What To Do If You’re In a Hit and Run Accident | Step-by-Step Guide

If you are involved in a hit and run in South Africa, report the accident to the nearest police station within 24 hours and obtain a case number and an Accident Report (AR) number, seek medical attention and keep every record, and then lodge a Road Accident Fund claim — which, where the driver cannot be identified, prescribes two years from the date of the accident rather than the usual three. Section 61 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 obliges any driver involved in an accident causing death or injury to stop, render assistance, give their particulars and report to a police officer within 24 hours, so the fleeing driver has already committed a criminal offence. The Road Accident Fund compensates bodily injury and death only — damage to your vehicle is not claimable from the Fund and must go through your own insurer, subject to your excess. General damages for pain and suffering are payable only if your injury is assessed as “serious” on the Fund’s prescribed serious injury assessment (the RAF4 report).

What Counts as a Hit and Run Under South African Law

A hit and run is an accident in which a driver who is involved in the collision fails to comply with the stop-and-report duties that the law places on them — typically by driving off without stopping, without identifying themselves, or without reporting the accident.

Section 61 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 (Chapter X) sets out those duties for any driver involved in an accident in which a person is killed, a person is injured, or property or an animal is damaged. In substance, the driver must:

• stop the vehicle immediately;
• ascertain the nature and extent of any injury;
• render assistance to the injured person as far as they are able;
• ascertain the nature and extent of any damage;
• give their full name and address, the name and address of the owner, and the vehicle registration mark to any person requiring it; and
• report the accident to a police officer at a police station within 24 hours of the occurrence (unless they were incapable of doing so because of injuries), and produce their driving licence and furnish their identity number.

The same section also prohibits the driver from taking any intoxicating liquor or drug having a narcotic effect before the accident has been reported, except on the instruction of a medical practitioner. A driver who removes the vehicle from the scene where a person has been killed or injured without authorisation by a traffic officer commits a separate offence.

Failing to stop and report is a criminal offence in its own right, entirely separate from any question of who caused the accident. Depending on the outcome, a traced driver may additionally face charges such as reckless or negligent driving, driving under the influence, or culpable homicide where someone died. Two points to make plainly for the reader: the fleeing driver’s offence does not depend on fault, and your right to claim compensation does not depend on the driver ever being caught.

Step by Step: What to Do in the First 48 Hours

1. Make the scene safe and check for injuries. Switch on hazard lights, move out of live traffic if the vehicle is drivable and it is safe to do so, and call 10111 (police) or 10177 (ambulance) for anyone injured. Do not chase the other vehicle — pursuit puts you at further risk and adds nothing to your claim.
2. Capture whatever identifying detail you can, immediately. Registration number or partial registration, make, model, colour, direction of travel, damage or paint transfer on the fleeing vehicle, and anything distinctive about the driver. Write it down or dictate a voice note before memory degrades — details fade within minutes under shock.
3. Photograph everything at the scene. Final resting positions, skid marks, debris and broken glass, paint transfer on your own vehicle, road markings, traffic signals, weather and light conditions, and any visible injuries. Photograph wide establishing shots as well as close-ups.
4. Collect witness details. Full names and contact numbers of anyone who saw the collision, including other drivers, pedestrians and nearby traders or security guards. A witness who can place the other vehicle at the scene is often the difference between a traced and an untraced driver.
5. Look for footage. Your own dashcam, other motorists’ dashcams, nearby business or residential CCTV, and municipal or private security camera networks. Ask for footage the same day — many systems overwrite within 72 hours to a few days.
6. Report to the police at the nearest station and get the paperwork. Give a full statement, and make sure you leave with the case number and the Accident Report (AR) number. Both are essential later: the AR number links your claim to the official accident record. If you were the driver, this reporting step is also your own legal duty under section 61 — within 24 hours.
7. Get medical attention the same day, even if you feel unhurt. Soft-tissue and head injuries commonly present hours or days later, and a gap between the accident and the first medical record is the single most common evidentiary weakness in an injury claim. Keep the hospital or clinic file number, all reports, scans, referrals and accounts.
8. Notify your own insurer promptly. Most South African motor policies require notification within a short window (commonly 48 hours, but read your own policy wording) and require the case number. This is the route for your vehicle damage — not the RAF.
9. Keep a running file. Case and AR numbers, all medical records and accounts, proof of income and days off work, travel costs to appointments, and a dated diary of symptoms and expenses. Contemporaneous records carry far more weight than a reconstruction months later.
10. Get legal advice early, well inside the two-year window. An attorney who handles RAF claims can tell you at the outset whether your claim is likely to qualify for general damages and what evidence is still recoverable while it is fresh.

