They hit a dog: responsibility, who is to blame and judicial practice

Collisions with wild or domestic animals on the highway are quite common. It is impossible to teach a dog and a cat the rules of the road, and when they jump out in front of a car going at speed, it is not always possible to brake or avoid a collision.

What to do if you hit a dog on the road? Is this collision considered an accident, and what is the liability for it? How to behave correctly in such a situation?

Is a dog hit on the road an accident or not?

By law, yes... With all the attendant responsibilities for the driver and consequences.

In order to understand this, we need to look at official legislation. In 2021, this definition is given by Federal Law No. 196 On Road Safety.

According to this definition, an accident is an event on the road that involves a car and in which any of the following circumstances exist:

or people died
or there are injured victims,
the machine itself is damaged or other material damage is caused.

The current Traffic Rules give us the same definition.

A pet, of course, does not belong to people. But it is obvious that hitting a dog will be considered an accident, provided that the car is at least slightly damaged or the dog itself is injured. The latter, according to the law, is precisely “other material damage.” Why, you will find out a little below.

What are the responsibilities of the driver and owner during a collision?

Consequently, in the presence of the very fact of a traffic accident, the driver has the responsibilities provided for in paragraphs 2.5-2.6.1 of the traffic rules:

if you accidentally hit a dog on the road, then first of all you need to stop, turn on the hazard lights and put up an emergency sign,
then you need to call the traffic police for their arrival at the scene and wait for them,
Traffic regulations require you not to touch the dog itself or other things related to the accident.

Pay attention to the last item on this list. Still, to save a dog, it is advisable to provide it with first aid as much as possible. This is unlikely to result in a fine, and they certainly won’t deprive the driver’s license (except in the controversial case when you decide to take your dog to a veterinary facility in your car - looking ahead, we note that it is optimal in this case to send it in another passing car, which was not involved in an accident involving an animal).

Conflicting jurisprudence of the Supreme Court

Meanwhile, for failure to fulfill one of the above duties, the driver faces severe liability and deprivation of his license for a fairly long period. We'll talk more about this below in detail. And you will be deprived of your license if you hit a dog and fled the scene of the accident. That is, a mandatory condition is the recognition of this case as a traffic accident as defined by the traffic rules and the law.

At the same time, in the vast majority of cases of judicial practice in 2021, the courts recognize that hitting a dog is an accident, with the subsequent imposition of punishment on the driver when considering this issue. Here is an example of a relevant Supreme Court decision from 2017, which literally says the following:

The event that occurred meets the criteria of a traffic accident, which, in accordance with paragraph 1.2 of the Traffic Rules, is an event that occurred during the movement...
The fact that his full name became a participant in a traffic accident obligated him to fulfill the requirements of paragraphs 2.5, 2.6.1 of the Traffic Rules.

But the most interesting thing is that there is an absolutely opposite decision of the Supreme Court, where a hit by a dog is not recognized as an accident. Here is an example of a decision made by the RF Supreme Court a year earlier:

The event that occurred on May 19, 2015 at 15:06 in the area of 6, building 3 on the street. Timme in Arkhangelsk, does not meet the criteria of a traffic accident in the sense given to this concept in Article 2 of the Law on Road Safety and in paragraph 1.2 of the Traffic Rules, and is not such.

The most curious thing about these two examples of judicial practice of the Supreme Court is that they were considered by the same judge S.B. Nikiforov. And both solutions are completely opposite: in one, hitting a dog is considered an accident, in the other, it is not. Draw your own conclusions...

The courts of lower instances, at the same time, are obliged to be guided by such judicial acts of the Russian Armed Forces (although they are not obliged to strictly follow them), therefore, in order to protect their interests, one of the two given decisions can be used by each party in the case:

and the driver who hit the dog and fled the scene of the accident,
and the owner of the animal, who wanted to take revenge on the motorist who allowed his pet to be hit.

If you were shot down in the yard?

