Troubles on the road can happen to any motorist, regardless of driving experience and driving style. About 500 traffic accidents occur every day in the Moscow region. Despite the fact that over 9 months of 2017 their number in the region increased by 10%, the risk of getting into an accident is quite high. That is why it is important for drivers to know how to behave correctly in such a situation and what measures to take. For information on where to call in the event of an accident in the Moscow region and how to properly fill out a protocol, read the material on the portal website.

First actions in case of an accident

Source: Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure of the Moscow Region Immediately after an accident, you must stop as quickly as possible and turn on your hazard lights. Next, you should set up an emergency stop sign. It is placed at a distance of 15 meters behind the car if the accident happened in the city, and 30 meters - on a country road.

If there are victims in an accident, it is required immediately. If necessary, first aid to the wounded must be provided independently before the ambulance arrives. You should proceed to the next steps only after making sure that none of the participants is in danger.

Calling the traffic police and recording the circumstances

Source: RIAMO To call State Traffic Inspectorate employees to the scene of the accident, you can call the duty station of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region (8-495-688-81-71, 8-499-763-11-83). Another option is to call the unified rescue service at 112. The dispatcher will need to report the accident, your location, and the presence of victims. The call center employee will promptly transfer this information to the required traffic police department, and if necessary, call the ambulance, firefighters or the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

An employee of the State Traffic Inspectorate is responsible for drawing up a protocol at the scene of the accident. He will draw up a diagram of the accident, take testimony from the participants, and record weather and road conditions. It is important to take an active part in drafting the document and, if necessary, make comments, make edits and adjustments. It must be taken into account that when determining the culprit of an accident, an important role can be played by the condition of the roadway at the scene of the accident, the readability of road signs, the presence or absence of working traffic lights, the length of the braking distance of cars and other factors.

That is why auto lawyers always recommend photographing and video recording the scene of the accident, paying attention not only to the location of the cars, but also to all associated factors: weather conditions, the presence of holes or potholes on the road, the state of markings, etc. If during the inspection it is found out, that the asphalt at the accident site did not comply with GOST, the road services responsible for this area may be considered to be the culprits of the accident.

Even the range of the fragments and the location of the fragments can be important. Recording from a DVR will also play a significant role (and the device must be able to record time and coordinates). An important factor will also be the presence of witnesses to the incident who will subsequently be able to testify.

Registration of road accidents according to the European protocol

Each citizen can unwittingly become a participant in a traffic accident. If it does happen, then you need to try not to lose control over yourself and do everything in accordance with the law.

What should you do after getting into an accident?

Don't forget to put up a sign, because its absence will lead to additional costs. Be sure to inspect passengers for injuries of varying severity and, if necessary, call an ambulance, and then the traffic police.

If you collide with another vehicle, do the following:

1. Make a complete stop, turn off the engine and do not behave aggressively. Sometimes this is extremely difficult to do, but a conflict with another participant in the accident will not help you in this situation. On the contrary, this situation will subsequently be turned against you.
2. We turn on the emergency signal and be sure to install the sign as indicated in the traffic rules. It states that in populated areas the sign should be located no closer than 15 meters from the car, and outside of them no less than 30 meters.
3. It is imperative to examine the victims of the accident (if any) and immediately call an ambulance. To do this, you need to dial 911 from your mobile phone. If at such a moment you do not have funds in your account, then you need to call 122 and you will be connected to the necessary service.
4. Call the traffic police in order to record the fact of the accident. They need to tell how exactly this incident happened and what damage the cars received. You should not try to negotiate with another participant in the accident on your own, as this is always a risk.
5. We inform our insurer about what happened.
6. While waiting for the police (their arrival depends on many factors and sometimes they can travel from 2 to 5 hours), you need take photographs and videos of the location of the vehicles, write down on paper the damage that your vehicle received as a result of the accident and it is worth looking for witnesses to the accident.
7. Upon arrival, employees need to help them draw up a correct picture of the incident, which will be described in the accident certificate, protocol and diagram.
8. If, after compiling, an employee did not complete something or wrote it down incorrectly, then before signing it, you must inform him about this.
9. We clarify whether all the information about the other participant in the road accident has been entered.
10. Be sure to take a certificate of the accident. This is what you will need to contact the insurance company with.

