Firstly, close your eyes, pinch yourself and hope it’s a dream. If not, you are by law required to stay right where you are as fleeing the scene will only lead to severe penalties including fines or imprisonment. Parties involved in a car accident must stay at the scene unless specifically allowed to depart by a law enforcement official.

When a car accident occurs, drivers are required to notify the SAPS immediately or within 24 hours, particularly if there are serious injuries, fatalities, or substantial property damage. Even if the cars are no longer present at the site, this still holds true. Reporting should be done as quickly as possible if injuries prohibit it from happening right away.

In South Africa, negligence determines who is at fault in a car accident. Our law permits for joint liability which means that all parties involved in a car accident can be held jointly liable according to their degrees of negligence. This degree is usually expressed as a percentage, eg. A was 60% negligent and B was 40% negligent.

Sadly, there will always be careless driving, reckless driving, and lawlessness on our roadways. The best defence for ourselves is to drive as safely as possible.