[skandyhere]

Email circulation or otherwise, I believe people will still do what their gut tells them to. At the moment, there's a compelling urge to either run or stand back and do what you feel is correct. Not much reasoning will happen, not many questions asked.

It is supremely difficult to flee when your conscience tells you otherwise. And when a sudden pang of fear overwhelms you, no benevolent law nor rational explanation can get you to face the situation.

I think that's human nature.

[mrkanitkar]

I have seen lot of guides here but did not find any guideline about how to handle
accident situation. The case may be you hit someone or someone hit you.
How do you handle it? I know this guideline will not be legal one but can help many people. @mod, I hope this is right section.
In case any accident I would suggest following
1. Have photo copy of following docs in car if you don't have originals
a. Driving License
b. Car RC TC / smart card
c. Insurance
d. PUC
2. keep contact nos. of local police
3. If travelling on highway, keep of emergecy health services & insurance agent/ company nos.
4. make sure you know family / friends cell no. by heart,(since we use cell phones, we tend to forget actual no as we call thru contacts manager).

First call
1. call health service - if needed
2. call family friend/ family members
3. call police - if needed
4. call insurance agent

Any thoughts?

[McLaren Rulez]

Good ideas but the real problem in an accident situation is tempers. Insurance, treatment for the injured, calling for help, etc. is secondary and can be managed without too much trouble. The difficult part is when a war of words degenerates into a street fight.

[basilmabraham]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Good ideas but the real problem in an accident situation is tempers. Insurance, treatment for the injured, calling for help, etc. is secondary and can be managed without too much trouble. The difficult part is when a war of words degenerates into a street fight.

I completely agree with you. managing the crowd that gathers around an accident area is the most difficult.

Also, there is a general perception that the bigger of the vehicles involved is always thought to be the culprit. This is seen to be the perception of the crowd that gathers, irrespective of who is actually to be blamed for the cause of the accident.

[Gansan]

It would be a good idea to always have a camera mobile phone while driving and in case of an accident, take a snap of the scene. It will come in very handy.

[mrkanitkar]

should one have blackbox recorder or some cam which will keep record / Video of last 30 mins?

[Atul-C]

Its very difficult to handle the situation when you are at place where you are not part of the local crowd. You will definitely be taken for a ride because you will have absolutely zero support, no matter other party is at complete fault. What if you are trying to call police or your friends and your mobile is snatched away from your hands and you are asked to pay money first. Happened with me once and I had no option to follow any of the above suggestion. Though I admit that whatever you have suggested is absolutely right but there will be some situations where you cant do anything.

[phamilyman]

@kanitkar ji: LOL @ blackbox !
I regret to say but that is completely irrelevant english. When was the last time you were in a real life-threatening accident?

/no offence, but its hardly helpful

Always keep the first-aid kit and warning triangle that came along with the car. Do not remove it from the vehicle. In case of pre-owned cars, buy a first-aid kit and keep it in the car. When I sold my previous 5.5 year old vehicle Maruti Suzuki Versa, I handed over the vehicle along with the original unused first-aid kit [although expired long back!], wishing the second owner that he should also never use it and pass it on to the next owner!

[stanjohn123]

Tips on tackling the crowd will be useful here . If a crowd gathers , it would be wise to shuu them away by telling they are not involved in the accident so get lost and not interfere in our business.If they still persist , ask them if they are ready to come to the court with you. I bet most of the crowd will take a back step once you mention the court to them .

[Gansan]

Ha Ha! I tried to use the band-aid type plaster dressing from the first-aid kit of my brand new Alto. Not due to accident, my son fell down from his bicycle and I wanted to cover the abrasion on his knee. When I opened and tried to stick the plaster, the gum went away with the peeled off paper, leaving absolutely none on the band-aid! It simply would not stick on the skin, so had to go out to buy another one. So much for the quality of first aid kit on cars.

[lucifer1881]

This post describes the activities to be performed post-accident. I shall narrate in the third person, even though I performed all these tasks on 31st December 2010 on our drive to Pondicherry. The incident occurred near Chittoor.

1. Never hit and run.
2. Never hit and run.
3. Ensure the ambulance arrives on the scene. Either make the call yourself or ask someone else to make the call. In the absence of an ambulance service, arrange for the injured to be taken to the Hospital.
4. Wait for the police to arrive on the scene. Better still, be pro-active and call 100. I have called this number, and trust me when I tell you this that the emergency response is fast. Cops have come to my aid within 10 minutes.
5. The police has its own process of dealing with crashes. But they will first ensure that the injured is / are tended to. Post that, they will ask for your original driving licence, and RC and Insurance copies. They will ask your address and other contact information. Do not resist.
6. How the police behaves post this depends greatly on the state you are in. AP Police is quite good and usually behave very well. UP Police, on the other hand, is heavy handed.
7. Chances are if you have been involved in a crash with a local, the villagers will get involved. They do not care whose fault it was. Since you are the outsider passing through their village, you are to blame.
8. Your biggest weapon is patience. If you have not hit and run, and you possess a valid driving licence then you have the law on your side. The police cannot book you. They may or may not threaten to book you depending on point 6 above. Either way, be patient.
9. The villagers are a different matter altogether. Remember, the police and the villagers exist in an ecosystem. And that ecosystem has to be managed. The police may not harass you but they will still have to pacify the villagers. Otherwise, the villagers will make it impossible for the police to discharge their duties in the village. Be patient.
10. Let people blow off their steam. This will take a good 3-4 hours. Absurd amounts will be told to you for compensation. For instance, in my case, they wanted 15,000 as compensation for the injured. Do not get flustered. Be patient.
11. Also, keep in mind that the insurance will cover your vehicle as well as the vehicle you were involved in the accident with. There is no need to file an FIR to claim insurance. The villagers will tell you that FIR has to be filed for insurance to scare you. They will tell you that the other way out of it is if you pay for the vehicle repairs yourself. Do not get scared by these tactics.
12. If you are involved in a crash with a two-wheeler, you need to understand that 90% of them do not renew their insurance. Use this information to diffuse the vehicle-repair-compensation situation. Tell the police to check for a valid insurance of the other vehicle. At this point, raise your voice to be very clearly audible to the mob gathered near you and say "If the insurance is not valid, then please arrest the rider for riding a vehicle without insurance." This will let the villagers know that you know the law. But remember to do this only when at least 3 hours have passed. Sufficient steam needs to be blown before you can make any aggressive statements.
13. When talking, be very humble unless you feel there is a tactical advantage by getting aggressive as in the situation above. Either way, never get aggressive with the police. They are only doing their job.
14. At some point, you will find a window to make your counter-offer. My counter-offer was 1,200. The villagers will get a little vociferous at this. They will say that they do not wish to be treated as beggars, etc. Let them talk.
15. There will come a time when the villagers and the police will realise that you are in no rush. This is when you gain the upper hand. After all, everyone has work to do and no one wishes to stay there forever. This is when the police will start to negotiate with the villagers on your behalf. The SI made me the offer of 3,000. That seemed good enough to me and I accepted.
16. Whatever amount you agree upon, it is a good idea to hand it over to the person representing the villagers in this argument. And do this in the police station in front of the station in-charge (usually SI for a small PS).