Claiming From the Road Accident Fund When the Driver Cannot Be Traced

The Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 creates a statutory fund, financed by the fuel levy, that compensates people injured — and the dependants of people killed — by the negligent driving of a motor vehicle in South Africa. Claims where neither the driver nor the owner of the vehicle has been identified are handled as “hit and run” or undetermined-driver claims.

Who can claim: drivers who were not solely at fault, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and the dependants of a person killed. Contributory negligence reduces compensation proportionally rather than defeating the claim outright.

The critical difference in an untraced-driver claim is time. Where the driver or owner is identified, a claim prescribes three years from the date upon which the cause of action arose (section 23(1) of the RAF Act). Where neither is identified, the claim prescribes two years from the date of the accident, and that shorter bar is applied strictly. Where the driver is later traced and identified, the ordinary three-year period applies instead. Because the two-year bar cannot be extended by agreement with the Fund, an untraced-driver claim should be with an attorney well inside the first year while evidence is still recoverable.

The 14-day police report requirement. The RAF Regulations impose additional requirements on undetermined-driver claims, including that the accident must have been reported to a police officer within 14 days of it occurring (with an explanation required where it was not), that the claimant must submit a sworn statement setting out the circumstances of the accident, and that reasonable steps must have been taken to establish the identity of the driver or owner. Reporting late does not automatically end the claim, but it does mean you must explain the delay and the Fund is entitled to scrutinise that explanation.

What the Fund pays: past and future medical and hospital expenses, past and future loss of earnings or of support, funeral expenses, and general damages for pain, suffering, disfigurement and loss of amenities. Loss-of-earnings and loss-of-support awards are subject to a statutory cap that is adjusted for inflation — no rand figure is quoted here because the cap is set by regulation and is updated periodically.

What the Fund never pays: damage to your vehicle or other property. This is the point most competitors leave vague, and it matters — a claimant whose car is written off in a hit and run recovers nothing for the vehicle from the RAF and must claim on their own comprehensive policy and carry the excess.

General damages are gated by a serious injury test. Pain-and-suffering compensation is payable only where the injury is assessed as serious on the Fund’s prescribed serious injury assessment report (the RAF4), completed by a medical practitioner registered under the Health Professions Act 56 of 1974, using either a 30% or more Whole-Person Impairment threshold (as provided in the American Medical Association Guides) or a narrative test (serious impairment of body function, serious disfigurement, etc.). Without a qualifying RAF4, medical expenses and loss of earnings remain claimable but general damages do not.

Lodging: the claim is submitted on the Fund’s prescribed claim form (RAF1) with supporting documents — the completed medical report section, hospital records, the police AR and case number, the sworn statement, proof of identity, and proof of earnings. Claims are lodged directly with the Fund, not with a court. Litigation only follows if the Fund rejects the claim or fails to make an acceptable offer.

The Criminal Case, the RAF Claim and the Insurance Claim Are Three Separate Processes

Process	Who runs it	What it delivers	Timing that binds you
Criminal case against the traced driver	The police (investigation) and the National Prosecuting Authority (prosecution) — you are the complainant and a witness, not a party	Conviction and sentence for offences such as failing to stop and report, reckless or negligent driving, or culpable homicide	The prosecution’s own pace; you cannot withdraw or control a road-traffic prosecution the way you might a private dispute
Road Accident Fund claim for bodily injury or death	You, or an attorney acting for you, lodging directly with the Fund	Medical expenses, loss of earnings or support, funeral costs, and general damages where the injury qualifies as serious	Two years from the accident where the driver is unidentified; three years where identified. Accident reported to police within 14 days for an undetermined-driver claim.
Own-damage insurance claim for your vehicle	You, with your insurer	Repair or write-off settlement for the vehicle, subject to your excess and policy terms	Whatever notification period your policy specifies — commonly 48 hours

A criminal conviction is not a precondition for RAF compensation, and an acquittal or an untraced driver does not defeat the claim. The two processes apply different standards of proof and answer different questions. Equally, an RAF payout does not compensate the vehicle, and an insurance payout for the vehicle does not compensate the injury. A hit-and-run victim with both injuries and a damaged car needs both claims running in parallel. Burger Huyser Attorneys handles these matters in parallel through its general litigation practice, which is set up to run the RAF claim and the insurance repudiation on the same file.

Mistakes That Cost Hit and Run Claimants Their Compensation

• Not reporting to the police at all, or reporting outside the 14-day window without a documented explanation, which puts an undetermined-driver claim at direct risk.
• Assuming the three-year period applies and approaching an attorney at two-and-a-half years, by which time an untraced-driver claim has already prescribed.
• Leaving the scene without the AR number, or accepting a case number alone.
• Delaying the first medical consultation, creating an unexplained gap between accident and injury record.
• Requesting CCTV footage only after weeks have passed, once it has been overwritten.
• Expecting the RAF to pay for the car, and only discovering otherwise after the insurance notification period has lapsed.
• Settling with an insurer or signing anything that purports to waive a personal-injury claim without legal advice on what is being given up.

