What threatens if you didn’t notice an accident and drove away, article of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation

What does it mean to leave the scene of an accident?

Sometimes car owners get into accidents. For example, they hit a pedestrian, collide with another car on the road, or scratch it in a parking lot. If you leave immediately after this, the driver is considered to have left the scene of the accident. This is a gross violation.

Drunk drivers often try to escape, since the punishment for drunk driving is stricter - a 30,000 ruble fine and imprisonment for two years.

You cannot leave the scene of an accident, but you can move the car. Moreover, the driver is obliged to do this if it interferes with the passage of other cars and no people are injured. Here's how the concepts differ:

leaving a place - the car hit another and drove away;
moving - the car hit another and drove to the side of the road so as not to block the road.

When leaving the scene of an accident will not be considered concealment

In some cases provided by law, you can drive away after an accident without reporting it to law enforcement. Basic conditions:

No wounded or dead.
Agreement between the participants on the circumstances of the accident, including who is at fault.

In addition, many people consider leaving an accident to be an act that is not actually a crime. Illegal leaving the scene of an accident is when documents were drawn up by traffic police officers, and one of the participants was not present. All other cases, including leaving and then returning, moving a vehicle (vehicle), etc. cannot be punished as hiding.

How to act in case of an accident: detailed step-by-step instructions + examples of explanation and counterclaim + video bonus: how to distinguish unscrupulous auto lawyers

What are the responsibilities of a driver when involved in an accident: an exact statement of the rules

Naturally, you cannot leave the place of something that did not happen. So, if there was no damage to property or people’s health, which means that there was no actual accident, you can safely leave.

Is it possible to leave the scene of an accident without breaking anything?

Deprivation of rights for leaving the scene of an accident

Period of deprivation. If the driver leaves the scene of an accident, they may lose their license for one and a half years.

It happens like this:

the participant in the accident fled;
the inspector, based on the complaint of the remaining participants in the accident, draws up a protocol and submits the case to the court;
The judge decides on the punishment.

The judge will consider how dangerous the consequences of the accident were to society. If no people were injured, then instead of imprisonment they may be sentenced to 15 days of arrest in a special detention center.

Return of a driver's license after revocation. To get your rights back you will have to:

pass the theoretical exam at the traffic police when half the term has passed;
pay off all fines. You can check it on the main page of the service;
undergo a medical examination and receive a certificate if you are deprived of it for drunk driving;
go to the traffic police with a passport, medical certificate, a copy of the resolution and a document confirming passing the exam.

How to challenge the revocation of your license and what will happen if you drive a car again after this, read our other article.

Is there a chance to avoid punishment for fleeing the scene of an accident: judicial practice

Being left without a driver's license is always a difficult ordeal. After all, you can’t use your favorite car and all actions seem to be limited. If you need to go somewhere, you will have to wait for a bus or take a taxi, which entails extra material costs.

However, the legislator allows one to avoid punishment if the line of defense is correctly constructed.

To do this, you need to use the articles of the law:

Art. 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - the statute of limitations for bringing to liability.
Art. 51 of the Constitution – the right of a citizen of the Russian Federation not to testify against himself and his loved ones.

In the first case, there are 3 months to impose a punishment. The time frame for searching for the culprit of an accident and his car is even less – 2 months. At this time, it is enough just not to show up at your place of registration and not to use the car in which you had an accident.

If we talk about the second point, then Art. 51 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation allows you not to give any evidence against yourself and your loved ones. If you say that a close relative was driving and refer to the above “permission,” then there will be no consequences from this, unless the court evaluates this as a method of defense and makes a negative decision.

But situations are different. Below are some positive court decisions.

Violations in proving guilt

Deviations from the law are often allowed by the judiciary and law enforcement. In such cases, it is necessary to contact higher authorities and appeal all decisions made regarding the driver.

Let us cite one judicial precedent in which the traffic police’s attempt to deprive the rights of a law-abiding citizen was unsuccessful. Procedural violations in recording the event, namely the lack of evidence, played a cruel joke.

The traffic police inspector filed a complaint against the decision taken by the district court to terminate the case of an administrative offense under Part 2 of Art. 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in relation to citizen Khasanov due to the absence of an event. The higher court upheld this ruling.

The case materials established that citizen Khasanov, unable to control the steering, drove off the road into a ditch, after which he drove away from the scene of the accident . The inspector compiled administrative material for violation of Part 2 of Art. 12.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Expert commentary

Roslyakov Oleg Vladimirovich

Lawyer, specialization civil law. More than 17 years of experience.

