Witnessing an accident?

[RepSpec]

driving along today i pulled out onto the highway near my work behind a ute and a truck.
i went into the right lane behind the ute and noticed it was in good nick... look around at the scenary and then look up and see the ute has his lights on and stuff flying everywhere. from the looks of it the tuck for some reason has turned into his lane and taken out the rear bumper and light (XF ute).

i saw them pull over up ahead and got out and were talking.

my question, should i have stopped even though i only half saw what happened.

after thinking about it now and looking back, the truck i believe would have been in the wrong and cut into the lane too quickly to avoid himself having an accident in his own lane because he was following too close to someone else.

[Velociraptor82]

Sadly too few people stop these days not wanting to get involved.

I witnessed a stolen motorbike crash into a VW in Fitzroy a few months back. I only witnessed the aftermath due to talking to the mobile when the bike flew past. Since I didn't witness the accident I didn't make an effort to talk to the police. Later the police did approch me as they had spoken to my friend who advised them that I was on the phone at the time. The police just wanted a statement as my phone showed the time of the call and as such the time of the accident.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, even the smallest amount of information can help, even if you don't realise how important it is. Under the circumstances if they were argueing over whos fault it was, your information might help the insurance co. determind who really was at fault.

I'm no innocent party tho. I've continued driving on several times cos I wanted to get home, or becasue I didn't want to get involved. Either way, after my experience in Fiztroy mentioned above. I do now believe that I should have stopped.

[Trevor 57]

You are not legally required to stop unless you are involved.

If someone is injured you kinda have a moral obligation, but that is about it

Being a partial witness is OK to help out someone, it is totally your call, but you have to be careful to state EXACTLTY what you saw, NOT what you 'thought' you saw.

[Burnout]

Originally Posted by Big Trev

You are not legally required to stop unless you are involved.

If someone is injured you kinda have a moral obligation, but that is about it

Being a partial witness is OK to help out someone, it is totally your call, but you have to be careful to state EXACTLTY what you saw, NOT what you 'thought' you saw.

In QLD, you are required to stop and render assistance.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Burnout

In QLD, you are required to stop and render assistance.

Only if you are involved:

From the Queensland Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Road Rules) Regulation 2009 (http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au)

287 Duties of a driver involved in a crash
(1) This section applies to a driver involved in a crash.
(2) The driver must stop at the scene of the crash and give the driver’s required particulars, within the required time and, if practicable, at the scene of the crash, to—
(a) any other driver (or that driver’s representative) involved in the crash; and
(b) any other person involved in the crash who is injured, or the person’s representative; and
(c) the owner of any property (including any vehicle) damaged in the crash (or the owner’s representative), unless, in the case of damage to a vehicle, the particulars are given to the driver of the vehicle (or the driver’s representative).
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units.
(3) The driver must also give the driver’s required particulars, within the required time, to a police officer if—
(a) anyone is killed or injured in the crash; or
(b) the driver does not, for any reason, give the driver’s required particulars to each person mentioned in subsection (2); or
(c) the required particulars for any other driver involved in the crash are not given to the driver; or
(d) a motor vehicle involved in the crash is towed or carried away by another vehicle; or
(e) property, except the driver’s motor vehicle, is damaged to the value of at least the amount fixed for the purpose of section 92(1)(i) of the Act.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units.
(4) The amount fixed for the purpose of section 92(1)(i) of the Act is $2500.
(5) In this section—
required particulars, for a driver involved in a crash, means—
(a) the driver’s name and address; and
(b) the name and address of the owner of the driver’s vehicle; and
(c) the vehicle’s registration number, if any; and
(d) any other information necessary to identify the vehicle.
required time, for a driver involved in a crash, means as soon as possible but, except in exceptional circumstances, within 24 hours after the crash.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by RepSpec

driving along today i pulled out onto the highway near my work behind a ute and a truck.
i went into the right lane behind the ute and noticed it was in good nick... look around at the scenary and then look up and see the ute has his lights on and stuff flying everywhere. from the looks of it the tuck for some reason has turned into his lane and taken out the rear bumper and light (XF ute).

i saw them pull over up ahead and got out and were talking.

my question, should i have stopped even though i only half saw what happened.

after thinking about it now and looking back, the truck i believe would have been in the wrong and cut into the lane too quickly to avoid himself having an accident in his own lane because he was following too close to someone else.

There is a moral imperitive , last couple I saw I stopped handed my card and left . Police only contacted once otherwise no need but I was happy to do so

[Donny]

I wont stop at an accident now (one Im not involved in). My partner and I witnessed a crash once where a ute and another car came together and the ute rolled a few times. The police etc came out an we stopped and gave our account of what we saw etc.. It all happened a few hundred metres ahead of us at dusk, so we didnt see what caused it or how it happened, just saw the result of it and it was the worst time to see due to night coming on..

The insurance company must have thought there was something fishy about the whole accident as they investigated it at least twice. They called us time and again over the span of more than 2 years trying to get more info out of us about it. In the end I told them not to ever call again as it was over 2 years ago and we dont recollect enough about it anymore. It was getting annoying and bordering on harassment..

[GT-Pete]

Think if you were in the shoes of the person who was in the accident.... wouldn't you want someone to stop and help validate your case if you need to fight someone's insurance over the accident (which is a common thing)

[DBourne]

I've only had this situation arise once, and I stopped because I did CLEARLY see exactly what happened. All too often people will try and pull shifty's and say "aw cmon just say it was your fault" etc, but since I clearly saw what happened / who was at fault, I stayed and spoke with Police.

Had I not really seen what happened and saw that all parties were heathy / ok, I probably wouldn't stop.