What an Attorney Actually Does in a Hit and Run Matter

• Confirms which prescription period applies and diarises it against the accident date, not the date of instruction.
• Traces and preserves evidence while it still exists — witness statements, footage requests, and the police docket.
• Assembles the RAF1 lodgement pack, arranges the medico-legal assessments and the RAF4 serious injury report, and quantifies loss of earnings with an industrial psychologist and actuary where the injury affects earning capacity.
• Handles the Fund’s queries, delays and offers, and issues summons where the Fund rejects the claim or under-offers.
• Runs the parallel insurance repudiation where an insurer declines the vehicle claim.
• Keeps the client informed on realistic prospects and cost. No attorney can guarantee an outcome or a figure — compensation depends on proven negligence, proven loss and the medical assessment.

What this looks like at Burger Huyser Attorneys is the general litigation practice at the Roodepoort branch, headed by Director Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo, whose stated specialisations include MVA claims and insurance repudiations — exactly the work that runs on a hit-and-run file alongside the RAF claim.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still claim compensation if the driver who hit me was never found?

Yes. The Road Accident Fund pays compensation for bodily injury and death in undetermined-driver claims, where neither the driver nor the owner of the vehicle has been identified. What changes is the deadline and the paperwork: the claim prescribes two years from the date of the accident instead of three, the accident must have been reported to the police within 14 days, and you must submit a sworn statement setting out the circumstances and confirming the steps you took to identify the vehicle.

How long do I have to lodge a hit and run claim in South Africa?

Two years from the date of the accident where the driver and owner are both unidentified. If the driver is later traced and identified, the ordinary three-year period applies instead. Because that two-year bar is strict and cannot be extended by agreement with the Fund, an untraced-driver claim should be with an attorney well inside the first year while evidence is still recoverable.

Does the Road Accident Fund pay for the damage to my car?

No. The Fund compensates bodily injury and death only — medical expenses, loss of earnings or support, funeral costs, and general damages where the injury is assessed as serious. Damage to your vehicle is a matter for your own comprehensive insurance policy, and you will normally carry the excess because there is no identified third party to recover it from.

What is a serious injury assessment, and why does it matter?

General damages for pain, suffering, disfigurement and loss of amenities are payable only where a medical practitioner registered under the Health Professions Act assesses your injury as serious on the Fund’s prescribed serious injury assessment report, the RAF4, using either a 30% or more Whole-Person Impairment threshold or a narrative test. If the injury does not qualify, you can still claim medical expenses and loss of earnings, but not general damages. This is why the medico-legal assessments an attorney arranges have a direct effect on what a claim is worth.

What happens if I did not report the accident to the police within 14 days?

Reporting late does not automatically end the claim, but it does mean you must explain the delay, and the Fund is entitled to scrutinise that explanation. Report as soon as you are able, document why you could not report earlier — for example a hospital admission — and get legal advice before lodging, because how the delay is presented in the sworn statement matters.

I was a passenger in the car that was hit. Can I claim?

Yes. Passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists can all claim from the Fund, and so can the dependants of someone who was killed. A driver who was partly at fault can also claim, with the award reduced in proportion to their share of the negligence rather than refused outright.

Can a child’s hit and run claim be lodged years later?

Do not assume so. Section 23(2) of the RAF Act provides that prescription does not run against a minor, but the position has been complicated by recent litigation on the interaction between that provision and the shortened two-year bar for undetermined-driver claims. The safest course is to lodge a child’s claim as soon as possible and obtain legal advice immediately, rather than rely on the minority provision to pause the clock.

Do I need an attorney, or can I lodge the RAF claim myself?

You may lodge a claim yourself, and the Fund’s forms are publicly available. In practice, undetermined-driver claims are the hardest category: the prescription period is shorter, the evidence about an unidentified vehicle is thin by definition, general damages depend on a properly completed serious injury assessment, and loss of earnings usually needs expert evidence to quantify. Most claimants with anything more than minor injuries instruct an attorney for those reasons.

If you have been injured in a hit and run, the two-year deadline for an unidentified-driver claim starts running on the day of the accident — so it is worth having someone look at your file early rather than late. Burger Huyser Attorneys handles Road Accident Fund and motor vehicle accident claims, and insurance repudiations, through its general litigation practice, headed by Nadine Roesch-Prinsloo at the Roodepoort branch on 011 668 0030. You can also reach the head office at 49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg on 011 888 0246, Monday to Friday between 7:30am and 4:30pm, or any of the firm’s Gauteng branches in Sandton, Midrand, Bedfordview, Alberton, Centurion or Pretoria. The firm is straightforward about what a claim is realistically worth and what it will cost to run — a habit that comes up repeatedly across its 4.8/5 average from more than 250 Google reviews.