What must you do after a car accident in South Africa?

After a car accident in South Africa you must stop at the scene, find out whether anyone has been injured and render whatever assistance you reasonably can, give your name, address and the details of your vehicle to anyone who has a reasonable interest in them, refrain from drinking alcohol until you have been examined by a doctor if you are going to be examined, and report the accident to a police station or a police officer within 24 hours unless your injuries prevent it. These duties come from the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 and they apply whether the damage is a scratch or a write off.

Two systems run in parallel in South African road law. Where the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act 46 of 1998 (the AARTO Act) applies, minor traffic matters are administrative infringements handled by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency, ending in an enforcement order if you ignore them. Elsewhere, and for serious offences everywhere, the matter is prosecuted under the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 in a court and can end in a warrant of arrest. An accident is not a minor matter. Outside AARTO areas, failing to stop, failing to report, and driving the police regard as reckless or negligent are dealt with in a criminal court. As at October 2026, AARTO applies in Johannesburg, Tshwane and about 60 further municipalities added on 1 July 2026, outside the Western Cape, and there Schedule 3 to the AARTO Regulations, 2026 splits the accident duties: failing to stop, help or ascertain injuries where someone was injured or killed, and reckless driving, are offences for the courts, while failing to stop where only property was damaged, failing to give your particulars, failing to report within 24 hours, and negligent driving are listed as infringements with penalties of R1 500 to R2 000. Our guide on which traffic fine system applies where you live explains how to tell which applies.

How the duties work, step by step

Stop. The duty to stop applies to the driver of any vehicle involved in the accident, including where you believe the other driver was entirely at fault. Stopping means stopping at or near the scene, not two blocks later. If the scene is dangerous, for example a blind bend or a place where you fear for your safety, move only as far as you must to be safe and then stop.

Check for injuries and help. Find out whether anyone has been injured or killed and render whatever assistance you reasonably can. That does not mean performing medicine you do not know. It means calling emergency services, keeping an injured person still and warm, and staying until help arrives.

Do not move the vehicles if someone is dead or injured, except so far as is necessary to free a person or keep traffic moving safely, until a police officer has authorised it. Where nobody is hurt, moving the vehicles out of the traffic stream is usually sensible.

Give your details. Your name, address and vehicle particulars must be given to anyone with a reasonable interest in them. That is the other driver, but also a passenger, a pedestrian, or the owner of a wall you drove into. Ask for theirs in return. Nobody may demand your bank details or a payment at the scene.

Do not drink. You must not take alcohol or a drug with a narcotic effect after the accident and before a medical examination, unless a doctor administers it. Drinking to steady your nerves is the kind of honest mistake that destroys your position later.

Report it in time. Section 61(1)(f) of the National Road Traffic Act requires you to report the accident to a police officer at a police station, or at a traffic office, within 24 hours if anyone was killed or injured, and otherwise by the first working day after the accident, unless you were injured and physically unable to. Reporting the same day is still the safest course. The station records the details on an accident report and gives you a case number.

A worked example

The details below are illustrative only and your own matter may turn out differently.

Nomsa is driving home when another vehicle comes through a red light and hits the front of her car. Her passenger's arm is cut. Nomsa stops, switches on her hazards and phones emergency services. She does not move either vehicle, because her passenger is injured, and waits for the officer to say she may.

She gives the other driver her name, address and vehicle details and writes down his name, identity number, registration number, insurer and cell number. She photographs both vehicles from four angles, their position in the road, the traffic light, the skid marks and the road name sign. She asks the woman at the bus stop who saw it for her number.

Nomsa refuses the beer a bystander offers her, because she knows a doctor may examine her. That evening she reports the accident at her nearest police station and gets a case number. The next morning she notifies her insurer with that number and books a doctor's appointment for the stiffness in her neck, so there is a medical record from close to the date.

Her passenger uses the same case number to start a claim for bodily injury against the Road Accident Fund. Nomsa's own vehicle damage is not a Road Accident Fund matter. That goes to her insurer, or to the other driver.

What to do in the first 24 hours

1. Stop, put on hazards, and check everyone in both vehicles. Call 10111 if anyone is hurt.
2. Do not admit fault. Give the police the facts. Do not sign anything at the scene that describes blame.
3. Exchange details in writing. Name, address, identity number, cell number, vehicle registration, make, colour and insurer.
4. Photograph everything before the vehicles are moved, if it is safe. Wide shots first, then damage close ups, then the road layout and signs.
5. Get witness names and numbers. Witnesses disappear within minutes and are almost impossible to find later.
6. Do not drink alcohol.
7. Report at a police station within 24 hours if anyone was hurt, otherwise by the next working day, and get the case number and the officer's name.
8. Tell your insurer, even if you do not intend to claim, because most policies require prompt notification.
9. See a doctor if you feel anything at all, including a headache or stiffness. Injuries that show up on day three are much harder to link to the accident.