[mac_man_luke]

IMO more people should stop if they witness an accident

Earlier this year someone changed lanes into the side of my ute, then tried to stick the blame on me! it dragged out for months and if my insurance company hadn't stuck up for me i would have been up for me excess + rating 1 because some low life tired to stick the blame on me and no one stopped.

I know if i ever have another accident im going to stop in traffic and basically make sure someone stops to witness it.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by RepSpec

look around at the scenary and then look up and see the ute has his lights on and stuff flying everywhere. from the looks of it the tuck for some reason has turned into his lane and taken out the rear bumper and light

Originally Posted by RepSpec

after thinking about it now and looking back, the truck i believe would have been in the wrong and cut into the lane too quickly to avoid himself having an accident in his own lane because he was following too close to someone else.

You weren't a witness to the crash, you were a witness to the aftermath. Unless you saw the whole scene unfolding only stop to see if anyone needs help.

[TheSneakiness]

My wife had this same situation where a bike and a soft roader (think Ford Escape size) collided. The only thing she saw was the bike tumbling up the street and the rider landing on the ground with a thud.

She wanted to go by but because the accident blocked the road and she was first on scene she stopped. Told the cops all she saw.

There must've been a dispute somewhere within an insurance claim because she kept getting phone calls for 18 months afterwards, by the end of it she told the cop to stop ringing her, she told them what she saw and to stop harassing her. Calls finally stopped after that.

[GunmetalFox]

As above depends on the situation, But i thought that if you have a Certificate in First aid, level 1 etc. you are obligated to stop and render assestance but can choose not to and with public liablility the way it is theses days makes you wonder. I for one am a stopper , i stopped at one accident, rolled car ****ed husband women thrown from car not nice the woman ended up with a brocken pelvis in three spots, i thought it was spinal so i did what you should do in those situations ( senior first aid training) and got a thanks from the ambo's when they arrived ( HUGE HEAD SWELL) anyways a about a year ago i stopped for a little euro car on a back road to shepparton as the bonnet was up and hazards on. only to get abused buy the woman in the car she even threatend to call the police said racv was on its way and i should leave so i did. Now i always thought i was pretty friendly looking and i had showerd the previous night so im not sure what her story was. probably from melbourne haha.

But when the old ute was on its way out and i was forever on the side of the road hazards on, elbows deep in hilux engine bay. i was always thankful of the people that stopped. and you never know when some 6ft blonde blue eyed swedish bird is going to need help with her tyre either.

[My poor XF]

I was a witness to an accident that ended up with me having to make sworn statements and interview with the involved lawyers. If i hadn't helped out i believe the young lady who was in the right would have been shafted by the at fault driver.

They pulled out in front of her but tried to say she was indicating to turn etc etc.

Im always happy to stop and help.

[Rodp]

I had a situation where I was delivering something urgent for work and an accident I was partially involved in occurred about 1km away from my destination.

Driving along the Hume Highway, a car quickly turned right in front of me - I braked and he just squeezed through. I was in the middle lane with a car to my right a few car lengths behind me. Clearly the guy behind him wasn't paying much attention and must have thought there was a green (we had the green, they had no red arrow) and proceeded to blindly follow him through.

He's seen me proceeding albeit braking through the intersection and he stops. The guy that was to my right then collides into him probably doing around 60. Probably had time to take better evasive action than locking up the brakes but it was early Sunday morning.

I kept going, delivered the box and headed back to see police on the scene (they arrived pretty quickly, I expected to have to wait a good 30 minutes). I stopped, called over an officer (the car that turned right claimed he had the green arrow - I looked through my rear view as I had passed through the intersection and saw there was no green arrow) and explained to him what had happened. He took down my details, thanked me and never heard about it again.

Had I not gone back it probably would still be bothering me today. It was a pretty decent impact and I saw the back of the car that was behind me lift into the air a couple of meters. Thankfully, everyone was walking around and no ambulance required.

[ILLaViTaR]

Definitely, I got t boned my some drunk 50 year old bogan mum, who was rushed straight to the hospital (and not breatho sigh), and cause I was a P plater, no witnesses somehow makes me at fault, despite the hospitals ignorance to od a blood alcohol test. I didn't have a single witness, went through court and everything, I lost because of it. Then I find out she's a friends mum who gets ****ed almost every night and goes out still thinking she's 20, bleached hair and everything. God damn bogans. Don't even get me started of the justice system, it's a business not justice. Plea bargaining wtf, I'm either guilty or not and they want me to make deals (drop one charge to plea guilty to another), this country is a joke.

[hawker]

One day when I was driving home from work, I saw a truck go straight on from a turning lane (which he wasn't allowed to do at that intersection). It was peak hour (even for Canberra it was pretty packed), so as he merged into the lane going straight, he hit a Commodore and made it slide sideways (sort of like that truck and tunnel thing in Melbourne a few years ago).

He wasn't going that fast, the cars behind me beeped at the truck driver (who hadn't seen the car, or maybe he had, wasn't sure), anyway, he stopped. I was in a massive line of traffic, and couldn't get back so instead I just drove home, called the ACT police and said I was a witness to the entire thing. They said no one had called and reported it (and they didn't need to), but they took down my details in case it was reported. Never heard about it again.

If you see an accident, or something important related to an accident, you should come forward. Especially as soon as it happens, or soon after, so the details are clear in your mind. You'd want people to be there for you if something bad happened to you...

[LTDHO]

I think you should, it helps to have an independant witness and I'm sure you would appriciate one if needed.

If contacted by an authority/insurer, simply state you will provide them with a detailed account of what you saw. Then that is all, no interviews or follow ups.