In short
The criminal file after an accident speaks of fault and of the sanction. The item of compensation is on the civil and insurance path.
Fault and the sanction are the face of the criminal file. The item of compensation is on the civil and insurance path.
The order of the request for compensation is in a separate note.
The accident report affects both faces.
Related notes: traffic compensation.
First secure health and safety at the scene
After an accident, life and the safety of health should be secured before the criminal file is thought of. If there is an injured person, 112 should be called, safe conditions should be formed against the risk of a second accident, and the direction of the authorised teams should be complied with. It is not correct to keep a person who needs medical help waiting at the scene only so that minutes will be drawn up.
The driver leaving the scene can give rise to serious problems as to the duty to help and as to the security of the evidence. If it is necessary to change place for health or for safety, the police and the medical units should be informed as far as possible. In urgent interventions such as moving the injured person, the safety instructions should be taken as the basis.
The stress at the moment of the accident can cause people to remember the order of the event wrongly. Information of speed, of distance, or of a manoeuvre that is not certain at the first moment should not be guessed. When the state of health allows, the basic points of the event can be noted. These notes do not stand in for the official minutes.
Keep the evidence at the scene in a lawful way
The position of the vehicles, the road markings, the traffic signs, a brake mark, and the weather and visibility conditions can matter in the assessment of fault. As far as it is safe and permitted, a general plan and a close-up photograph can be taken. No editing should be made on the photographs. The original files should be kept with their date information.
This list can be useful for evidence that can be lost:
- The original record of the vehicle camera
- The location of the cameras of a nearby business, a site, or the municipality
- The contact information of the persons who saw the event
- Photographs that show the road and weather conditions
- The damaged regions of the vehicles
- The accident report and the alcohol-measurement minutes
- The records of the emergency service and of the forensic examination
Rather than taking an environmental camera by force, or publishing the image on social media, the place where the record is should be notified to the prosecution or to the police. Because the retention period of the records can be limited, the request should not be delayed.
Separate the material-damage file from the criminal investigation
An accident with only material damage and an accident that gives rise to a result of injury or of death do not follow the same legal process. Material damage can be taken with insurance and with the mechanisms of private law. Bodily damage, a death, or a suspicion of another offence can bring a criminal investigation onto the agenda. Claims such as alcohol, the effect of a drug, the state of the driving licence, or leaving the scene can also be examined separately.
That an injury is not seen at the moment of the accident does not mean a medical finding will not come out later. Some signs can appear hours later. The connection between the medical application and the accident is assessed with the medical records. For this reason the parties' spoken acceptance in the form "nothing happened to anyone" does not make the future of the file certain.
The purpose of the criminal investigation is to investigate criminal liability. The repair of the vehicle, the loss of value, the bodily damage, and the insurance payments are subject to different legal conditions. Although these processes are connected, one is not the automatic result of the other.
Check the accident report and the technical records
The accident report records the scene, the driver information, the position of the vehicle, and the first observations. If there is an error of the plate, of the driver, of the hour, of the direction of the road, or of the drawing in the report, it should be stated without delay with concrete records. A blank or unreadable section should not be signed.
The assessment of fault in the report can be important on the criminal file. The court and the prosecution also assess the other evidence. The ratio in the insurance system and the examination of fault and of causation in criminal law are not entirely the same. The expert, the camera, the damage to the vehicle, and the traffic rule can be taken together.
If there is a claim of a mechanical fault in the vehicle, the need for a technical examination should be thought of before a repair is made. Repairing the vehicle quickly, or throwing the parts away, can destroy the evidence. The need to return safely to traffic, and the protection of the evidence, should be planned with the authorised unit and with the insurance process.
Understand the role of the medical documents and of the forensic report
The existence of the injury, its character, and its connection with the accident are assessed through the medical records. The emergency-service record, imaging, a prescription, incapacity for work, and the forensic report can carry different information. The injured person's existing illnesses and the new findings arising from the accident should be separated.
The first report may not always be the final assessment. When the course of treatment, the healing of a fracture, a lasting effect, or an additional expert view is waited for, a final report can be prepared later. The delay of the report can affect the course of the file. The medical documents should not be altered by the parties, or presented with only selected pages.
The driver's state of health after the accident is important too. If loss of consciousness, a sudden illness, or the effect of a medicine is advanced, a medical record close to the time of the event is needed. A general explanation formed later may not, on its own, show the state of health at the moment of the event.
Prepare the chronology of the driving before the statement
A statement can be taken as a suspect, as an injured person, or as a witness. The capacity changes the scope of the rights. For a suspect there is learning the charge, benefiting from the assistance of defence counsel, and the right to remain silent. The injured person can explain their damage and their requests for evidence. A witness should tell only the event they saw directly.
In the preparation of the statement, a chronology can be built starting from a few minutes before the moment of the accident:
- In which direction and in which lane was the vehicle moving?
- What was the state of the traffic light or of the sign?