Please note that above we described the definition of an accident as something that happened on the road. But is a dog hit by a car an accident if the collision took place in the courtyard of a residential building? Answer: yes.

Yes, many fans of road safety legislation believe that there are no roads in yards (in adjacent territories), which supposedly follows from the very definition of such a territory - it itself is adjacent to the road. However, from the same definitions in the traffic rules it follows that the road includes the roadway and sidewalks. Both of these elements can be found in yards. Therefore, the conclusion that there cannot be roads in courtyards is incorrect.

Also, the presence of a road in the adjacent territories is confirmed by the same Supreme Court, which in one of the decisions of the Plenum directly indicated their presence (paragraph 20 of the PPVS No. 20 of June 25, 2019).

It follows that if a driver hits a dog in the yard, at a gas station, parking lot, etc., then the obligation to call the traffic police and not leave the scene of the accident remains.

They hit a dog and drove away - what liability does the driver face?

For failure to fulfill one of the duties listed above, there is a penalty, and there can be 2 of them:

a fine of 1,000 rubles for non-severe traffic violations after an accident with a dog,
Deprivation of rights for a period of 1 to 1.5 years or arrest for up to 15 days will threaten if you drive away after hitting a dog, deciding, for example, that this is not a traffic accident.

Such liability measures are provided for in Article 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

There can be no other penalties for an accident with a pet:

deprivation of rights and fines for culpability in an accident with victims is provided for in Article 12.24, and when hitting a dog it is not applicable, since according to this norm of the Code of Administrative Offenses the driver is punished for harming the health of people,
just as criminal liability, even if you hit a dog to death, will not occur, since it also applies to the person who was hit.

As for the fine from the driver, which is compensated for the harm caused to the owner of the animal, administrative liability and civil liability should not be confused here. We have given the penalties above, and civil liability is compensation for damage caused. This is not an administrative or criminal punishment - it is not a punishment at all. And we’ll talk about compensation for damage a little lower, but for now let’s talk about what the traffic police threatens.

Is it possible to avoid deprivation?

Yes, you can, but it all depends on the situation. It's a good news. But the bad thing is that prosecution under Article 12.27 does not depend on the degree of guilt of the driver. The latter faces deprivation of his rights for the very fact of leaving the scene of an accident - regardless of other circumstances.

In practice in 2021, you can avoid liability on the following legal grounds:

if the driver did not notice how he hit the dog (the prospect is not very good),
if you think that there was no accident (an almost hopeless basis),
if you were forced to leave the scene of the accident and prove that you had no intention of hiding after the collision.

Important note!

This article describes the basic principles of how legislation works. Meanwhile, in judicial practice everything depends on specific circumstances.
In 96% of all cases there are subtleties that can affect the outcome of the entire case.
Therefore, we recommend entrusting the matter to professionals who will study your business and select the right winning strategy.

The TonkostiDTP website employs professional road accident lawyers with experience in all major types of disputes (MTPL, guilt, administrative penalties).

Ask a lawyer

or get a free consultation by calling the hotline: 8.

If you didn't notice the blow

The likelihood of the outcome of this case depends directly on the specific circumstances of the incident, the testimony of witnesses and participants in the accident, camera footage and other revealed facts of the accident.

If a driver hit a dog, fled the scene of an accident, and then, when imposing a punishment, simply did not notice the fact of the collision, did not hear the impact, then the probability of a successful outcome of the case is approximately 50/50, as judicial practice shows.

This opportunity is provided by the main principle of administrative law - a person is liable only for those violations for which his guilt has been established (Article 26.1 of the Administrative Code). If the driver did not notice the collision with the animal, then his guilt cannot be established.

Let us note the most important circumstances.

