What to Do After a Road Traffic Accident: A Step by Step Guide

The minutes after a collision are the worst possible time to be working out what you are supposed to do. Adrenaline compresses your thinking, and decisions made in that state have consequences that last for months through an insurance claim.

This is the order of operations, from the moment of impact to the car being taken away.

Stop. This is a legal duty

Under the Road Traffic Act you must stop after any collision that causes injury to a person or animal, or damage to another vehicle or to property including street furniture, walls and fences. That applies whether or not you think you were at fault.

Failing to stop is a criminal offence and it is treated seriously. So is failing to report, which you must do to the police within twenty four hours if details were not exchanged at the scene.

Switch off the engine. Put the hazards on. If it is dark, leave the sidelights on.

Check for injuries before anything else

Call 999 if anyone is hurt, unconscious, trapped, or if the road is blocked.

Do not move an injured person unless they are in immediate danger from fire or from traffic. Moving someone with a spinal or neck injury can cause permanent harm, and the ambulance service will talk you through what to do while they are on their way.

Also call 999 if the other driver leaves the scene, appears to be under the influence, is uninsured, or becomes aggressive.

Decide whether to move the vehicles

Two competing priorities here.

If the vehicles are driveable and are blocking a live carriageway, particularly on a motorway or a fast A road, move them to the hard shoulder or the verge. A stationary obstruction on the M8 is a serious secondary collision risk and clearing it matters more than preserving the scene.

If the vehicles are on a quiet road and there is any dispute about what happened, leaving them where they stopped preserves useful evidence. Take photographs before moving anything.

If a vehicle is not obviously driveable, do not move it. More on that below.

Get everyone somewhere safe

Out through the nearside doors on a fast road, behind the barrier, back from the vehicles. On an ordinary street, the pavement is fine.

Do not stand between two damaged cars. Do not stand in the carriageway to direct traffic unless there is genuinely no alternative and you are wearing hi vis.

Exchange details

You are legally required to give your name and address, and the vehicle owner's name and address if different, to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask.

Take from the other driver:

• Name, address and phone number
• Vehicle registration, make, model and colour
• Insurer and policy number if they have it
• Whether they are the registered keeper, and if not, who is

Take from anyone else present the name and number of any independent witness. An independent witness is worth a great deal in a disputed claim and they will not be there tomorrow.

If the other driver refuses to give details, do not escalate it. Photograph the registration, note the description of the driver, and report it to Police Scotland within twenty four hours.

Photograph everything, then photograph more

Your phone is the most valuable claims tool you have and people consistently under use it.

Take: wide shots showing the position of both vehicles and the road layout, close ups of every area of damage on both cars, the other vehicle's registration plate, tyres and tax disc area, skid marks and debris, road signs, speed limits and any give way markings, the state of the road surface and the weather, and a shot of the other driver's insurance details or licence if they will let you.

Video a slow walk around the whole scene. It captures context that stills miss.

Note the time, the direction each vehicle was travelling and the lane positions while it is fresh. Write it down within the hour. Memory of a crash degrades faster than people expect.

Do not drive a car you are unsure about

This is where money gets lost.

Collision damage is frequently structural in ways that are invisible from outside. A knock to a front corner can bend a lower control arm, crack a brake line, split a coolant hose or move the suspension geometry enough that the car pulls hard under braking. Crumple zones are designed to deform, which means visible damage is a poor guide to what has actually happened underneath.

Driving a compromised vehicle risks a second collision and it can complicate your claim, because an insurer will reasonably ask why you drove a damaged car.

The checks that mean stop and call for recovery: any fluid on the road under the car, any tyre or wheel that is not sitting straight, any warning light that came on after the impact, a bonnet or door that will not shut properly, a steering wheel that is no longer centred, deployed airbags, or any smell of fuel.

Call for recovery

Once the scene is safe and details are exchanged, ring SRL Recovery on 01698 700970.

Tell us it was a collision rather than a breakdown, and describe the state of the vehicle: whether it is on its wheels, whether it rolls and steers, whether the airbags went off, whether it is on the road or off it. That tells us whether to send a standard flatbed, a unit with skates, or a winch capable truck.

If the accident was not your fault, in most cases you pay nothing. The at fault driver's insurer is liable for the recovery and storage, and we deal with them directly. Our accident claim service covers that end to end, including a replacement vehicle where you are entitled to one, and our non fault accident recovery page explains the process.

In the following days

Report the accident to your own insurer even if you do not intend to claim, because most policies require notification and failing to notify can affect cover.

Keep every receipt connected to the incident. Get any injury checked by a doctor promptly, both for your health and because a contemporaneous medical record matters if you claim later.

Quick answers

Do I have to call the police after a crash? Only if someone is injured, the road is blocked, details were not exchanged, or you suspect an offence. Otherwise exchanging details is sufficient, though you can report it for a reference number.

Who pays for recovery after an accident? If you were not at fault, the other driver's insurer normally does and you pay nothing upfront. If you were at fault, it usually falls under your comprehensive cover.

Can I drive my car away if it looks fine? Only if you are confident nothing structural, mechanical or safety related has been affected. If in any doubt, do not.

How quickly can you attend an accident in Glasgow? Typically thirty to forty five minutes across the city, twenty four hours a day.