Emergency Situations

What to do after a traffic accident

After an accident, your first job is to stop it becoming a bigger one: warn other traffic, then call for help. The emergency numbers are 998 for an ambulance, 999 for the police and 997 for the fire brigade. Worth separating in your mind now rather than at the moment you need them.

The second thing to understand is that the scene is evidence. Anything that might help the authorities work out what happened must stay exactly as it is until the police take over.

The emergency numbers

ServiceNumber
Ambulance998
Police999
Fire brigade997

When you call, give full details of the location and of the casualties. On a major road, location details are marked on yellow signs set at regular intervals along the hard shoulder. Check one before you dial so you can say precisely where you are.

Do not disturb the scene

In a minor accident where nobody appears hurt, move the vehicles off the road so they do not obstruct or endanger other traffic, but that is about clearing the carriageway, not about clearing the evidence.

Helping the people involved

Give whatever help you can. Be aware that someone who seems unhurt may be in shock and unaware of their own injuries, so do not take "I am fine" at face value in the minutes after a collision.

Remember that further collisions can happen while you are standing there. Warning other traffic is not an afterthought; it is what stops the accident spreading.

Other duties

  • If you damage a traffic sign, marking or signal, do what you can to restore it. If you cannot, warn other road users and notify the police and the responsible authority.
  • If you hit a parked car, try to find the owner. If you cannot, leave a note with your name and telephone number, then notify the police.
  • Note any witnesses before they leave, and take the registration numbers of vehicles whose occupants may have seen it.

Driving off because the damage looks small is still leaving the scene of an accident.

If you are passing an accident

If enough people have already stopped to help, drive past carefully and do not let the scene distract you. Adding another vehicle and another set of onlookers rarely helps and often creates a second hazard.

If the accident is on the other side of a motorway, do not slow down to look. At best you cause congestion; at worst you cause a fresh collision on your own side.

Emergency vehicles

Always give way to emergency vehicles. Watch for the flashing lights and listen for the siren. Slow down and pull over to the side of the road, stopping completely if that is what it takes. Obstructing one or forcing your way through is prohibited.

The same priority extends to military vehicles moving in convoy, official convoys and rescue convoys.

Why warning other traffic comes first

The first collision is rarely the worst one. Vehicles arriving at speed have no idea anything has happened until they are on top of it, and in poor visibility they may not see it at all. Making the scene visible (hazard lights, a warning triangle placed well back, people clear of the carriageway) is what stops one accident becoming several.

It is also the part people skip, because the instinct after a crash is to go straight to the vehicles involved. Take the few seconds to make yourself and the scene visible first.

What the test asks

  • The three emergency numbers, and which is which.
  • That the scene must not be disturbed before the police arrive.
  • What to do if you cannot find the owner of a parked car you have hit.
  • How to respond to an emergency vehicle. Pull to the side and stop if necessary.

The number question is the one people slip on, because 999 is the reflex for everything. It reaches the police; an ambulance is 998.

Practise this

Reading is not the same as recall under a clock. Sit a full 45-question mock and see whether emergency situations comes out as a strong area, or try five questions first.

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