If, as a result of a collision with a dog, the damage to the car is severe, and the dog died from injuries, then it will be difficult - almost impossible - to prove that you did not notice and therefore did not stop, since the court looks at precisely such circumstances.
If you stopped after a collision and then drove again, it will also be difficult to avoid deprivation. The court will consider this an indication that you did feel the blow. It will be even more difficult to avoid liability if you stopped and argued with the animal owner about the fact of the accident, about the damage, or if there are camera recordings or witness testimony that you inspected your car.
The larger the dog breed, the more difficult it will be to prove your innocence.

In other cases, everything will directly depend on the nature of the accident. If we are talking about some kind of toy terrier or chihuahua, and you crushed the dog with a wheel, and did not stop, no one tried to stop you, then the judge may well believe that you did not feel the impact.

Here is a striking example of judicial practice from Perm, where a driver tried to appeal the deprivation of his license for hitting a dog on the grounds that he allegedly did not notice the collision. However, the judge took into account several facts that refute the car enthusiast’s attempt to “excuse himself”:

firstly, the dog was hit and killed, and the nature of the accident shows that it was difficult not to notice it,
secondly, the case involves a witness who claims that the driver stopped and watched the owner get his dog out from under the wheels.

Thus, relying on the fact that you did not feel how you hit the animal makes sense only in the following cases:

if the accident was not serious (the dog remained alive, perhaps he ran away on his own business - but you don’t know about it),
accordingly, the dog breed is small,
the nature of the damage to the car suggests that you might not have felt the impact (it’s one thing to have a slight tangential impact and virtually no damage, or if the collision occurred on a truck, and quite another thing to have a broken bumper, for example),
you did not stop after the collision and drove on,
your testimony does not contradict this assertion, nor do the witness statements and/or camera footage indicate any reaction you had to being hit by the dog.

If you needed to take your dog to the vet

The traffic rules clearly require the driver to stop immediately after a collision and not touch the car (clause 2.5). In the case of a collision with a dog, this requirement applies until the arrival of traffic police officers. Even if there are injured people, you should first try to send them to the hospital in passing cars and only as a last resort take them in your own car (clause 2.6 of the Rules).

The animal is not among the people affected. Therefore, you have no right to leave.

However, if you still decide that the dog’s life is more important than your driver’s license, then provided that you called the police and return to the scene of the accident after a trip to the veterinarian - highly preferably, before the called officers leave there, there is a chance to avoid deprivation of rights.

In this case, there will be a lack of intent in hiding from the scene of the incident. Then it is possible to reclassify the guilt to Part 1 of this article, which provides for a fine of 1 thousand rubles.

However, there is little practice in such cases. But it is imperative to try to prove your innocence and the presence of intent.

If the dog owner has no complaints

Alas, in this case it seems unlikely to avoid responsibility. According to the law, reconciliation of the parties does not entail avoidance of punishment in administrative law (unlike criminal law). Therefore, even if you paid damages to the owner of the dog, if he refused claims against you, you may still face deprivation of rights.

However, in practice, it sometimes happens that after the owner of the animal withdraws the complaint from the traffic police, the driver may be released from further progress of the case.

First aid for an animal

The list of actions after an accident directly depends on the nature of the damage and the behavior of the animal. If the damage to health is minor and no signs of aggression are shown, it is necessary to remove the dog from the roadway. Otherwise, there is a risk of a second accident. In this case, you cannot change the dog’s position. Otherwise, there is a risk of causing even more damage.

It is necessary to try to stop the bleeding and bandage open wounds. It is important to remember that the most peaceful animal can bite due to painful shock. Therefore, it is necessary to tie the dog's mouth if there is no muzzle. If there are other people or the dog’s owner nearby, you should turn to them for help in order to immobilize the animal as much as possible.

It is necessary to contact the nearest veterinary clinic and take the dog there. Here the animal will be able to receive qualified assistance. It is problematic to independently assess the damage and take adequate actions without specialized education.

Before dressing, you must put on gloves. Animals can have diseases that can be transmitted to humans.

Is this an insured event under MTPL?

