After a traffic collision, stop, help, and call the police

No payment is required. Stop, switch on hazard lights, help injured people, and call the police; waiting for traffic officers may take an hour or two. For a minor collision with no injuries and no dispute about the facts, photograph the scene and record the other party’s name, telephone number, registration plate, driving-license number, insurance-certificate number, and points of impact. After both parties sign the record, you may leave the roadway and negotiate.

Under China’s traffic rules, a party fleeing a collision bears full responsibility unless evidence of another party’s fault supports reducing it. Serious criminal traffic offenses can result in license revocation, with a lifetime reapplication ban where the statutory hit-and-run conditions apply. If the collision constitutes the crime of causing a traffic accident, fleeing raises the sentencing range to three to seven years; causing death through fleeing carries at least seven years. The 2020 commercial motor-insurance model wording excludes vehicle-damage and third-party liability claims involving hit-and-run conduct or deliberate alteration or fabrication of the scene or destruction of evidence. That can leave compensation amounting to hundreds of thousands of RMB to be paid personally.

If someone is injured, assist them and report the incident. If rescue requires moving people or vehicles, mark their original positions first when feasible. Driving away after a collision you say you did not notice may still lead to a hit-and-run investigation; if unsure, call the police. The insurance source is an industry model contract. Actual coverage depends on your policy. The original’s broad warning about a lifetime driving ban should be read within the conditions of Article 101, rather than as an automatic consequence of every minor collision.

Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (2021). Road Traffic Safety Law, Articles 70 and 101, reposted by Beijing’s traffic-management bureau. https://jtgl.beijing.gov.cn/jgj/jgxx/flfg/fl/205308/index.html; State Council (amended 2017). Implementing Regulations for the Road Traffic Safety Law, Order 405, Articles 86 and 92. http://xzfg.moj.gov.cn/front/law/detail?LawID=75; National People’s Congress (1997). Criminal Law, Article 133. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/201802/t20180206_364975.shtml; Insurance Association of China (2020). Model Commercial Motor Insurance Clauses, Articles 9 and 22. https://www.iachina.cn/art/2020/9/4/art_24_104621.html.