Road ministry notifies new guidelines on highway accident reporting: Here’s what you have to know

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways on Thursday introduced that it has issued a notification to mandate the process for detailed investigation of highway accidents, detailed accident report (DAR) and its reporting together with timelines for various stakeholders for fast settlement of claims by the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT).

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In the notification, the ministry knowledgeable that the incorporation of validated cellular numbers within the certificates of auto insurance coverage has additionally been made obligatory. They shall come into pressure with impact from April 1, 2022.

As per the notification, instantly on receipt of the knowledge of a highway accident, the investigating officer of police shall examine the location of the accident, take pictures/movies of the scene of the accident and the car(s) concerned within the accident and put together a website plan.

In harm instances, the investigating officer shall additionally take pictures of the injured within the hospital. Apart from this, the officer shall conduct spot enquiry by analyzing the eyewitnesses/bystanders, the notification mentioned.

The notification additional acknowledged that the investigating officer shall intimate the accident to the claims tribunal inside 48 hours of the accident, by submitting the primary accident report (FAR) in Form I. If the particulars of the insurance coverage coverage can be found, the intimation of the accident in Form I shall even be given to the Nodal Officer of the involved insurance coverage firm of the offending car.

It added {that a} copy of Form I shall even be supplied to the sufferer(s), the state authorized providers authority, insurer and shall even be uploaded on the web site of state police, if accessible.

The highway ministry notification mentioned the investigating officer shall furnish the outline of the rights of the sufferer(s) of highway accidents and circulation chart of the scheme talked about in Form II, to the sufferer(s), or their authorized representatives, inside 10 days of the accident. The officer shall additionally file a duplicate of Form II together with the DAR.

The investigating officer shall present a clean copy of Form III to the driving force of the car(s) concerned within the accident and the driving force shall furnish the related info in Form III to the investigating officer, inside 30 days of the accident, the notification mentioned.

Apart from this, the notification mentioned that in case of any minor little one/kids of the sufferer(s) of the accident, the notification mentioned the investigating officer shall present clean Form-VIA to the sufferer(s), who shall refill the related info/connect the related paperwork and submit the identical to the investigating officer inside 60 days of the accident.

After this, the officer shall ship the copy of the sufferer’s Form-VI and VIA together with DAR to Child Welfare Committee, inside 30 days of receiving the aforesaid Form-VI and VIA from the sufferer(s). The committee shall verify if the kid is in want of care and safety as per the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The investigating officer shall additionally ship copies of Form-VI and VIA together with the DAR to the State Legal Services Authority to assign a lawyer to help the kid/kids to avail their authorized cures/rights, together with schooling, inside 30 days of receiving the aforesaid Form-VI and VIA from the sufferer(s).

The investigating officer shall furnish a duplicate of Form VI and VIA, together with the paperwork, to the insurance coverage firm of the car(s) concerned within the accident together with the DAR, and the insurance coverage firm shall confirm the knowledge and paperwork furnished by the victims inside 30 days from the date of the receipt of the DAR.

The officer shall full the investigation of the felony case and file the Report beneath Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure earlier than the involved felony court docket inside 60 days of the accident, and shall submit a duplicate of the mentioned report together with the DAR submitted earlier than the Claims Tribunal.

The investigating officer shall full the verification of the knowledge and paperwork and submit the DAR in Form VII to the Claims Tribunal, inside 90 days from the date of the accident.