Are you one of the miscreants who flee from the crime scene at full speed when faced with an accident? It turns out, that’s severe legal misconduct. In case you are directly or indirectly involved with a motor accident, causing death, injury, and/or loss of property to a party, you need to know the car accident laws in Canada. There are many things that you are legally obliged to do at the scene of the accident. This will help you to protect yourself and settle future claims better.
Your Responsibilities and Rights at the Scene
What is the immediate aftermath of an accident? You have turned off your car, gotten out, and now are required to stay on the scene. It is illegal and inhumane to leave the scene of an accident caused by you. So if you aren’t already there, you have to return to the scene immediately.
If anyone is injured, you must call an ambulance. Unless his needs are clear, do not touch the person. Don’t try to give medical aid to him unless you are a healthcare professional or have medical training. But if a car has catched fire, you can take the burning person out. You can also prevent further accidents by stopping approaching traffic to that area. You can put on hazard signals to warn them.
If the accident got no driver personally injured and there was no violation of law while driving, and the combined property damage of your and his vehicle was under $2000, you are not legally obliged to call the police. Simply report to the Collision Reporting Centre. But if any of you caused damage to others’ or state properties, you have to call the police.
Again, when someone is injured, there has been a violation of law while driving and combined damage totaled over $2000, you are legally required to call the police and do as they instruct.
The drivers also have the right to obtain information from the parties involved in the scene. Under the Motor Vehicle Act, you can aim to take the address and name of all the drivers in the scene. So when a peace officer comes at the stage, you may provide the information to him to identify that driver prone to accident or injury.
Your Rights After the Accident
It gets very stressful and frustrating when you have to deal with car accidents. It is natural that in the process, you will forget to ask important questions or do what you were required. Some of these can prove a loss to you.
For example, you didn’t report the accident or forgot to do it in all the trauma. As such, you didn’t also make a claim. Suppose that the damages were under $2000, you may have chosen not to report. But say that the other party did. So even if your insurance company didn’t get to know it from you, they will know from the insurance company of the other party. In such a case, your insurance provider may cancel or deny to renew your policy.
Generally, all policies require you to state the occurrence of the accident, no matter what the damage is. It doesn’t matter if you paid for the accident, entirely or partially caused it, the accident will be counted against you. But if you were not at fault at all, it won’t count against you, and your insurance rates will not increase. So under any circumstance, report to and contact your insurance company.
If you are the injured party, you need to hire a lawyer that can work to give you full compensation. Having an auto accident lawyer on your side can make sure your interests are met. If required, your lawyer can seek additional damage depending on whether or not you have suffered mental anguish, pain, and depression.
Most of the people directly faced with an accident are unaware of most of their rights. So getting close to a legal team to know more about injury laws in Canada will be your safest bet.
What Does the Car Accident Law in Canada Say for Complaints?
After everything else, if you think that the calculation of fault was wrong, you can talk to your claims adjuster. You can also speak to the Complaint Officer to state your problems if you can provide further evidence on your side or if you think the case wasn’t handled properly.
