Witnesses reporting accidents to the Police - worth the bother?

[Ghisallo]

My dad was cycling on Blaris Road in Lisburn last week. He cycles in the road fairly regularly.

He was stopped by the roadside at which point a Seat flew past at what he thought was a bit quick for the conditions.

Once on his way, he went round a couple of the corners only to come across the Seat and another car buried in the verge. The chap in the Seat had seemingly run out of talent on the bend and lost it, sending the car into a spin and colliding with an old boy driving in the other direction. The old bloke got out of his car, in a bit of a tiz, picking was up pieces from the road. The young guy got out his car and both my dad and the old bloke politely enquired what the **** was he doing driving in the manner which he had been. A few miliseconds either way this could have been a head-on, as opposed to a side-on smash. Of course the young guy maintained he hadn't been driving too quickly...

Anyway, my dad went on once it was clear that there was nothing more he could do but when he got home he called the police to report (i) what happened and (ii) that he was a witness. He hadn't given any details to the 'victim' at the time. Anyway, when he called the Police in Lisburn he explained what had happened but the police woman who took the call simply told him that no accident had been reported on Blaris Road that day.

What surprises is that the police didn't request any details from my dad; they took neither his name nor telephone number. Now just supposing the old guy who was hit reported the incident later on that day and tells the police that there was a witness. So it stands, the police have missed the opportunity to take the witness' details and so essentially the victim has no witness to back his story.

Nevertheless, my dad plans to call by the station in person as he feels quite strongly about the situation.

My questions are: is it usual for the police to take no interest in recording a witness to an incident? Is there any reason why they wouldn't bother? And is my dad wasting his time trying to assist?

 

[Graham]

wasting his time, no one was killed and the PSNI are useless, especially with civil matters, which this must be if no one reported it

 

[chris_b]

I done it once and the hassle was simply unreal - lesson learned

 

[Ghisallo]

I hear ya, but what if the victim reported it later, after my dad made his call? He'd be the lost witness. For all we know the old bloke might live alone and made it home somehow (even though the back wheel was ripped off his car and is now on life support because of internal bleeding or something. The dude might be dead = manslaughter! And there's no one who knows what really happened...and the police have let the only witness slip through the net. Just sayin' like

 

[pablo]

he should have gave his number to the driver, not the cops.

 

[Ghisallo]

he should have gave his number to the driver, not the cops.

I know, that's what I said to him! But in all the excitement this apparently didn't or couldn't happen - I think maybe because there was no means to available to write down a number at the scene.

 

[richie_mck]

i've provided 2 witness reports, one for a serious assault on an innocent member of the public and one for when a young girl ran through the traffic and got hit by a car. I only did it because i don't like to see innocent people getting screwed over, not sure what happened with either of the cases.

 

[Ghisallo]

i've provided 2 witness reports, one for a serious assault on an innocent member of the public and one for when a young girl ran through the traffic and got hit by a car. I only did it because i don't like to see innocent people getting screwed over, not sure what happened with either of the cases.

Good on you. Same here, I was the first witness to a fatal RTA and had the mispleasure of finding the deceased's body up a tree a half an hour before the emergency services arrived. I think it's duty bound to be a responsible citizen.

But in my old man's case, they essentially turned down his witness approach, which I thought strange. I would have thought they'd be happy to put any information on the record.

 

[Jason]

IIRC as long as no one is hurt/killed and the traffic isnt being interrupted the PSNI wont be called out/care. Which is fair enough

 

[Graham]

IIRC as long as no one is hurt/killed and the traffic isnt being interrupted the PSNI wont be called out/care. Which is fair enough

thats correct though does an incident not still have to be reported?

 

[Jason]

thats correct though does an incident not still have to be reported?

Don't think so, unless just by your insurance company.

 

[chunkerz]

I think the issue is that your dad can give a statement to say i think he was going to fast and thats something that would not stand up in court.

Also he hasn't witnessed the accident so again can only guess what actually happened.

 

[Michael M]

I was witness to a van crashing into a tractor a few years ago. Gave my details to the farmer and a few weeks later a form arrived asking details about what I saw. Then a week after that another came saying I hadn't sent the first back! Load of hassle but didn't want to see the farmer screwed over for what I thought was careless driving from the van driver.

 

[Chris Mac]

I witnessed a fire engine driving completly irratically (with siren and blues on granted) on the wrong side of the upper newtownards road at 0830 one morning and hitting a 7 seater Citreon head on. When we finally got the people out of the car there was a father (mid 50's) and his 4 daughters, the oldest being 11.

I phoned the station and got a lovely letter from the Fire Service and the family thanking me for my statement and letting me know all the girls were safe and well, if a little shaken.

 

[Ghisallo]

I think the issue is that your dad can give a statement to say i think he was going to fast and thats something that would not stand up in court.

Also he hasn't witnessed the accident so again can only guess what actually happened.

Yeah, I appreciate he didn't see the incident with his own eys as it occured, however (and it didn't come through in my recounting of the story), he did bear diect witness to the young chap admit he hit the older guy. The young chap merely denied he'd be driving too fast.

I just find it strange that the police didn't take a single personal contact detail seemingly because they had no reports yet of an accident at that place on that day.

 

[stevieturbo]

I tried to report a hit and run driver a few years ago. The cop dealing with it wasnt in the slightest bit interested. I gave up in the end, was a total waste of my time and effort.

 

[bigsigh]

I tried to report a hit and run driver a few years ago. The cop dealing with it wasnt in the slightest bit interested. I gave up in the end, was a total waste of my time and effort.

Its a good job you hold the PSNI in such high regard Stevie, otherwise you might have been left quite disillusioned by that episode



(only rakin)

 

[avo5021]

Trouble is here in reality there was no incident reported for him to be a witness too if you get my drift, what he should have done really was provided both of the drivers with his details and then at a later date if anything was required from him (even from Insurers) he could have been contacted.

All he could really have provided was an opinion as to the Seat drivers speed which can be quite subjective as everyone perceives speed differently tbh.

Fair play to him for ringing anyway, its better to ring and say you're not needed than to sit at home thinking what if !