Yes and no. It depends on who is found to be at fault for such an accident.

The fact is that the very principle of MTPL insurance is that the liability of the at-fault driver of the car is covered, and not the property itself.

Thus, there are 2 possible outcomes:

the owner of the dog receives compensation for damages for the animal by contacting the insurance company of the car driver, if the latter is found to be the culprit,
if the owner of the pet is guilty, then he will compensate for the damage; and there is no point in contacting your insurance company - it covers the risk of driver liability.

That is, in any case, it is impossible to restore a car damaged due to a hit by a dog under compulsory motor liability insurance in 2021.

What about Casco?

But here we are talking about property insurance. However, you need to carefully read the Casco contract - it should not contain a clause stating that the insured event is not an animal hit on the road. If there is no such clause, then it is possible to compensate for damage to a car for hitting a dog.

Where to go if you hit an animal?

Based on what was described above, if you are a driver, the only way is to contact the person causing the harm, that is, the owner of the dog. However, this is only possible if, as a result of the analysis of the accident, a violation of the pet owner is revealed that led to this incident.

And, of course, now you know that immediately after a collision you first need to contact the police - call the traffic police to the scene.

Use a muzzle or blanket to prevent bites

Even the calmest dog can unexpectedly attack if it is in great pain or fear. If this does not interfere with breathing, it would be a good idea to make an improvised muzzle from gauze or fabric. The last thing you want is to get bitten, especially since it could interfere with your efforts to help the dog.

Alternatively, you can cover the animal's head and body with a blanket or towel while you move it, again being careful not to impede breathing.

Who is at fault in a dog accident in 2021?

Actually, it’s time to talk about the main question - in which cases which of the participants in an accident with an animal is found guilty. And here, in the vast majority of cases, 2 options are possible:

the driver is charged with violating paragraph 10.1 of the traffic rules - allegedly you did not select the correct speed to avoid hitting a dog,
The owner of the dog is charged with a violation of allowing the animal to enter the roadway.

Clause 10.1 is generally a universal technique used by inspectors in case of road accidents, which allows them to almost always blame the driver of the car. It prescribes choosing a speed not only not higher than the established limit, but also one that would allow you to control the road situation and avoid a collision. That is, the violation here is precedent-setting. Did you hit a dog? This means you didn’t select the right speed. Avoided being hit? This means that 10.1 is fully complied with!

As for the responsibility of a dog owner, it will be a discovery for many that a pet is property. The fact is that the Civil Code extends property legal relations to any animals. This means that if you allowed a dog to be released onto the roadway, it is equivalent to throwing a brick in front of a passing car, which it ran over.

Of course, the violation of one or another participant directly depends on the specific circumstances of the case. Let's look at the main ones.

Violation 10.1 can be charged to the driver if he saw the dog from afar, but did not reduce speed and as a result hit it. Of course, they will look at the car owner’s explanatory statement, witness testimony and/or camera footage.
If, for example, a dog ran along the side of the road and then sharply turned onto the roadway, then guilt may be debatable.
In cases where an animal suddenly runs out onto the road, especially because of some obstacle, the blame may fall entirely on its owner. That is, the general rule applies here: can the driver objectively assess a sudden danger on the road and prevent a collision?
And if a pedestrian was walking with a pet on a short leash across a pedestrian crossing, and the driver hit the dog because he did not have time to react, then the blame will most likely fall on the driver. But even here it would be illegal to issue a fine for not allowing a pedestrian to pass - perhaps no obstacles were created to him. But untimely response in front of a pedestrian crossing is directly dependent on non-compliance with 10.1 of the traffic rules.

Here is another example of a decision in judicial practice in its official interpretation:

Thus, the court comes to the conclusion that the driver’s actions at the time of the collision with the dog did not violate the Traffic Rules of the Russian Federation, and therefore there is no guilt in committing the accident, since the dog ran out onto the roadway suddenly and uncontrollably on its part. owner, on a section of the road where there was no possibility of crossing the roadway.

