TIME LIMITS/PRESCRIPTION PERIODS

You must lodge the claim within three years from the date of the accident if you know who caused the accident. If you don’t know who caused the accident you have two years to claim. Whatever the case, your claim must reach the Road Accident Fund in time, or you will lose the right to claim. If the attorney leaves the claim too late, and you did not cause any delays, then you can institute an action against the attorney for not sticking to the time limits that resulted in your claim prescribing.

WHAT YOU MUST DO IMMEDIATELY AFTER A MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT

There are important actions to take if you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident. This is what you need to do:

• Stop
• Help anyone who is hurt
• Find out what the damage is
• Get all relevant information
• Report the accident to the police
• Do not interfere with the evidence

Stop

If you are involved in an accident where someone is injured or dies, or which causes damage to property, you are required by law to stop your vehicle. It is a crime not to stop after an accident, and you could be fined up to R36 000 or sent to prison for up to nine years, or both.

You don’t have to stop or report an accident for example, if you crash into a tree and only damage your car and you are the only one that gets hurt. But, if you damage someone else’s property you must stop and report the incident at the nearest police station.

When you stop, you should switch on your hazard lights to warn other traffic of the accident.

Help anyone who is hurt

After you have stopped, you need to find out if anyone is hurt and help them as much as you can. You also need to call emergency services. These are the numbers you can call:

• 084124 National ER N24-hour emergency
• 10177 to call an ambulance
• 10111 to call the police

If you don’t know any first aid, be careful not to do anything that might make the injury worse. Unless you need to go for help, you must stay at the scene until a police officer says you can leave. You can be criminally charged for failing to help anyone hurt in the accident.

Get all relevant information

You need to give your name, address and vehicle registration number to anyone who has reasonable grounds for asking for this. If you are involved in the accident, try to get the following information from all parties involved and witnesses:

• Full names
• ID numbers
• Addresses
• Telephone details
• Vehicle registration numbers
• Descriptions of the vehicles involved in the accident
• Details of police and traffic officers and ambulance staff
• Details of tow truck personnel.

To help you remember what happened, record the following as soon as possible:

• Write down the date, time, and address of the accident, the weather and road conditions when the accident happened and how the accident happened.
• Take photographs or a video of the scene of the accident from different angles, the surrounding areas, the injuries and any damage to property. Or draw a sketch plan of the accident scene.
• If the person driving the motor vehicle who caused the accident is driving a motor vehicle on behalf of their employer, write down the details of the driver and the employer.

This information will help you if you want to make a claim against your insurance or against the Road Accident Fund, or if you want to claim the costs of repairs from the other party. At a later stage, you or your lawyers may need a copy of the accident report that is filled out by the police.

Report the accident to the police

Report the accident to the police or an authorised office of a traffic officer within 24 hours, with your driving license.

You have to give your name, address and vehicle registration number to the police or traffic officer, either at the scene of the accident or at a police station or traffic office when you report the accident. You must also show your driver’s license. Write down the name of the police officer you spoke to and the accident report (AR) reference number. The AR number is needed for any insurance claim or third-party claim that you make in the future.

If you are hurt and can’t report the accident immediately, you must do it as soon as possible and explain why there has been a delay in reporting the accident. It is an offence not to report an accident in which another person’s property has been damaged, or in which another person is injured, even if neither of the drivers intends to take legal action.

When two cars are involved in a collision and nobody is injured, the drivers may decide to pay for their repairs and not claim against each other. In such a case, it is not necessary to call the police to the scene of the accident, but it must be reported by both drivers at a police station within 24 hours.

Do not interfere with the evidence

You must NOT drink any alcohol or take any drugs unless it is on doctor’s orders. If the police ask you to go for a medication examination, you must not drink any alcohol or take any drugs that have a narcotic effect before the examination and before you have reported the accident.

If anyone is injured in the accident, the vehicles may not be moved before the police or traffic officer has arrived and said that the vehicles can be moved. If the accident blocks the road, the vehicle may be moved enough to allow other vehicles to pass, but only after you have clearly marked the vehicle positions (for example with chalk or spray paint).

Visit a doctor if you have been injured

If you have been injured, visit a doctor immediately even if the injury is not so serious.

PREPARING TO CONSULT AN ATTORNEY

It will speed things up if you have certain details ready before you go to an attorney. These are:

• Your identity document (ID)
• The registration number of the car that caused the accident
• The police case number
• Details of the driver or the owner of the car
• Details of any witnesses to the accident, for example names and addresses, statements, and so on
• A hospital patient number

If the claim is by a dependant of the breadwinner who was killed in an accident, the following documents will also be needed:

• ID of the deceased
• Death certificate of the deceased
• Copy of inquiry, if available
• Copy of latest payslip
• Funeral expenses

DOCUMENTS YOU WILL NEED

If the attorney agrees to take the case, then you can help the attorney to get some of the necessary documents:

• A medical report, or if a person was killed in the accident you must get an inquest record (this is a record of a court enquiry into someone’s death)
• A charge sheet from the police
• All accounts, receipts and vouchers to prove medical expenses and hospital expenses
• A letter from the doctor; the doctor will say how much you will pay for medical expenses in the future, because of the accident
• A rough sketch (drawing) of the scene of the accident
• The name of the police station where the accident was reported, the police case number and the police report
• A letter from your employer to say how much money you lost through unpaid wages, this is known as a loss of earnings certificate
• A power of attorney from you – this is a legal letter where you give permission for the attorney to make the claim on your behalf
• Written consent to the hospital (this gives your permission to the attorney and the Fund to look at your hospital records)
• An affidavit from the person who is claiming
• Affidavits from witnesses (people who saw the accident), if there are any
• Salary advice slip and employment certificate from the employer if you suffered a loss of income as a result of not working while you were recovering or if you were permanently disabled by your injuries

If you are claiming or are a witness, do not give a signed statement to anyone except your attorney.