Ask a question

The culmination of the case is that the court objectively approached the clarification of all the facts and circumstances of what happened, and this is very rare. Most often, a citizen is found guilty, with all the ensuing consequences. Here the situation is completely different.

The point is that this protocol did not contain information about what the offense was. Driving into the ditch did not cause any material damage to structures, other vehicles, or people. In this connection, the court came to the conclusion that there was no fact of a traffic accident.

The higher court agreed with the judge’s arguments that in this case there was no objective side to the incident. That is, by his actions the driver did not harm anyone, he damaged only his personal vehicle and should not have called the employees to document the incident.

By its decision No. 12-121/2020 of March 18, 2020, the higher court upheld the district judge’s decision without change.

Lack of intent

Deprivation of a driver's license can be avoided if the person did not notice that he had damaged another car. After all, to bring someone to justice, it is important to understand all the consequences of what they did and try to avoid them.

If there was no awareness of the fact of the collision, then there can be no punishment for it. In Part 1 of Art. 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation states that in such cases only a fine is imposed.

Expert commentary

Roslyakov Oleg Vladimirovich

Lawyer, specialization civil law. More than 17 years of experience.

Ask a question

Based on the analysis of court rulings made in similar situations, it should be noted that if the car owner immediately tells the police that he did not notice how he became involved in a road incident, and testifies about this, then the court takes this fact into account when making a decision. In such cases, decisions are most often made to terminate the case of an administrative offense.

Leaving the scene of an accident without injuries

When is it permissible to leave? This situation was clarified by the Supreme Court. You are allowed to leave when two conditions are met:

no people were injured in the accident;
Only one car was damaged, for example, the driver carelessly drove into a tree.

In this case, the driver is obliged to draw up a diagram of the accident and, if possible, take a photo or video of the accident scene. The diagram can be drawn on a piece of paper or on a tablet computer. The diagram must indicate the movement of the car before and after the collision, as well as all elements of the road infrastructure: markings, traffic lights, signs and fences. These materials will be needed when the car owner applies to the insurance company for compensation.

When you can not call the traffic police and leave for both participants. This can be done if two conditions are met:

no one was injured in the accident;
None of the drivers have any complaints about what happened.

If these conditions are met, participants are not required to contact the police.

How to qualify

Often the driver leaves the appointed place because he does not consider the incident in the parking lot to be an accident. Let's see if he's right. In order to understand how to qualify the situation, you need to understand the circumstances of what happened. If more than one vehicle is involved in the incident and there is material damage, then this is an accident.

On a note!
Parking is one of the roadside areas where incidents are classified as emergency situations if certain signs are present: movement, traffic violations, damage, multiple participants.

What to do if another participant has disappeared

If this happened and you want to prove his guilt, look for camera or DVR recordings.

Find videos. Materials from traffic cameras can be obtained from the Unified Data Storage and Processing Center (EDSDC). Phone center in Moscow

Other cities also have such centers. Contact there and tell the operator the date, time and address of the violation. In response to the request, the operator will provide the application number. Indicate this number in your application to the traffic police - only traffic inspectors can obtain the record. The recording will show that the culprit left the scene of the accident.

You can also ask passing drivers for dash cam records. Write down the driver's phone number and ask for the recording to be sent by email as soon as possible.

If an accident occurred in the parking lot of a shopping or business center, ask for camera footage from security guards or car owners who constantly park nearby. These could be shopping center workers or office employees of a business center with video recorders in the salon.

Attach the records to the police report. It is best to record the materials on a flash drive or disk and give them to the police officer along with a written statement to initiate an administrative case.

How to respond to an incident

Regardless of whether the collision occurred in a parking lot, road, or yard, leaving the scene of an accident means breaking the law. So, if trouble occurs in the parking lot, you need to remain calm and adhere to the standard pattern of behavior.

Procedure:

Stop the vehicle and turn off the engine.
Activation of an alarm signal.
Placing a special sign.
Drawing up the Europrotocol (if there are no disagreements).
Call the traffic police.

If someone is injured in a hit-and-run, the first step is to help the victim. When the called ambulance does not arrive, you need to transport the patient yourself. In this case, leaving the scene of the accident may be qualified as justified if the culprit eventually returns.

If there was no participant in the road accident at the scene

In a situation where the participants cannot cope with the emergency consequences themselves, the culprit is not there, you need to call the inspection staff. They will draw up a protocol and also perform the necessary actions related to identification. If the offender can be identified, he is put on the wanted list.

On a note!
Recordings from CCTV cameras + eyewitness testimony help traffic police inspectors establish the identity of the rule violator and bring him to justice.

What is the statute of limitations for leaving the scene of an accident?