The above may or may not be partly or wholly applicable to you. Every situation needs to be handled differently. But few things do not change. You need to have valid DL, RC and Insurance. And you need to settle the villagers, no matter what. These things do not change. The process may differ, but the villagers will have to be pacified.

[snorting bull]

@lucifer1881 PERFECT!. I agree. Patience is the key. I had similar situation and 1 hour had passed after which I was let off without any issue. Let me tell you a small secret which I learnt. If auto guys(probably would apply for any guy around you) pound you, and say they saw you were responsible for this( in a case where you think are not responsible), ask them to come over to the court to provide witness. Most of them will run away. Reason - they are daily wage workers and have work to do and they know Police - Court thing is never ending thing. My 2 paisa.

[anantnehru]

I had a pretty annoying experience with the Delhi Police, a UP-registered City and a HR-registered Ritz; in October last year, a few days before I was meant to leave for the Raid. This was during the time of the CWG in Delhi, with the infamous CWG lane allocated for athletes etc etc.

Stuck in slow moving traffic, the City decides to slingshot past everyone else in the CWG lane; followed by a couple of other fools. Traffic then begins to clear up and start picking up pace. Upon seeing the cops up ahead the City swerves into the regular lane and comes to a complete standstill with a traffic cone in front of him, I brake hard and stop behind him. Before I know what had happened, the Ritz me from the back sending me into the City.

The City guy decides to see if he can get away, I gun it and block him off. Cops walk up, tell me to call 100 and get the cars off the road. I do so, with the City and Ritz behind me. Cops eventually show up, during which the Ritz guy told me and a few a bystanders that the City guy swerved in from the CWG lane and that he did indeed hit me from the back.

Odd bit is that the CIty bumper was mangled, my Hellas in the front were smashed, and I had absolutely no damage at the back. Ritz had a slight dent, but barely visible to the naked eye.

Cops eventually rule that it was my fault and the Ritz did not hit me from the back as there was no damage; while the City guy wants 80k (yes; 80,000) for the bumper. Upon hearing this, the Ritz guy asserts that since he had no damage on his car (which he was whining to me about 15mins earlier) and the fact that he had not hit me he should be let go. He stated that he stopped out of 'concern' since he saw an accident.

Well, he was let go despite me mentioning in my 'statement' that i was hit by him, and mentioned the car number as well. The City guy meanwhile sticks to his 80k demand, to which I refuse and say I'm not paying squat. Cop threatens me with the police station and impounding of the car post which he wont show up in court delaying the car's release. To add to this, the City driver wrote in his 'statement' that I verbally abused him and yanked him out of this car.

He didnt quite like me saying bring it on, so we land up in the station. We're there for about 3hrs with the same demand, now dropped to 25k, being brought up by the CIty guy. (in between the cop tells me what is 25k for people like you, pay up and go home). I was ready for my car to be impounded, since it wasn my fault but the departure for the Raid was imminent and I couldnt afford to switch cars at the last minute.

The cop left on another call, and the City driver comes to me and my brother, says the cop told him to ask for so much cos he wanted a cut of what I paid him. In the end, I paid a total of 10k to the City driver, 3k when the cop wasnt there and the balance in front of the cop (so that the cop would get a smaller share).

I have honestly lost all faith in the police. Seems like EVERYONE is out to make a buck, integrity and respect notwithstanding.

The reason I've brought this up here in this thread, is because I now feel the police are the last people anyone should call if its not a major accident. AT least in Delhi.

[avisidhu]

@AnantNehru, that is so true, having seen it first hand myself. A friend was run over by a car being driven by a call centre employee who admitted that he fell asleep while driving. Guess what, this happened around 2:00 pm bang in front of the Erricson building near DLF tower at Gurgaon! Our friend suffered multiple fractures on the hip and was bed ridden for an year.
Absolutely nothing was done by the cops. They didn't even allow us to talk to that guy. God only knows how much money they fleeced from that fellow. My friend and his family were not in a situation to pursue the case, and things died a natural death ultimately with the guy not even put behind bars for a single day. So much for calling the cops and expecting them to help you out.