Call the traffic police

Often, inappropriate behavior of drivers leads to the fact that after committing an offense on the roadway, they try to leave the scene of the accident as quickly as possible.

I would like to note that the traffic rules contain clearly developed instructions under what circumstances you can leave the scene of an accident (European protocol), and when you should expect traffic police officers.

For those who don’t remember, we remind you that the Code of Administrative Offenses has Article 12.27, Part 2, which states that leaving the scene of a traffic accident is punishable by deprivation of a driver’s license for a period of one to one and a half years or administrative arrest for 15 days.

To avoid this fate, you need to record the following points in your memory:

• every car owner should know how to call traffic police officers to the scene of an accident, both from a mobile (cellular) and from a landline phone;
• what actions should be taken if people were injured during an accident;
• under what circumstances of an incident the presence of traffic police officers on the roadway is not required.

Let us together try to understand these issues in more detail.

Calling traffic police officers from a mobile phone

You must call the traffic police immediately after an accident.

Why do you need to dial the following numbers from your mobile phone:

• 112 is the number of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, where, after hearing the essence of the problem, you will be transferred to the traffic police department.
• 102 – police number.

Using these numbers, you can call traffic police officers from any mobile operator in the Russian Federation. There is no cost for a call to the State Traffic Inspectorate.

In principle, the number 112 is valid in any other state, and the number 102 can be used to call the police in Ukraine, whereas in the United States, to notify law enforcement authorities about an accident, you need to dial 911.

There are also separate toll-free numbers that can be used to call first responders, and each operator has its own service numbers:

• for operators MTS, Megafon and Tele2 – 020 – police, 030 – ambulance;
• for the Beeline operator - 002 and 003;
• to call the police or an ambulance from a mobile phone with a Skylink or Motiv SIM card installed, you need to dial 902 and 903, respectively.

Moreover, we should not forget that all modern mobile phones are equipped with speed dial buttons, and in order not to lose your precious time in the event of a traffic accident (and during an emergency situation on the road, every minute counts), you should assign one of the keys is the number of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

In the event that during an accident, damage was caused not only to vehicles, but also to the life and health of its participants, you must immediately dial 112, because this number can also call an ambulance.

I would like to note that any locality in our country has its own traffic police departments, and each of them has its own telephone numbers, by which you can also call traffic police officers and an ambulance. You can find out about such numbers in any telephone directory.

Do not forget that such numbers are landline numbers, therefore, if you make a call from a mobile phone, funds will be withdrawn from your account in the amount established by your tariff plan.

What should I tell the operator when calling the traffic police?

After calling one of the above numbers and getting to the traffic police operator, you need to briefly, succinctly and as accurately as possible report the coordinates of the incident:

• name of the highway, kilometer, city (if the accident occurred outside the populated area);
• exact address - street, number of the nearest house;
• buildings and attractions that will help traffic police officers navigate;
• number of precedent participants on the roadway.

When calling an ambulance, we clarify the number of victims of the road accident and the nature of the injuries received, so that doctors will be able to select the necessary set of medications. While the ambulance is traveling, first aid should be provided.

And after an accident, do not forget to inform your insurer about the occurrence of an insured event, because timely payment of compensation depends on this.

When is the help of traffic police officers not needed?

It's no secret that today it is possible to register an accident without the participation of traffic police officers. This procedure is called the European protocol.

Currently, participants in an emergency situation on the road can independently resolve all issues by identifying the guilty party and paying compensation for the harm caused. To do this, you need to fill out the form that is issued along with the MTPL policy.

You can register an accident without traffic police officers if:

• only two vehicles were involved in the traffic accident, nothing more;
• each driver has a valid MTPL policy or a green card (if he is a foreigner);
• during the precedent on the roadway, damage was caused only to the vehicle, and not to the life and health of people;
• each side is ready to resolve the current situation peacefully;
• the amount of damage does not exceed 250,000 rubles for residents of populated areas of the Russian Federation, except for Moscow and St. Petersburg, for which the damage limit is 400,000 rubles.

All that is needed to draw up a European protocol is to provide insurers with a correctly completed notification of a traffic accident.

If at least one of the above points is violated, then, to the disappointment of car owners, it will not be possible to register this accident without traffic police officers.

Be careful on the roads. Good luck!