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    Legal obligations after a motor vehicle accident

    Immediate obligations where accident causes injury or death

    If someone is injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident, then the driver of every vehicle involved in the accident must:

    • stop immediately at the scene of the accident
    • give all possible assistance
    • within 90 minutes of the accident, present themselves to a police officer to give details of the accident and submit to drug and alcohol testing if required.

    [Road Traffic Act 1961 (SA) s 43]

    General obligations

    The driver of every vehicle involved in an accident must:

    • stop at the scene of the accident
    • give their details including their name and address, the name and address of the vehicle’s owner, and the vehicle's registration number (or any other information necessary to identify the vehicle) to any other driver involved, any person injured (or their representative) or the owner of any property that has been damaged.

    [Australian Road Rules rule 287(2)]

    The driver must also report these details to police as soon as possible within 24 hours [rule 287(3)] if:

    • someone is injured or killed in the accident (see above)
    • the driver has not given their details to each person as above
    • the details for any other driver involved in the crash are not given to the driver
    • a vehicle is towed or carried away by another vehicle
    • a fair estimate of the cost of damage to all property is $3,000 or more (but a driver does not have to report an accident if the only property damaged is their own) [see Road Traffic (Road Rules - Ancillary and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2014 (SA) reg 39, 40, 41 and 42].

    Therefore if you have a minor accident where both drivers exchange details, no one is injured and the cost of repairing damage to property is likely to be less than $3,000, then there is no legal obligation to report it to police. However, even though you may not be obligated to report, it is good practice to do so anyway. This is because insurers often ask drivers for a police report number.

    To deal with the large numbers of such reports, SAPOL has an Online Vehicle Collision Reporting System to allow drivers to report crashes where there is no legal obligation to do so. When assessing the likely cost of repairing damage that has been caused, this includes damage to other property (such as a fence) as well as the other vehicle(s) involved.

    As soon as practicable after an accident involving injury or death, contact the approved compulsory third party (CTP) insurer of the vehicle. There are several insurance companies providing CTP insurance in South Australia (see Compulsory Third Party (CTP) Insurance Scheme). They will send forms which must be filled in and returned. Allocation of an approved insurer is automatic for all registered vehicles in South Australia if no nomination has been made. If unsure which is the relevant CTP insurer, contact the Compulsory Third Party Insurance Regulator (1300 303 558).

    It is an offence not to provide written notice of the accident to the CTP insurer where a person was injured or killed. The penalty for this offence is a fine of up to $1,250, or imprisonment for up to 3 months [see Motor Vehicles Act 1959 (SA) s 124].

    For further details about the offences that may be committed when a person fails to comply with these and other duties, see Offences and Duties after Accidents.

    Practical Steps

    As well as the legal obligations after an accident, a driver involved in an accident should consider taking the following steps:

    • As well as obtaining the name, address and registration number of any other driver involved, also ask for their telephone number.
    • Ask anyone who was a witness to the accident for their name, address and telephone number.
    • Do not argue about whose fault it was.
    • Do not admit that the accident was your fault.
    • If possible, make a sketch of what happened and put on the sketch plan any measurements (such as length of skid marks, distance of the vehicle from the kerb, etc).
    • Make notes about any damage to the vehicles.
    • If possible, take photographs of the damage and the scene of the accident.
    • If you have a dashcam, download the dashcam footage as soon as possible and back it up on a device.
    • If you are insured for damage to your own vehicle and/or Third Party Property damage, you should notify your insurance company without delay. Even if you do not intend to make a claim on your insurance company, let them know you have been involved in a crash. Simply letting the insurance company know about the accident should not affect your no claim bonus.
    Legal obligations after a motor vehicle accident  :  Last Revised: Tue Nov 11th 2025
    The content of the Law Handbook is made available as a public service for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice. See Disclaimer for details. For free and confidential legal advice in South Australia call 1300 366 424.

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