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Land Transport Act 1998

Additional responsibilities concerning road transport

22: Driver's duties where accident occurs

You could also call this:

“What you must do if you have a car accident”

If you are driving or riding a vehicle and get into an accident, you must follow these rules:

You need to stop right away and see if anyone is hurt. If someone is injured, you must help them as best you can.

If a police officer or anyone else involved in the accident asks, you must give them your name, address, and email address (if you have one). You also need to tell them who owns the vehicle, their address and email, and the registration plate number of the vehicle.

If someone is hurt or killed in the accident, you must tell the police as soon as you can, but no later than 24 hours after the accident. You don’t have to do this if you’re too badly hurt to report it.

If you damage an empty vehicle or someone else’s property, you must tell the owner within 48 hours. Give them your name, address, email, the vehicle’s registration number, and where the accident happened. If you can’t find or contact the owner, tell the police within 60 hours.

If you’re driving a fire engine or ambulance to an emergency and have an accident, you can stop and let a crew member with a first-aid kit handle these duties.

You don’t have to report the accident if you’ve been arrested because of it.

These rules don’t apply to trains, except for light rail vehicles.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM434540.

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Part 3 Additional responsibilities concerning road transport

22Driver's duties where accident occurs

  1. If an accident arising directly or indirectly from the operation of a vehicle occurs to a person or to a vehicle, the driver or rider of the vehicle must—

  2. stop and ascertain whether a person has been injured; and
    1. render all practicable assistance to any injured persons.

      1. The driver or rider of the vehicle must, if required by an enforcement officer or any other person involved in the accident, give the officer or other person—

      2. the driver's or rider's name and address; and
        1. the driver’s or rider’s electronic address (if the driver or rider has an electronic address); and
          1. the name and address of the owner of the vehicle; and
            1. the owner’s electronic address (if the owner has an electronic address); and
              1. if the vehicle concerned is a motor vehicle, the number or letters or other expression on the registration plates assigned to the vehicle.

                1. If the accident involves an injury to or the death of a person, the driver or rider must report the accident to an enforcement officer as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case not later than 24 hours after the time of the accident, unless the driver or rider is incapable of doing so by reason of injuries sustained in the accident.

                2. If the accident involves damage to an unoccupied motor vehicle or to other property belonging to a person other than the driver or rider, the driver or rider must (unless is incapable of doing so by reason of injuries sustained in the accident), not later than 48 hours after the time of the accident, report to the owner—

                3. the driver's or rider's name and address; and
                  1. the driver’s or rider’s electronic address (if the driver or rider has an electronic address); and
                    1. the number on the registration plates assigned to the motor vehicle; and
                      1. the location of the accident.

                        1. If the accident involves damage to an unoccupied motor vehicle or to other property belonging to a person other than the driver or rider, but the owner cannot readily be contacted or identified, the driver or rider must report the accident to an enforcement officer as soon as practicable and in any case within 60 hours after the time of the accident.

                        2. If the motor vehicle involved in the accident is a fire engine or an ambulance travelling to an emergency, the driver complies with subsection (1) if he or she stops the vehicle and sets down a member of the crew who is equipped with a first-aid kit and discharges all the other duties imposed on a driver by that subsection.

                        3. Subsections (3) to (5) do not apply if the driver or rider has been arrested or detained as a result of the accident.

                        4. This section does not apply to a rail vehicle unless that vehicle is a light rail vehicle.

                        Compare
                        Notes
                        • Section 22(2)(aa): inserted, on , by section 5(1) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                        • Section 22(2)(ba): inserted, on , by section 5(2) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                        • Section 22(3): amended, on , by section 5(3) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                        • Section 22(3): amended, on , by section 124(2) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).
                        • Section 22(4): amended, on , by section 5(4)(a) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                        • Section 22(4): amended, on , by section 5(4)(b) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                        • Section 22(4)(aa): inserted, on , by section 5(5) of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Act 2023 (2023 No 62).
                        • Section 22(5): amended, on , by section 124(3) of the Policing Act 2008 (2008 No 72).
                        • Section 22(8): added, on , by section 103(3) of the Railways Act 2005 (2005 No 37).