Administrative period. The case is considered administrative if the road accident case has one of the following conditions:

the participant in the accident drove away;
caused slight harm to the victims and left;
caused moderate harm and left.

If within two years from the entry into force of the resolution the driver is not held accountable, this will no longer be possible.

Administrative review period. The judge is required by law to consider the case within two months.

Duration of criminal prosecution . The case is considered criminal if the driver left the scene of an accident in which:

the victim was seriously injured;
the victim died;
two or more people died.

If within 2 years from the date of the court ruling the culprit has not been brought to justice, this will no longer be possible.

Duration of criminal proceedings. There is no exact wording in the laws, there is only the concept of “reasonable time”. When calculating the period, the complexity of the verification materials in the case is taken into account, as well as that the actions of all participants in the case, including the judge, prosecutor, lawyer and investigator, are effective and sufficient.

Characteristics of an accident in the courtyard of a residential building

In accordance with clause 1.2 of the Traffic Rules, a traffic accident is considered to be a collision of vehicles with each other or with pedestrians. As a consequence of the event, a person or his property is harmed. Often, emergency situations in courtyard complexes of residential buildings are characterized by the difficulty of identifying the person at fault. To determine this, the driving rules in the surrounding area are taken into account:

Pass-through traffic through the yard is prohibited.
The speed does not exceed 20 kilometers per hour.
Pedestrians and other road users have advantages over drivers who are leaving the surrounding area.
It is prohibited for persons to drive a vehicle while learning to drive.
Pedestrians have priority when moving around the perimeter of the courtyard area.

It is important to know! The actions of pedestrians should not be aimed at deliberately creating obstacles for vehicles.

How to avoid punishment

Draw up a diagram of the accident. The driver will not be punished if only his car was damaged in the accident, but no people. The road accident scheme will help you avoid punishment and receive a comprehensive insurance payment if you have this insurance.

Draw up a European protocol. This is the registration of an accident for subsequent reporting to the insurance company without the involvement of a traffic police inspector. You can issue such a document if the following conditions are met:

There are no more than two cars in an accident;
drivers have compulsory motor insurance;
Only cars were damaged;
Car owners have no disagreement about the cause of the accident.

Find video footage if you are accused. This happens when both drivers have agreed that they have no claims against each other. But after some time, one of the participants, even if he is the culprit, decides to receive an insurance payment for repairs. He will draw his diagram of the accident and call the traffic police. Police officers will find the second participant, and if he cannot prove his innocence in court, he will be deprived of his license or arrested. The same recordings from recorders or parking security cameras can serve as evidence.

Alexander Torvard, auto lawyer Such cases really do happen. Lately there have been fewer and fewer cameras - there are a lot of cameras and it has become easier to prove the truth.

Why you shouldn't flee the scene of an accident

Everything secret becomes clear. And recently, with the increasing proliferation of both stationary cameras and video recorders, it is becoming increasingly easier to find the culprit. And, in addition to responsibility for the accident, he will have to be punished for leaving the scene of the accident. Therefore, it is better never to leave him without permission.

Keep in mind that leaving the scene of an accident carries the same penalties for both the culprit and the victim. But when documents are drawn up with an absent participant, there is a high probability that he will be found guilty of the accident.

Article on the topic: The culprit of the accident fled the scene, what to do? Detailed step-by-step instructions

Note. Later in this article, when I use the word “guilty,” I will by default mean the one responsible for the cover-up, not the one responsible for the accident.

Remember

For leaving the scene of an accident, you are deprived of your license for up to 1.5 years or your freedom for 15 days.
It is allowed to leave the scene of the accident only if there are no injuries and one car is damaged in the accident.
There is no need to call the traffic police if there are no victims and the participants do not have disputes about the causes of the incident.
If the other driver of the accident drove away, find video footage of the accident scene.
To avoid unfair accusations, take photos or videos of the accident scene and draw up a diagram of the accident on paper. These documents will provide insurance if one of the participants then contacts the traffic police to receive an insurance payment.

All articles by the author: Evgeniy Lesnov

If violated unintentionally

Situations on the roads are different. No one is safe from accidentally hitting a car in a parking lot in the courtyard of a house and then being presented with a claim.

Possible reasons:

listening to music loudly;
The driver did not hear any sounds accompanying the collision;
bad visibility.

What to do in cases where the driver did not notice the offense committed or drove away during a minor accident? Let's take a closer look.

Didn't notice the collision

Such cases happen all the time. Sometimes the alleged culprit does not even suspect that he was involved in an accident.

Citizen Ryabokon, while reversing, hit a car standing next to him, but did not notice it. His wife told him about what had happened that same day by phone.

