What to do after a crash

They are the duties Act 22-2000 imposes on every driver involved in an accident, and the penalties for failing the first of them, which is to stop. They apply whether there were injuries or only damage to a vehicle or other property.

Article 4.01 speaks of the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in damage to another vehicle or other property, or in a person being injured or killed. You need not be at fault: being involved is enough.

• Being involved, as a driver, in an accident resulting in damage to another vehicle or other property, or in a person being injured or killed (Article 4.01).Verified against the official source
• Having to hand the information Article 4.03(a) requires you to give: name, address, the vehicle’s registration number, your licence or driving permit if asked, and any information relating to the vehicle’s compulsory insurance.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Stopping is not optional, nor is where you stop

   Article 4.01 says the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in damage to another vehicle or other property, or in a person being injured or killed, “shall immediately stop their vehicle at the scene of the accident or as close to it as possible, in such a way as not to obstruct traffic”, and shall comply with every obligation the Act sets. Article 4.05 reinforces it: stopping or leaving a vehicle parked after an accident in such a way as to obstruct traffic is prohibited, except where the circumstances or the state the vehicles or their occupants were left in do not permit otherwise.

2. 2

   Step 2: What you must give, and to whom

   Article 4.03(a) requires you to give your name, your address, the registration number of the vehicle you are driving and, if asked, to show your licence or driving permit as well as any information relating to the vehicle’s compulsory insurance. The list of who you owe it to is also in the Act: to anyone injured as a result of the accident, to the driver or occupant of the other vehicle, to the person in charge of the vehicle or of any damaged property, or to any law enforcement officer.

3. 3

   Step 3: Giving help, and the three exceptions

   Article 4.03(b) requires giving help to the injured, if any, “including taking them to a hospital or to where medical help can be given”. The Act itself sets three limits: unless it would be dangerous to move the injured person; unless the injured person or anyone accompanying them expressly refuses; and the driver is exempt from that duty if, as a result of the accident, their own physical condition does not permit giving that help.

4. 4

   Step 4: You hit a parked car and nobody is there

   Article 4.04 covers exactly that case, and does not allow leaving. Any driver involved in an accident damaging property whose owner or custodian is not present at the scene “shall try to locate that owner or custodian and inform them of the accident, identifying themselves and showing the licence authorising them to drive”. If they cannot be located, “they shall leave in a conspicuous place on the property information about the accident, their name and address, and shall without unnecessary delay notify the accident to the nearest police station”. That is three steps, not two: look for them, leave the note where it can be seen, and tell the Police.

5. 5

   Step 5: If nobody can receive the information

   Article 4.03(c) covers the case where none of the people mentioned is in a condition to receive the information they are entitled to and no law enforcement officer is present. In that case the driver involved — after complying with all the provisions and requirements of Articles 4.01 and 4.03 so far as possible — must report the accident to the nearest police station and submit the information specified in subsection (a).

6. 6

   Step 6: Four hours to report if the Police did not attend

   Article 4.06 is the deadline most often missed. Every driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident that resulted in harm to another person or to another’s property, and which was not investigated by the Police at the place where it occurred, must immediately, by the fastest means possible, notify the accident to the nearest police station, “within a period not exceeding four (4) hours after it happened”. And it provides for you being unable to: where the driver is physically incapable of giving the notice and there was another occupant in the vehicle at the time who can, that occupant shall give or cause the information to be given.

7. 7

   Step 7: Not stopping: the penalty ladder and the licence

   Article 4.02, amended by Act 154-2024, tiers everything. Subsection (a): not stopping in the Article 4.01 circumstances is a misdemeanour with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, or both at the Court’s discretion; and on the conviction being recorded the Secretary revokes the licence or permit and every driving privilege for one year. Subsection (b): if by not stopping bodily harm is caused to another person, it is a misdemeanour with a fixed term of three years; if grave bodily harm is caused, it is a felony with a fixed term of five years, and revocation runs for not less than two nor more than five years, counted from the date the prison sentence is completed. Subsection (c): if a person dies, it is a felony with a fixed term of fifteen years and the Secretary revokes the licence permanently.

8. 8

   Step 8: The second time: twenty years and fifteen thousand dollars

   The same Article 4.02 closes with two hard sentences. On a second conviction under subsections (b) or (c), “the fine shall be fifteen thousand (15,000) dollars, with a fixed term of twenty (20) years’ imprisonment in both convictions, and the Secretary shall permanently revoke the licence, or driving permit, and every driving privilege in force”. And it adds that “the penalty established here shall be consecutive with any other penalty for which they are convicted as part of the same event”: that is, it does not run at the same time as the penalty for the underlying offence.

9. 9

   Step 9: What the Police do with the report

   Article 4.07 puts three clocks on the State’s side. Any Police or Municipal Police member investigating an accident between vehicles shall prepare a written report within the next forty-eight hours after arriving at the scene, detailing what emerges from the investigation at the time and place, or later from interviewing the participants or witnesses. A copy of that report shall be sent to the Department of Transportation and Public Works within ten days of the investigation, and from there a copy is sent to the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration where there are injuries.

At the scene first, and then at the nearest police station, which is where the Act requires notification in all three cases: when nobody can receive the information, when the owner of the damaged property cannot be found, and when the Police did not investigate at the scene. The written report is prepared by the Police or Municipal Police and goes to the Department of Transportation and Public Works, which sends a copy to the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration if there were injuries. Criminal charges for not stopping are prosecuted by the Ministerio Público before the Court of First Instance, and the licence revocation is carried out by the Secretary.

• Leaving because “nothing happened”: the duty to stop also applies where there was only damage to another vehicle or other property.
• Believing only the person at fault must stop: the Act speaks of the driver of any vehicle involved.
• Stopping in the middle of the road: the Act requires stopping in a way that does not obstruct traffic, and Article 4.05 expressly forbids it.
• Giving only your name: you must also give your address, the vehicle’s registration number and, if asked, your licence and the compulsory insurance information.
• Moving an injured person regardless: the Act excepts the case where moving them would be dangerous or where they or their companion do not consent.
• Leaving a note and nothing else: if the property owner is absent you must try to locate them, leave the information conspicuously AND notify the nearest station.
• Not reporting because the Police did not come: if they did not investigate at the scene, there is a period not exceeding four hours to notify the nearest station.
• Staying silent because you were injured: if another occupant can give notice, the Act assigns it to them.
• Underestimating hit-and-run: even with no injuries it is up to six months in jail, a fine of five hundred to five thousand and a year without a licence.
• Believing the revocation runs while you are in prison: in subsection (b) the two to five years are counted from when you finish serving the sentence.
• Thinking the penalty for not stopping is served alongside the one for the accident: the Act makes it consecutive with any other from the same event.
• Not asking for the report: the Police must prepare it within forty-eight hours and send it to DTOP within ten days, with a copy to ACAA if there were injuries.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

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