The Arrive Alive website often receives complaints from people told to pay large amounts of money to towing operators for the removal of their vehicles from accident scenes. The costs are made up not only of the towing fees but also very expensive storage fees!
But don’t I have a say in the towing of my vehicle?
We thought that it is important to share an important bit of legislation with our visitors:
Section 61(3) of the Act does not allow the officer to have the vehicle removed without the owner’s permission except to move it out of the road to allow traffic to pass.
ACCIDENTS AND ACCIDENT REPORTS
Sec 61. Duty of driver in event of accident
(1) The driver of a vehicle on a public road at the time when such vehicle is involved in or contributes to any accident in which any other person is killed or injured or suffers damage in respect of any property or animal shall—
(a) immediately stop the vehicle;
(b) ascertain the nature and extent of any injury sustained by any person;
(c) if a person is injured, render such assistance to the injured person as he or she may be capable of rendering;
(d) ascertain the nature and extent of any damage sustained;
(e) if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his or her name and address, the name and address of the owner of the vehicle driven by him or her and, in the case of a motor vehicle, the registration or similar mark thereof;
(f) if he or she has not already furnished the information referred to in paragraph (e) to a traffic officer at the scene of the accident, and unless he or she is incapable of doing so by reason of injuries sustained by him or her in the accident, as soon as is reasonably practicable, and in any case within 24 hours after the occurrence of such accident, report the accident to any police officer at a police station or at any office set aside by a competent authority for use by a traffic officer, and there produce his or her driving licence and furnish his or her identity number and such information as is referred to in that paragraph; and
(g) not, except on the instructions of or when administered by a medical practitioner in the case of injury or shock, take any intoxicating liquor or drug having a narcotic effect unless he or she has complied with the provisions of paragraph ( f ), where it is his or her duty to do so, and has been examined by a medical practitioner if such examination is required by a traffic officer.
(2) No person shall remove any vehicle involved in an accident in which another person is killed or injured from the position in which it came to rest, until such removal has been authorised by a traffic officer, except when such accident causes complete obstruction of the roadway of a public road, in which event the vehicle involved may, without such authority and after its position has been clearly marked on the surface of the roadway by the person moving it, be moved sufficiently to allow the passage of traffic.
(3) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall remove a vehicle involved in an accident from the scene of such accident, except for the purpose of sufficiently allowing the passage of traffic, without the permission of the owner, driver or operator of such vehicle or a person who may lawfully take possession of such vehicle.
(4) In any prosecution for a contravention of any provision of this section it shall be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the accused was aware of the fact that the accident had occurred, and that he or she did not report the accident or furnish the information as required by subsection (1) ( f ).
(5) In this section the word “animal” means any bovine animal, horse, ass, mule, sheep, goat, pig, ostrich or dog.
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