My friend (whom I shall refer to as Rob) has just had a letter from the police asking him to go to the local police station on Saturday to explain what happened last Friday morning. This is what happened:
he was driving to work when, a scooter ran a red light at speed and smashed into the side of the car. He checked to make sure the guy was alright and then buggered off as he doesn’t have a license (or international one). He wants to know what to say on Saturday.
What are the consequences for him (fines, compensation etc)?
Don’t despair. I think you’ll just get a fine. I’m not sure how much, or what will happen regarding compensation though.
Check out this thread: viewtopic.php?t=39849
Sticky. The other person’s fault, but you left the scene of an accident, so they can pretty much do whatever they want with you. The fine will be the fine. That’s the easy bit. Plus you’ll have the fine for no license, no insurance. Also easy. Just money. After that, though, if you DO get held to blame (a virtual certainty since you left the scene) then the other side can sue you for however much they can. And they will. THAT’S where the real money starts entering the picture. And where the interminable back-and-forth at hearings, mediation, lawyers, etc. comes into play.
I guess that Rob will just have to tell the police that he checked that the guy was OK and had to rush off for some very important reason. Did the guy tell Rob that he was OK? Any witnesses to this?
- Rob should not have been driving without a license.
- Rob should not have left the scene. He should have waited for the cops to come. It was not his fault and he could have proved his innocence on the spot.
- Sandman is right about – the other side can sue you for however much they can.
- Only hope Rob has, is to get a copy of the video from any of the surveillance cameras around.
A friend of mine, a local Taiwanese lady, is in shit because an old lady ran a red light and hit my friend. Both were on scooties going pretty slow but since the old lady did not have a helmet on, she hit her head pretty hard and is now in a coma since the past 3 weeks. There are no witnesses and unfortunately no surveillance cameras around. So it is the old lady’s word against my friend’s word and since the old lady is still in a coma my friend is getting harrassed by her family.
I can vouch for my friend because she never goes over 50, rides very carefully and in her 20 odd years of riding a scooty, this is her first accident!!!
Recently I hit a car that jumped a red light, it was a police controlled junction, so they sorted it out within a couple of hours. I don’t have a license and the police were great, they were encouraging me to ask the car driver for more money for inconvenience and medical bills (I was unhurt) and the bike’s repair bill went through the car drivers insurance.
I get the impression that walking away from an accident is quite a big thing, no matter how small it is.
That’s the biggie. No matter what the traffic court hands down, the other party in the ensuing civil suit WILL be claiming it as a hit-and-run. That often means jail time in the UK, as far as I know. Here, however, it’ll just be a great deal of money.
The police told Rob he’s likely to face a 60-70k fine. The afters between him and the ‘victim’ will become clearer on Saturday.
Hopefully the police already have this, but in case they dont, Rob should hire a lawyer or someone who can facilitate tracking down video/cctv evidence proving who was at fault. Paying this expense now will make things cheaper in the long run. Hopefully the CCTV tapes go longer than 48 hours.
Proof of phone call records showing you called an ambulance to ensure you can prove that you were concerned to make sure the other guy didn’t have internal bleeding or other issues would also be useful.
Is it possible that it would automatically be Rob’s fault, just because he doesn’t have a license? Seems to supersede all fault here. I hope the other party is reasonable, but I doubt it given that they have pursued Rob after causing the bloody accident. I’d like to see a judge really give it to one of these undesirables, trying to exploit people and the system. Two people made a mistake, no one gets money. They should both get fines and that should be the end of it. Certainly round up that footage.
When you say “judge really give it to one of these undesirables” are you talking about the guy who accidentally went through a red light, or the guy who was driving without a license?
I was referring to the guy who ran the red light, in a scenario where he sues the guy with no license. The guy driving without a license is not trying to sue the other driver. They both screwed up and are not entitled to a large sum of cash. Way too many people get away with ridiculous lawsuits.
No. That’s treated separately. He’ll get fined for it, but it won’t attribute blame.
get a friend with a licence to front up to the cops and say that someone who ran a red light hit him while your friend was driving your car, then buggered off. there was no point stopping as there was no one there.
Don’t you know that’s
ILLEGAL
, urodacus? :no-no:
God forbid we become so assimilated!
Thats a pretty big risk. What if there was a fixed CCTV camera in the area, or an in car camera that captured the scene. What if the police attended and know that the person and/or bike were not in a state to “bugger off”?
This does raise for me another question which I believe is related to this thread. If someones in car camera witnesses an accident, what would you do. Wait for the police and just give them the SD card? Get the police contactact and email/send it later, or would you just drive by and send it somewhere later?
How about if you are in an incident, what do you do with the SD card? would you guard your SD card from the police to ensure it was not lost or tampered with, or would you take it home to ensure you have a copy?
Today the police didn’t even ask Rob whether or not he had a licence so that shouldn’t be a problem any more. And it turns out that the other guy has a criminal record as long as your arm, including drug-dealing, injuring someone in a crash (couldn’t make that up), and blackmail. So negotiations should be, er, interesting! Technically the other guy could still try to sue for a lot so we’ll have to wait and see if he’s willing to be reasonable.
He sounds as if he’s likely to be one of the most reasonable people you could hope to meet. 
Often negotiations with weirdos are about being the most aggressive and loudest one in the room.
Say you have CCTV footage even if you don’t have it. Negotiations come before a case is brought or you even get fined for driving without a licence; it only goes over to the police if negotiations fail (which is when they’ll conduct an investigation and fine you for driving without a licence). So the footage will only come into it if it gets to the police, which if you scare them enough it won’t.
As soon as they start declaring what you must pay you slap a CD down on the table and tell them that this is CCTV footage, showing them clearly running a red light and crashing into you. Then add pictures of the car damage on top. For wasting your time and being rude to you, you want $XXX. For the car damage, you need $XXX. Wave the CD around a lot when he argues and argue back that it’s their fault, and you’re willing to let the police decide and cop the licence fine (if they know about the licence bit). Be louder and more unreasonable than they are. A lot of these people get their own way purely because they are the loudest, so be louder.
If they start to calm down or look a bit scared, say ‘Listen, $XXXX is a lot of money and I should have stayed to make sure you were all right, I was just worried/cultural differences/had to go to work/had an exam/(bullshit excuse goes here). Just pay $XXX for the damages and I’ll be fine with it.’ or ‘Look, I understand your family situation isn’t good (if you know it’s not). It’s OK, the damage isn’t much anyway.’
Make them sign a contract saying that the matter is closed and they have no recourse to more money and neither do you.
I have no idea what to do if they’re truly crazy and call your bluff, but I doubt they will.
[quote=“tsukinodeynatsu”]
I have no idea what to do if they’re truly crazy and call your bluff, but I doubt they will.[/quote]
That is a definite weakness in your strategy.