Have you ever wondered what will happen to you when you leave the scene of an accident you were involved int? Well, the long and the short is, that under no circumstances, is that a good idea.

The law dictates that if even if the accident is not your fault, you need to stop immediately, help any injured people, exchange details and report the accident to the police within 24 hours.

When reporting the accident, you have to produce your valid driving licence and ID number.

Except on the instructions of or when administered by a medical practitioner in the case of injury or shock, should you take any intoxicating liquor or drug having a narcotic effect.

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Furthermore, no person shall remove any vehicle involved in an accident in which another person is killed or injured from the position in which it came to rest, until such removal has been authorised by a traffic officer. Except when such accident causes complete obstruction of the roadway of a public road, in which event the vehicle involved may, without such authority and after its position has been clearly marked on the surface of the roadway by the person moving it, be moved sufficiently to allow the passage of traffic.

Subject to this, no person shall remove a vehicle involved in an accident from the scene of such accident, except for the purpose of sufficiently allowing the passage of traffic, without the permission of the owner, driver or operator of such vehicle or a person who may lawfully take possession of such vehicle.

According to the SAPS, if the road accident is not reported within the mentioned period, and the driver fails to give a reasonable explanation for the late-reporting, he or she must be issued with a Written Notice to Appear in Court (J 534) or an Infringement Notice in terms of Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO), 1998 (Act No. 46 of 1998).

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