The second participant was also not there. A witness told him about what happened, and he also named the make and license plate number of the car that drove away.

Law enforcement agencies qualified Ryabokon’s actions under Part 2 of Art. 12.27 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, however, the court in its decision No. 12-148/2015 dated 10/02/2015, taking into account the fact that the citizen did not notice the collision and there was no evidence of deliberate leaving the scene of the accident in the case, reclassified this act under Part 1 of Art. . 12.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

“Hidden” from the scene of an accident without being a participant

In such cases, it is difficult to prove anything without outside help. If there were witnesses, then it is best to get a written explanation from them that the car simply ended up next to the accident and the owner drove away, since the law does not stipulate that in this case he is obliged to wait for the police to arrive.

If you don’t have time to wait for a written explanation, then write down the contact information of eyewitnesses and participants in the accident. When you call the police, you can resort to their help.

Divorced without registration due to a minor accident

The ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 1702-О-О dated December 7, 2010 states that if leaving the scene of an accident did not lead to negative consequences, none of the participants suffered harm to health or major damage, and there were no significant violations of protected public relations, then the accident may be found to be insignificant and there are no grounds for prosecution.

This suggests that if all participants voluntarily and mutually decided that the road incident will not entail serious consequences, then they can leave without mutual claims.

Avoiding liability using statutes of limitations

To find out how to avoid liability for leaving the scene of an accident, it is advisable to immediately contact a lawyer or any legal consultant who can help. Often the options described above turn out to be of little use, so there are still several ways to resolve the situation if it does not threaten criminal liability:

Try to come to an agreement with the victim before the traffic police arrive.
Delay the trial, and then declare that the car was driven by proxy by another person who will give the appropriate confession (in this case, the trial will continue, but the statute of limitations of three months will leave all participants without punishment).

There is also a more extraordinary way: you can hide from court for more than three months, after which the statute of limitations expires. The court cannot consider a case without a participant in an accident due to Art. 25.1 clause 3

When considering a case of an administrative offense entailing administrative arrest or administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation of a foreign citizen or stateless person, the presence of the person in respect of whom the proceedings are being conducted is mandatory.

Art. 25.1 clause 3

How can you mitigate your punishment?

“Mitigate” is said rather conditionally, because there are only two punishment options:

Deprivation of rights;
Administrative arrest.

So, sometimes it is possible to order an arrest. What is critical here is what frightens the offender most – several days in jail or 1-1.5 years as a pedestrian. But what kind of punishment to assign to you is decided by the court, and here it depends on the specific judge to whom you end up.

The sanction is an alternative one, therefore, two punishments cannot be applied at the same time, only one. Administrative arrest is established and assigned only in exceptional cases and cannot be applied to pregnant women, women with children under the age of fourteen, disabled people of groups I and II, military personnel and some other categories of citizens - Art. 3.9 Code of Administrative Offences.

Attention! Failure to appear in court may automatically block such a penalty as administrative arrest, which follows from the provisions of Part 3 (paragraph 2), Art. 25.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. But here it should be taken into account that the court, law enforcement officers of the internal affairs department and even traffic police inspectors have the authority to forcibly bring to court a person hiding from administrative punishment from the place of his discovery.

What to do to avoid liability for leaving the scene of an accident

If you are truly at fault for the accident, the best course of action is to meet with the victim and make amends privately. You should always strive to do as you would like to be treated.

And then, you will still have to incur material losses, since if you are at fault for an accident, the insurance company will recover from you its costs of compensating the victim by recourse. In addition, by reaching an agreement with the victim, you can more easily and reliably avoid liability for concealment.

Method 1 – procrastinate

The statute of limitations for leaving the scene of an accident is 3 months. That is, after this time it is no longer possible to make a court decision. Consequently, if during this period you do not get caught by law enforcement officers, then there may be no punishment.

However, this is only possible if there is inadequate notification, as well as some internal reasons and errors, the likelihood of which is low. The greatest chance of avoiding punishment is if law enforcement officers do not have the details of the offender, but there are also many ways to establish them (surveillance cameras, witness statements, etc. - one license plate is enough).

Sometimes, the owners of damaged cars themselves carry out search work, often more effectively than traffic police officers, simply because they are really looking.

In other cases, there is no point in relying on the expiration of the statute of limitations - the drawn up procedural documentation is used in the case and a judicial decision on punishment can be made even without the participation or actual knowledge (factual, not legal) of the guilty party. Also, the statute of limitations can in many cases be restarted, which the offender usually does not know about.

Article on the topic: What is the statute of limitations for road accidents in various situations?