A case where the innocent pays?

But there is also Article 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which classifies a car as a source of increased danger (hereinafter referred to as “IPO”) and indicates that harm caused by such a source is subject to compensation even in the absence of fault of the owner of the IPO.

This means that even if the dog owner is found guilty of an accident (as we found out above, the pet itself cannot be made guilty, because it is property), then the driver is obliged to compensate for the damage, regardless of his guilt in this.

But there is an important snag in judicial practice. This article is applied by the courts when a car collides with a pedestrian or cyclist. That is, when causing harm to the health or life of people. If damage to property occurs, 1079 Civil Code does not apply.

However, in the practice of the Supreme Court there is a ruling No. 22-KG15-1, where the judge returned the case for a new trial on the grounds that the previous courts did not raise the issue of using a source of increased danger. Meanwhile, in that case, the collision was not with a dog, but with a cow. That is, pets even larger than a dog have suffered from IPO.

Thus, guilt and liability for damages in practice in 2021 may fall on both the driver, if he is charged with violating clause 10.1 of the traffic rules, and the owner of the dog, who allowed it to go out onto the road. However, even if the owner of the animal is found to be the culprit, the burden of compensation for damage for hitting a dog may fall on the driver (at the same time, the obligation to compensate for damage to the car if the owner of the dog is at fault does not go away). In these cases, the cost of damage is covered by compulsory motor liability insurance.

Let's look at a number of other circumstances that one way or another may influence the outcome of the case in determining guilt in a collision with animals.

A hit-and-run or is the dog alive and running away?

In this case, the only question is whether it is possible to avoid deprivation of your license if you fled the scene of an accident. That is, if a dog is hit to death by a strong blow from a car, then it is almost impossible to prove that you did not feel the collision. Conversely, if the dog received minor injuries as a result of the blow or was not injured at all and ran away from the road out of fear, then the prospects are quite good.

These facts do not affect the determination of guilt in any way.

If the collision occurred at a pedestrian crossing

As we already mentioned above, if the dog crossed a zebra crossing, this may become an additional support in the guilt of the car driver. But no, you are not obliged to give way to a dog at the crossing - 14.1 and other traffic rules related to the zebra crossing require giving way to a pedestrian, and a pedestrian, by definition, is a person (and not property, of course).

However, the fact that the driver did not take precautions before crossing the pedestrian crossing may work against him. The judge can pose the question bluntly: what if in the place of a dog, for example, even rushing with all its might, there would be a child who would also run?! In this case, the driver would also not be able to comply with the requirements of the Rules.

However, such a circumstance does not directly and automatically make the car owner at fault, of course.

If the dog was without a leash and muzzle

Then, on the contrary, this article may be an additional circumstance of violation by its owner. Legislation on dog walking is regulated at the level of the constituent entities of Russia (that is, each region may have its own laws), but almost all of them prohibit the release of dogs into public places without a leash and muzzle.

Consequently, the lack of a leash, in particular, becomes the main violation of the dog owner, which led to the animal leaving the roadway and hitting the dog with a car.

Is there a fine if the driver is found guilty?

No. For violation of clause 10.1 of the Rules, the Code in force in 2021 simply does not provide for liability. Therefore, according to the rules, a traffic police officer at the scene of an accident is required to issue a decision to refuse to initiate an administrative case.

However, many drivers try to appeal their guilt on the grounds that they were allegedly refused to initiate a case, that is, there is no violation! But no, this does not mean that the driver did not violate anything - simply, in the absence of a sanction in the Code of Administrative Offences, such a decision must be made. Moreover, the resolution itself will indicate that clause 10.1 of the traffic rules was specifically violated.

What should a car driver do in 2021?

