When are traffic police officers required to go to the scene of an accident?

Boring but correct advice

Pavel Biketov, director of the department of examination and settlement of losses of the insurance company

If the culprit of the accident has disappeared and the victim does not have a motor insurance policy, you should wait for the traffic police officers, since according to the European protocol, without identifying the second participant in the accident and the fact of insuring his civil liability, it is impossible to receive an insurance payment. While waiting for the traffic police officers, you need to remember or record the maximum amount of information about the culprit of the accident (make, model of the vehicle, color, body type, license plate, special features), try to find witnesses to the accident and write down their contact information, pay attention to the presence of CCTV cameras located nearby buildings, if the accident is not recorded on the video recorder.”

When you don’t have to call the traffic police in case of an accident

It is worth considering together the cases when it is possible not to call the traffic police in an accident. There are several reasons for this, but you still need to understand that responsibility for what happened is not canceled and drivers are obliged to fulfill their civic duty.

So that you can, with a clear conscience, not contact the police, check whether your situation complies with the provisions specified in the rules, because traffic rules are, in fact, the basic law of every driver. So, in what cases can you not call the traffic police?

This can only be avoided if no people were injured in the accident: none of the drivers, passengers or just pedestrians.
This rule applies only to accidents in which only two cars were involved.
You can avoid waiting for police officers if your MTPL policies are in full order.
In order to independently draw up an accident diagram and resolve the issue, both drivers must have the same point of view on what happened: the culprit must admit his guilt and be ready to fully reflect this in the documents.

Important! When filing an accident yourself, do not forget to indicate the amount of damage that you agreed on and accurately describe the nature of the damage to the vehicles.

But up to what amount can you avoid calling the traffic police? We will discuss this in more detail later, but it is worth noting that if you estimate the damage to be more than 50,000 rubles, you cannot do without representatives of law enforcement agencies.

But is it possible not to call the traffic police if only two cars collided, but one of them has a trailer? Definitely not. According to the traffic rules, a trailer is considered a full-fledged element of road traffic. Both traffic police officers and insurance company agents will believe that three vehicles were involved in the incident. If in such an accident you do not contact the traffic cops, you will not be able to receive any compensation.

Advice! If you have CASCO insurance, then before deciding to file an accident yourself, consult with your insurance agent or re-read the contract. Some companies require mandatory registration of the incident by traffic police officers in order to make payments.

So, if all the details correspond to your case, you can refuse to contact the traffic police. In case of an accident, is it now possible not to call the traffic police? But how to properly document an incident so as not to be left with nothing after contacting the insurers?

How to speed up inspectors?

No matter how cynical it may sound, you are primarily interested in a quick and successful resolution of the issue - you should take the initiative.

Sergei Radko, lawyer for the “Freedom of Choice” motorists movement

I recommend re-reporting the accident approximately 30 minutes after the first call to emergency services. It is better to call “02” or “112”, since such calls are monitored by regulatory authorities more carefully than calls to the territorial traffic police department. It’s not a fact that “systematic calling” will speed up the crew’s arrival, but it won’t hurt to do so. Your application may have gotten lost in a series of other requests, or another signal about an incident may have been received, to which the inspectors are closer.

Be sure to explain to the dispatcher that your car is on the roadway and is making it difficult for other road users to pass. You do not have the right to move the car yourself, since the second driver fled the scene of the accident. Consequently, you create conditions for other accidents to occur on this section of the road. Such information will allow traffic police officers to correctly “prioritize”: first of all, they will need to process your call, and only then go to those accidents whose participants have the opportunity to drive cars to the side of the road.

The traffic police do not want to go to the scene of accidents without victims

Let’s make a reservation right away, since the order is internal, it became known about it from representatives of insurance companies to which Business FM refers. However, this solution looks quite realistic, since conversations about the need to accustom car owners to independence (European protocol) have been going on for a long time. So, with a high degree of probability, starting next year, traffic police officers will stop registering accidents if there are no victims.

Now, using a simplified scheme, you can file an accident if the damage does not exceed 50 thousand, both drivers agree who is to blame, and there are no injuries. In several regions there is a so-called unlimited protocol - with an amount of 400 thousand, but for registration you will need to record the location of the accident using GLONASS or GPS.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs believes that drawing up a European protocol should also be required in other cases, even if the participants in the accident did not come to an agreement. The only obstacle may be physical damage received as a result of the accident; in this case, the participation of an inspector cannot be avoided.

Za Rulem.RF requested comments from insurers.

President of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSU), Russian Union of Auto Insurers (RUA) Igor Yurgens:

— The insurance community supports various technical solutions for recording road accidents. In particular, this applies to on-board devices and the mobile application, the requirements for which are established by the RSA in agreement with the Bank of Russia.

However, a significant simplification of the procedure for obtaining a European protocol may lead to an uncontrolled growth of fraud in this area. Here we are talking about the proposed method of recording vehicles and their damage at the scene of an accident using photos and videos, plus confirmation of the location of the participant in the accident using his subscriber number by a mobile operator. This method may lead to increased risks of fraud. In general, the frequency of insurance cases under compulsory motor liability insurance is 6% in Russia. For example, in Volgograd it reaches 10%, although other data, including from the State Traffic Inspectorate, show that cars do not crash so often. But due to the possibility of falsifying documents under the European protocol, we have this indicator in the region. Therefore, we believe that the European protocol should work exclusively with uncorrected information.

At the same time, we support the proposal that if the rules on natural repairs apply, if hidden damage is discovered that exceeds the limit under the European protocol of 50 thousand rubles, this should be compensated by the insurance company. This indulgence must be accepted; it is fair and possible.