Documents to gather

• The police case number and the name and station of the officer who took the report.
• Your driving licence, vehicle licence disc details and identity document.
• The other driver's full name, identity number, address, cell number, vehicle registration and insurer.
• Photographs of both vehicles, the scene, the road markings, the signage and any skid marks.
• Witness names and contact numbers, and a short note of what each saw.
• Medical records: the ambulance record, the hospital file number, the doctor's notes and every account.
• Proof of loss of income, such as a payslip or an employer's letter.
• Your insurance policy schedule, so you know your excess and what you are covered for.
• Repair quotations, ideally two, and the assessor's report if there is one.

Realistic timeline

Treat these as ranges, not promises. Different stations, insurers and courts move at very different speeds.

• At the scene: minutes to a few hours, depending on injuries and whether the police attend.
• Police report: within 24 hours where someone was injured or killed, otherwise by the first working day; the case number is usually issued the same day.
• Insurance claim: notification within days, assessment within one to three weeks, repairs after that.
• Copy of the accident report: often a few weeks, requested from the station or the relevant authority.
• A criminal charge, if one follows, can take months to reach court and longer to finish.
• A Road Accident Fund claim runs on its own long timetable and has strict cut off dates. See how to claim from the Road Accident Fund.

Common mistakes and what they cost

• Driving off. The most expensive mistake on this page. Failing to stop and report is prosecuted criminally and can carry a real risk of imprisonment, quite apart from what it does to your insurance.
• Agreeing on the spot to settle privately. The R4 000 you take in cash for a bumper is worthless when the panel beater quotes R18 000 and you have signed a note saying the matter is settled.
• Admitting fault at the scene. You do not have the other driver's speed or the light sequence. Report facts, not conclusions.
• Not reporting because the damage looked minor. Insurers routinely decline claims where the accident was never reported.
• Having a drink afterwards. It breaks the duty to abstain and hands the State an argument it did not have.
• Losing the case number. Without it, the insurer, the Road Accident Fund and the police station all start from nothing.
• Waiting to see a doctor. A gap of days between the accident and the first medical note is the commonest reason an injury claim is doubted.

Your rights versus the authority's powers

You have the right to be treated as innocent until the State proves an offence, to remain silent beyond the details the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 requires you to give, to have an attorney if you are charged, to a copy of the accident report on request, and to claim against the Road Accident Fund for bodily injury caused by the driving of a motor vehicle, under the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996.

A police officer has the power to attend the scene, take statements, require your name, address and driving licence, direct that vehicles are not moved until authorised, require a blood or breath sample where drink driving is suspected, arrest without a warrant in the circumstances the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 allows, and open a docket a prosecutor decides whether to run. An officer cannot fine you into a personal account and cannot decide your civil damages.

If you cannot afford an attorney

Most of what happens in the first week costs nothing. Reporting the accident and getting a case number is free. If a traffic notice follows and it is an AARTO infringement notice, you may make representations to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency yourself, at no cost to lodge, and take a refused representation to the AARTO Appeals Tribunal; electing to be tried in court is no longer an option on an AARTO notice. If it is a Criminal Procedure Act notice, you may approach the issuing authority directly.

Where the matter carries a real risk of a criminal record or imprisonment, which includes failing to stop, failing to report, reckless or negligent driving, or driving under the influence, get help. Legal Aid South Africa is on 0800 110 110 and applies a means test. Many personal injury attorneys handle Road Accident Fund claims without asking for money up front. For what private help costs, see what traffic and AARTO matters cost.

Frequently asked questions

The question people ask most is whether they must report an accident where nobody was hurt and both drivers agreed to walk away. Report it. Your duty does not depend on how bad the damage looked, and your insurer will very likely ask for a case number. The second question is whether saying sorry counts as admitting fault. An apology is not a legal admission, but a written note saying the accident was your fault is used against you, so keep to facts. The third is what happens if the other driver has no insurance. Your own comprehensive policy may cover the damage, and you can sue in the magistrates' court, but the Road Accident Fund covers bodily injury, not vehicle damage.