According to everything described above, when trying to impute deprivation of rights for hiding from the scene of an accident, you can operate on the following grounds:

refer to the above decision of the Supreme Court, where hitting a dog is not recognized as an accident,
if the circumstances converge, then indicate that they did not notice that the animal was hit,
try to reclassify to Part 1 of Article 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation with a fine instead of deprivation of rights.

Immediately after an accident, you should, by any means, give such testimony in an explanatory note upon the arrival of traffic police officers, which will exclude the presence of guilt in violating clause 10.1 of the traffic rules. Thus, you need to specify something like the following:

He did not violate traffic rules, he was moving at the speed allowed in this area, taking into account weather and road conditions. There was no objective possibility of foreseeing the sudden danger on the roadway in the form of a running dog.

If you are still found guilty, then look - it is possible that violations have been identified in both participants. Then you have 2 options:

demand half of the damage to the car from the dog owner,
go to court to establish the degree of guilt of each participant (but the court may establish your degree of guilt as more than 50%).

If the owner of the animal is found to be the culprit, then you will have to run around:

it is highly desirable to agree “amicably” on compensation for damage – even if not completely; you simply go with the dog owner to a car service center, where they assess the damage, and he pays you - this is the easiest and fastest way to get compensation,
otherwise, you will have to make an assessment of the damage in order to have a specific amount that you will declare as damage caused to your car by a dog,
Next, we write a pre-trial claim to the dog owner demanding compensation for the damage to a bank account within a reasonable time (10-20 days), attaching account details,
after this period has passed, plus 3 banking days required for the money to arrive in the account, we file a claim in court; we choose a court only at the defendant’s residential address,
We present the corresponding demands in court.

If the dog runs away and the owner is not identified

In this case, the driver will not receive a refund, because, in fact, there is no one to receive it from.

The only thing that remains is to try to track where the dog ran directly at the scene of the accident. Most likely, she will run towards the house. But keep in mind that the dog owner may say that this is not his pet. Then it is better to involve neighbors as witnesses who can confirm that the animal lives in this particular house (then the owner of the house is involved).

Although, most often the owner announces himself, since most people think that the motorist is always to blame.

But it may happen that the dog is completely homeless. Then you can seek compensation from the city administration - it is responsible for ownerless animals and for catching them. However, this case is quite complex, and there is practically no judicial practice in such cases.

What should a dog owner do?

If you are the owner of a pet, then, on the contrary, you need to prove the fact that the driver could have avoided the collision if he had followed paragraph 10.1 of the traffic rules. However, it is difficult to indicate in this case exactly what to write in the explanatory note - in any case, you may be guilty of allowing the dog to enter the roadway. Simply the fact that the driver is issued a refusal order and a violation of 10.1 is included in it will serve as a valid basis for collecting damages.

If the driver fled the place where he hit the dog, you should call the traffic police yourself, remembering the license plate number of the car. At the same time, it is also advisable to stock up on evidence of the car’s involvement in the accident - recordings from surveillance cameras and eyewitnesses.

If the driver is found to be at fault, you will need to obtain documents from the traffic police and contact his insurance company, having first checked the validity of the OSAGO policy on the official RSA website. In addition, it is possible to receive compensation for moral damage. But this is most often only the case if it is possible to apply Article 1079 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Nuances

If a driver hits a large dog, extreme caution must be exercised. When she is aggressive, it is better not to touch her. In some situations, you shouldn't even leave the car. It may be dangerous. You need to contact a traffic police representative from your car by calling 102 or 112 and find out what to do next.

If the driver decides to help the animal and the bleeding is severe, the wound must be tightly bandaged. Then you must immediately take the dog to the nearest veterinary clinic. In another situation, the animal may quickly die from blood loss.

If the payment of compensation is carried out through an insurance company under compulsory motor liability insurance, this will affect the value of the accident-free ratio. As a result, the cost of the policy will be higher in the future.

If you hit a wild animal, you can get a fine for illegal hunting. This is possible if a person wants to take with him the meat of a downed wolf, elk or other animal.