Attention! Within 3 years after the accident, the victim has the right to demand compensation for damage from you, just as the insurance company can, during the same period, file a recourse against you for hiding from the scene of the accident.

If you receive a subpoena

If you are caught by inspectors, then there is little chance of avoiding punishment, but they exist because the court may take into account various facts and circumstances of the case, which may not always be against you.

Expert opinion

Ershov Sergey Viktorovich

Advocate. She has been working in the field of providing legal assistance since 2001. Registration No. 78/5563 in the register of lawyers of St. Petersburg

In any case, before the trial, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the materials of the administrative case and take photographs of each document. Then, preferably with a lawyer, conduct an analysis to determine the correctness of the documents and the presence of uncertainties and gaps in them. After all, all doubts are interpreted in favor of the person brought to administrative responsibility. Often, incorrect execution of road accident diagrams or protocols is grounds for termination of administrative proceedings.

For example, competent lawyers can find a valid reason why you could not remain at the scene of an accident due to physical conditions or force majeure circumstances when your presence was necessary in another place.

If your guilt is obvious, then it is advisable to focus on minimizing the punishment, which can be facilitated by mitigating circumstances.

Expert opinion

Ershov Sergey Viktorovich

Advocate. She has been working in the field of providing legal assistance since 2001. Registration No. 78/5563 in the register of lawyers of St. Petersburg

Often, the perpetrators of road accidents involve their acquaintances to give deliberately false testimony and provide false documents, but it must be remembered that such actions can be classified as criminal offenses with all the ensuing consequences. It is better to concentrate on the actions of traffic police officers and exclude some documents from the list of appropriate evidence.

Attention! In extreme circumstances, leaving the scene of an accident may be necessary and not considered an offense. Moreover, if there are injured people who need urgent medical care, and delivery to a medical facility is possible only on the transport of the participant in the accident, then refusal to make such a trip can be regarded as leaving the victim in danger, failure to provide assistance, which can lead to criminal prosecution.

Method 2 – convince the court that you left the scene of the accident unintentionally

I will say right away that this is quite difficult and it is possible to use this method only when you really acted unintentionally. There are court decisions according to which the driver who left the scene of an accident was not held accountable, since there was no evidence that he did it intentionally.

And according to the presumption of innocence, if a person’s guilt is in doubt, he is declared innocent. As arguments, the judge pointed out the insignificance of the damage in combination with the large dimensions of the vehicle (in the cases under consideration a bus and a van were involved) and the intensity of traffic.

Under such conditions, the driver could indeed not notice the contact, which was interpreted as an accident. In addition, the court may take into account the fact that the victim immediately after the accident did not try to draw the attention of the culprit to the fact of the incident, especially if the intentionality of such behavior is proven.

Method 3 – dismissal of the case due to insignificance

There are also real court decisions when the administrative process was terminated due to the insignificance of the damage caused by the culprit.

When the damage is small, and even more so if its occurrence in a particular accident is questionable, and the victim has no claims against the culprit, the court may come to the conclusion that strict punishment is not required and dismisses the case.

In general, in such cases, and in many others, winning in court depends on the activity of the parties, on more correct and convincing argumentation of their opinion. Therefore, if you are not confident in your legal knowledge, the help of competent specialists will be of great benefit.

Method 4 – negotiate with the victim

This is one of the safest and easiest ways. The main condition for its fulfillment is that the victim meets you halfway. How to achieve this is up to you to decide. Here a lot depends on the personal qualities of your opponent.

You need to act on this option before participating in the traffic police proceedings - at least before they draw up the relevant procedural documents indicating the details of the culprit or information that can accurately identify them.

If procedural documents have been drawn up, then the procedure may be as follows:

Meeting with the victim and agreeing with him so that he does not identify you to the traffic police. Naturally, compensation will be required.
Appear for identification at the traffic police on the appointed day.
The victim declares that he does not recognize you , nor does he recognize your vehicle, and writes a statement to terminate the administrative case.
The case is closed , your car is removed from the wanted list.

In many cases, it is beneficial for the injured participant in an accident to receive money immediately. Of course, there is always a chance to run into a harmful, touchy person who is emotionally interested in punishing the offender.

By the way, this is the only option in which you will not have to pay recourse claims to the insurance company if you are the escaped culprit of the accident. But here hypocritical intent on the part of the victim is also possible.

That is, having received money from you, he will want to receive a payment from the insurance company, which it will collect from you. To prevent this from happening, take a no-claims receipt from the victim.

Settlement agreement on compensation for damages in case of an accident before trial: why is it necessary and how to draw it up + sample

What consequences might there be if both drivers left the scene of an accident, and how to avoid them?