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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 then the driver of every vehicle involved in an accident must:

    • stop immediately at the scene of the accident
    • immediately give all possible assistance
    • within 90 minutes of the accident, present themselves to a police officer to give particulars of the accident and submit to any test for alcohol or drugs.

    [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 reg 287(2)]

    If any of the following circumstances apply, the driver must also report these details to police as soon as possible within 24 hours [reg 287(3)]:

    • If anyone is injured or killed in the accident (see 90 minute time requirement above)
    • If you have not given your details to each person as above
    • If you have not been given the details of the other driver
    • If a vehicle is towed or carried away by another vehicle
    • If a fair estimate of the cost of damage to all property is $3,000 or more (but you do not have to report an accident if the only property damaged is your own) [see Road Traffic (Road Rules- Anciliary 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 upon you 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 now has an Online Collision Reporting System to allow drivers to report crashes where there is no legal obligation to do so (ie no one is injured, and the cost of repairing damage to property is likely to be less than $3,000). 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 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 take 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 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 don't 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 will not affect your no claim bonus.
    Legal obligations after a motor vehicle accident  :  Last Revised: Mon Dec 5th 2022
    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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