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leaving the scene of an accident

suicidexcusesuicidexcuse Registered User regular
edited June 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
My friend was at the mall today and hit a parked car as he was pulling out. Both cars had minimal damage, only some scratches. So being a moron my friend panicked and drove away. There were a few people who saw it happen so they could of wrote down his license plate. So what i want to know is if he's caught is there any chance of getting charged with leaving the scene of an accident? We live in Alberta, Canada. I already looked online but found nothing about these type of laws in Canada so none of it was helpful. Thanks in advance.

suicidexcuse on

Posts

  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    While not incredibly familiar with the laws of Canada, I cannot imagine that that wouldn't be considered a hit-and-run of some form.

    Your friend will probably get in much less trouble if he contacts the police and turns himself in. Actually, he should contact a lawyer, and ask the lawyer how he should turn himself in.

    Thanatos on
  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    regardless of bystanders, most mall parking lots have a great deal of surveillance these days, which means that there are likely many ways to catch your friend committing this crime. I think it's not a question of whether or not the police will pursue it (they will) but rather if the cars owner will.

    Sentry on
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  • Blake TBlake T Do you have enemies then? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    I've actually done a similar thing. And it's something I'm not terribly proud of (and by something I really mean top of the list).

    I went in admitted what happened (without a lawyer), due to the small level of damage the owner decided not to press charges. As a side note afterwards the police woman mentioned that standard road rules don't actually apply in car parks because they are private property and if they did change their mind they may have trouble proving who is at fault.

    But go and call the cops and get it off your concious.

    Blake T on
  • RyakStormRyakStorm Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    The above is true in the US - parking lots are private property, so technically you don't have to stay at the scene of an accident, that only applies on public roads. However I don't know if this applies in Canada or not.

    Also, parking dinks happen a lot, I know I've been the recipient of many.... no one has ever stayed to admit damage to my vehicles, or even left a note or anything.

    RyakStorm on
  • CangoFettCangoFett Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    RyakStorm wrote: »
    The above is true in the US - parking lots are private property, so technically you don't have to stay at the scene of an accident, that only applies on public roads. However I don't know if this applies in Canada or not.

    Also, parking dinks happen a lot, I know I've been the recipient of many.... no one has ever stayed to admit damage to my vehicles, or even left a note or anything.


    My dad's a cop, so I just double checked on this, and am calling bullcrap on that in the US, or atleast VA

    Private property has 4 traffic crimes.
    Reckless Driving
    Vehicular manslaughter
    Driving under the Influence
    Leaving the scene of an accident

    tl;dr he broke the law, lawyer up

    CangoFett on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited June 2007
    CangoFett wrote: »
    RyakStorm wrote: »
    The above is true in the US - parking lots are private property, so technically you don't have to stay at the scene of an accident, that only applies on public roads. However I don't know if this applies in Canada or not.

    Also, parking dinks happen a lot, I know I've been the recipient of many.... no one has ever stayed to admit damage to my vehicles, or even left a note or anything.
    My dad's a cop, so I just double checked on this, and am calling bullcrap on that in the US, or atleast VA

    Private property has 4 traffic crimes.
    Reckless Driving
    Vehicular manslaughter
    Driving under the Influence
    Leaving the scene of an accident

    tl;dr he broke the law, lawyer up
    Just to be more exact: you are allowed to leave the scene of an accident with a parked car, if you leave a note with your contact/insurance/driver's license information.

    Odds are, they wouldn't throw the book at you for some minor scratches, if they managed to catch you. Still, it's probably better to turn yourself in.

    Thanatos on
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