Comments from Za Rulem editor, lawyer Sergei Smirnov

— The State Traffic Inspectorate does not have the right to ignore requests from participants in road accidents. The fact is that the Traffic Rules actually provide for independent registration of accidents. But, firstly, this is a right, not an obligation. And secondly, even if all the conditions exist that theoretically allow the so-called European protocol to be issued, drivers may doubt the cost of restoration repairs. After all, it is virtually impossible to determine on your own that repairs will not exceed 50 thousand rubles.

No order from the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Transport can serve as a basis for ignoring a call to the scene of an accident. To do this, at a minimum, it is necessary to make changes to the Traffic Rules themselves.

Therefore, it is unlikely that the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will bring any benefit. In my opinion, it is necessary to tell drivers more about the possibility and procedure for self-registration and increase the limit of payments under the European protocol.

Let us remind you that on July 1, 2015, the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation on amendments to the Traffic Rules came into force. These changes affect those who are involved in an accident. For leaving the scene of an accident, a driver’s license is no longer deprived for one and a half years, as was previously the case; on the contrary, drivers must remove cars from the roadway if they are obstructing the movement of other vehicles. Otherwise, they will face a fine of one thousand rubles.

Before driving away, those involved in the accident must record the location of the collision, damage to the vehicles, and the location of the vehicles to each other and to infrastructure facilities.

If you refuse to call an inspector, the accident can be reported in two ways. First: having previously recorded the scene of the incident, come to the nearest traffic police department and, with the help of inspectors, complete all the necessary documents. At the same time, participants in an accident are not required to report the incident to the police in advance. Second: you can register the incident yourself using the European protocol. Here you need to be extremely careful and fill out the accident notification form in accordance with the rules of compulsory insurance, so that later there are no problems with insurance payment.

As for the internal order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, if it really exists, a controversial point can be found in it. For example, those involved in an accident may refer to poor health, for example, “a dull pain in the abdomen” that appeared as a result of the accident, and then inspectors are required to go to the scene. And no one is lying too much in this case - whatever one may say, accidents are often accompanied by bruises and stress.

The traffic police has published statistics on traffic accidents on Russian roads for 10 months of 2021. In general, accident rates have decreased, except for a few positions; more about this in our material.
There are fewer complaints about compulsory motor liability insurance to the Federal Antimonopoly Service: the number of such letters from January to September decreased by 390 compared to the same period last year.

Photo: “Behind the Wheel”

How to file a minor accident without traffic police officers

The rules and features of filling out an accident scene inspection report apply to all emergency events. A minor accident on the road can be registered without the participation of traffic police officers. Contacting the traffic police may result in the imposition of an additional fine. In general, the procedure is quite simple, but there are some differences from the standard procedure that you should definitely be aware of and take into account.

When registering, a special form is used - the Europrotocol, and the procedure itself involves performing a certain sequence of actions. The standard procedure for registering a minor accident without a traffic policeman according to the European Protocol is as follows:

First, the participants in the accident perform all the mandatory actions prescribed by the traffic rules, and only after that they begin to register.
It is necessary to record the situation at the scene of the accident on a photo or video camera.
If possible, take photographs of the general plan of the accident, braking marks and windings of individual elements, record broken glass and other details.
Write down the contact information of witnesses to the accident.
Copy and photograph the license plates of all vehicles that were involved in an accident.
Take pictures of damaged vehicle parts.

Europrotocol

After specifying all the data, it is important to take care of one more thing. The fact is that the European protocol will be valid only if a number of conditions are met. If even one condition is violated, you will need to invite traffic police officers to draw up a report. People often ask on the Internet whether it is possible not to draw up a European protocol, but simply to agree on compensation for damage. This option is not illegal, but a receipt must be issued for the transfer of funds by the culprit to the victim, and a similar scheme is suitable in the case where one of the participants in the accident does not have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy. In other situations, it is recommended to file an accident in order to subsequently receive payment from the insurance company.

There are several important points that need to be taken into account when filling out the European protocol. These rules will allow you to further prove your claims in court and receive due compensation. The following can be noted as mandatory conditions:

When filling out the form, you must use only a black gel pen;
the notification of an accident is filled out by each driver - the culprit and the victim in certain sections;
the reverse side is filled out by each driver independently;
after filling out, copies of the document must be divided;
Both drivers must sign the front side of the notice;
amendments can be made to the protocol, but on the condition that this is confirmed and certified by the second driver.

Another important point is that filming the circumstances of the incident can only be done within 60 minutes after the accident occurred. Otherwise, all data will be considered invalid.

What to do if the culprit left the scene of an accident

Sometimes it happens that the driver left the scene of a minor accident. This will have serious consequences for the person responsible, but to bring him to justice, the victim should do the following:

Perform all standard actions.
Call the traffic police.
Before the inspectors arrive, independently collect as much useful information about the incident as possible, for example, interview witnesses, film the accident scene on video and with a camera.

If no one has admitted guilt in a minor accident, then you need to call a traffic police officer who will draw up a report, taking into account all the circumstances and features of the procedure. This will be useful in court as evidence in the future.

Making changes to the road accident scheme

If a participant in an accident has identified any inaccuracies in the accident diagram, he can petition the relevant traffic police official to make changes to the accident diagram.

IMPORTANT : record the fact of filing the above petition, that is, you must apply in writing, stating what you do not agree with and what you are asking for, and hand in the petition with a mark on your copy.

If the request is granted, an additional visit to the scene of the accident may be carried out and an additional diagram drawn up, or changes may be made to the previously drawn up diagram with appropriate reservations and the signature of the person who made the changes.

If a traffic police officer refuses to make changes, you can appeal his inaction.