The order matters here more than in almost any other traffic situation, because the two things that decide the case later, identification of the vehicle and evidence of how it happened, both decay within hours.
The first hour
- Injured person first. Section 134(a) requires all reasonable steps to secure medical attention by conveying the injured person to the nearest medical practitioner or hospital, and places a duty on the doctor to attend immediately without waiting for procedural formalities.
- Write down the registration number before you write anything else. Even a partial number, with the make, model, colour and any distinguishing damage, is a searchable description.
- Photograph the scene before the vehicles move. Position on the road, debris, skid marks, the damage, and a wide shot showing where the cameras are.
- Get witnesses on the spot. A name and a telephone number written down at the scene is worth more than a description of a helpful stranger recalled a week later.
- Note every camera you can see. Shop fronts, building entrances, junction cameras and buses. Footage is routinely overwritten within days, so ask for it or ask the police to requisition it immediately.
Reporting
Section 134(b) requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident to give any information a police officer requires or, if none is present, to report the circumstances at the nearest police station as soon as possible and in any case within twenty four hours. That obligation is yours as well, not only the other driver's. Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 provides that information relating to a cognizable offence may be given orally or by electronic communication to an officer in charge of a police station irrespective of where the offence was committed, that it shall be reduced to writing and read over to the informant, and that a copy shall be given forthwith and free of cost. Take that copy. A person aggrieved by a refusal to record it may send its substance in writing to the Superintendent of Police.
Section 134(c) separately requires written information to your insurer, with the policy number and its validity, the date, time and place of the accident, particulars of persons injured or killed, and the driver's name and licence particulars.
Section 133 requires the owner of a motor vehicle whose driver or conductor is accused of an offence under the Act to give, on the demand of a police officer authorised by the State Government, all information regarding the name and address of, and the licence held by, the driver, which is in his possession or could by reasonable diligence be ascertained by him. Section 187 punishes a failure to comply with imprisonment up to six months, or a fine of five thousand rupees, or both, and with up to one year or ten thousand rupees on a repeat conviction. Ask for that demand to be made and recorded, because it turns a registration number into a named driver.
Compensation where the vehicle is never identified
Section 161 provides for compensation in hit and run motor accidents. Sub-section (2) fixes the amounts: in respect of death resulting from a hit and run motor accident, a fixed sum of two lakh rupees or such higher amount as may be prescribed by the Central Government, and in respect of grievous hurt, a fixed sum of fifty thousand rupees or such higher amount as may be prescribed. Sub-section (3) allows the Central Government to make a scheme by notification specifying how it is administered, the form and manner and time within which applications are to be made, and the authorities to whom they go. Because both amounts are expressed as a floor subject to prescription, check the current scheme before assuming the figure.
Compensation where the vehicle is identified
Section 166(1) allows an application for compensation to be made by the person who sustained the injury, by the owner of the property, by all or any of the legal representatives where death has resulted, or by a duly authorised agent. Section 166(2) lets the claimant choose between the Claims Tribunal for the area where the accident occurred, the Tribunal where the claimant resides or carries on business, and the Tribunal where the defendant resides. Section 166(3) states a six-month filing period. A proviso effective from 15 August 2026 permits the Tribunal to allow a further period not exceeding twelve months on sufficient cause. Applicability to an older accident and the effect of Supreme Court orders in the limitation challenge need a current, case-specific check. File promptly and explain any delay rather than assuming either an absolute six-month bar or unlimited time.
Section 149 then requires the insurance company, on receiving information of the accident from the claimant, through the accident information report or otherwise, to designate an officer to settle claims relating to it, and allows that officer to make an offer of settlement before the Claims Tribunal within thirty days and in the prescribed manner. Accepting the offer results in a recorded settlement and payment within thirty days; rejecting it means a hearing on merits. How that process runs in practice, and what a claim should carry, is set out in our guide on motor accident compensation claims.
Two cautions
First, do not let the insurer's own file substitute for the statutory claim. If the insurer declines to answer the claim, the grounds on which a repudiation can be resisted are set out in our guide on challenging an insurance claim repudiation. Second, if the police call you in as part of the investigation, a notice to appear is not the same as an arrest, and what it can require is set out in our guide on what a police notice under the new criminal procedure means.