- Was there a condition that blocked the view?
- When was the first danger noticed?
- What was the order of the brake, the manoeuvre, and the collision?
- Who gave which help after the accident?
A speed or a distance that is not remembered for certain should not be filled by a guess. Vehicle data or a camera can show a different result later. Before the minutes are signed, it should be checked whether the technical words reflect the statement correctly. For the preparation, the guide before giving a statement can be examined.
Assess fault, negligence, and the causal link together
On the criminal file it is investigated not only whether there is a breach of a traffic rule, but also the connection of this conduct with the result of injury or of death. Negligence is examined within the frame of a result arising by the necessary care and attention not being shown. If there are special conditions about the foreseeability of the result, different legal assessments can come onto the agenda.
There can be an effect of more than one driver, of a pedestrian, of a road condition, or of a vehicle fault. The injured person's conduct does not automatically remove the driver's liability. The driver's fault does not prevent the examination of the other factors either. Each person's act, and its effect on the result, is taken separately.
The data used in the expert report, the road sketch, the speed calculation, and the camera analysis should be checked. Rather than objecting to the report only in the form "I do not accept the fault", which technical datum or assumption is wrong should be explained.
Follow the insurance, the compensation, and the criminal file together, but apart
Requests such as damage to the vehicle, treatment expenses, loss of the capacity to work, loss of support, or non-pecuniary damage can concern insurance and the law of compensation. The arrangement of the period, of the party, and of the documents of these requests differs from the criminal investigation. Compensation for a traffic accident explains this separation more fully.
The insurance company making a payment does not itself close the criminal file. The remedying of the damage can matter, according to the legal character of the file, for settlement or for other institutions the court assesses. Not every payment gives rise to the same result.
Before a release or a settlement document is signed, which items of damage, and which rights, were given up should be read. Giving up the criminal complaint, the right to compensation, and the insurance payment should not be mixed with each other. Signing a wide text before the future effects of the injury are known can create a loss of a right.
Examine the conditions of settlement and of the complaint particular to the file
In claims of negligent injury, the provisions of the complaint and of settlement can come onto the agenda according to the features of the file. The character of the injury, the form of the fault, the number of injured persons, and claims of another connected offence can affect the procedure. It cannot be said that every accident with injury will go to settlement in the same way.
If an offer of settlement arrives, the payment or other performance that is proposed, the payments made by the insurer, and the effect on the criminal file should be assessed together. Acceptance of the offer is not compulsory. It is important that the performance that is accepted is clear, workable, and of a determined period.
A statement of giving up the complaint should not be signed before its results are understood either. On some files the public investigation can continue for another legal reason. The characterisation of the offence by the competent authority, and the current legislation, should be taken as the basis.
Follow the investigation and the expert process
The prosecution gathers the accident minutes, the medical reports, the camera records, and the witness statements. It can have an examination of the vehicle or of the road made. After the expert report arrives, an additional report or an objection can come onto the agenda. Completing the evidence can take time.
The file number, the police unit, the prosecution, and the documents that were delivered should be recorded. When a new medical report or a camera is found, on which date it was presented should be put into minutes. The services should be followed by notifying a change of address.
When sufficient suspicion is seen, an indictment can be drawn up. Otherwise a decision of no ground for prosecution comes onto the agenda. These results do not always automatically determine the accident compensation or the insurance file. For the course of the investigation, the content of a prosecution investigation is completing.
The practical follow-up of accident evidence in Ankara
In dense traffic areas in Ankara there can be a camera of the municipality, of a site, of a business, or of a vehicle. It should not be assumed that every camera saw the angle of the event and kept the record for a long time. The places of the cameras should be determined quickly, and the protection of the records should be requested from the competent authority. Images that contain personal data should be obtained through a lawful channel.
The transactions of the hospital, of forensic medicine, of the expert, and of the prosecution can move at different times. Local density affects the period. It does not postpone the need to protect the evidence. If there is a claim of a road fault because the scene later changed, the photograph on the date of the event and the official maintenance records matter.
A final assessment
On the criminal file after an accident, after the intervention of safety and of health, the evidence should be kept quickly, the accident report should be checked, and the statement should be given only through the facts that are remembered. The fault ratio is not made certain with a single document. The technical report, the medical result, and causation are assessed together. The insurance payment and the criminal investigation are not the same process.
This content is for general information. The kind of the accident, the injury, the fault, the conditions of the complaint, and the evidence can give rise to a different result on every file. For the general legal frame criminal law, for the requests for damage compensation for a traffic accident, and for the preparation of the statement before giving a statement can be examined together.
What is looked at on the accident file
The record of the scene, the medical document, and the minutes of the statement are read together. The criminal investigation and the insurance payment are not counted as the same file. The separation is built according to the concrete file. Çankaya does not choose the competent authority.
Conclusion
This note is for general information. The document, the period, and the procedure of the concrete event should be read separately. There is no promise of a result by rote.