can send its specialist to the scene of the accident, who will participate in the registration of the accident.
What is prohibited?
It is necessary to refuse attempts to leave the scene of the incident and shift the blame to another person if you are the culprit of the incident. Any person, when he gets behind the wheel, automatically takes responsibility for his own vehicle and is obliged in any case to accept the consequences.
There is also no need to give false testimony to the investigation about the causes of the traffic accident. If the investigation reveals an attempt to bribe a witness to give false testimony in court, then both the guilty party and the witness will be forced to bear criminal liability.
Total
A brief algorithm of actions in the event of an accident:
- Keep calm, turn on the video camera on your smartphone;
- Check the condition of other participants in the accident. If they need help, call the doctors;
- Put up a warning triangle, turn on your hazard lights;
- If there is no dispute regarding guilt, draw up a European protocol. If so, call the traffic police.
- If you are found guilty and you do not agree, do not argue, but seek an expert examination, then file a lawsuit.
If there are grounds, insist on admitting mutual guilt of both drivers. This way you can receive compensation for damages through the insurance company.
If you still have any questions, consult with Honest specialists. It's free.
How to compensate for losses?
A situation may also occur when the policy limit is exceeded. In this case, compensation for repair damage falls on the shoulders of the guilty party, who pays the difference between the actual damage caused and the payment by the insurer. As a matter of course, expenses must be confirmed by an independent expert.
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In case of bodily injury, often the insurance company does not cover all expenses, so the culprit additionally pays for bills and self-medication, as well as travel to the hospital. Moral damage is also compensated only by the driver who influenced the tragic consequence. This penalty is awarded during legal proceedings.
Civil responsibility
The Civil Code explains how to act if a participant in an accident receives damage. For example, if a car is scratched in a parking lot, the code obliges the culprit to compensate for the damage.
Civil liability is insured by the MTPL policy. If an accident occurs, the culprit will not have to pay out of pocket—the insurance company will do that. The maximum amount of insurance payment according to the law is 400,000 rubles.
Car owners are required by law to be insured. The fine for driving without insurance is 800 rubles.
How and where to find a lawyer?
If you are dissatisfied with the determination of all the parameters of the incident by the state traffic inspector, it is better to contact a professional lawyer who will help deal with the “car” problem. Legal will provide advice and all the necessary background information that will help you in the future.
Road accident lawyers are ready to prepare the necessary documentation and accompany you during legal proceedings. Thanks to the qualified assistance of a specialist, you can avoid a lot of difficulties in the process and save your time.
