GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1995 SESSION
CHAPTER 191
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 20-4.01 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(33b) Reportable Accident. - An accident or collision involving a motor vehicle that results in either of the following:
a. Death or injury of a human being.
b. Total property damage of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more."
Sec. 2. G.S. 20-166.1 reads as rewritten:
"§
20-166.1. Reports and investigations required in event of collision. accident.
(a) Notice of
Accident. - The driver of a vehicle involved in a collision
resulting in injury to or death of any person or total property damage to an
apparent extent of five hundred dollars ($500.00) or more shall reportable
accident must immediately, by the quickest means of communication, give
notice of notify the collision to the local police department if
the collision occurs within a municipality, or to the office of the sheriff or
other qualified rural police of the county wherein the collision occurred. appropriate
law enforcement agency of the accident. If the accident occurred in a
city or town, the appropriate agency is the police department of the city or
town. If the accident occurred outside a city or town, the appropriate
agency is the State Highway Patrol or the sheriff's office or other qualified
rural police of the county where the accident occurred.
(b) Insurance
Verification. -The When requested to do so by the Division, the driver
of any a vehicle involved in a collision resulting in injury
to or death of any person or total property damage to an apparent extent of
five hundred dollars ($500.00) or more shall reportable accident must furnish
proof of financial responsibility on forms prescribed by the Division. responsibility.
(c) Parked Vehicle. -Notwithstanding
any other provisions of this section, the The driver of any a
motor vehicle which that collides with another motor vehicle
left parked or unattended on any street or a highway of this
State shall within 48 hours must report the collision to the
owner of such the parked or unattended motor vehicle. Such
report shall This requirement applies to an accident that is not a
reportable accident as well as to one that is a reportable accident. The
report may be made orally or in writing, must be made within 48 hours of the
accident, and must include the time, date and place of the collision,
the driver's name, address, driver's license number and the following:
(1) The time, date, and place of the accident.
(2) The driver's name, address, and drivers license number.
(3) The registration
plate number of the vehicle being operated by the driver at the time of
the collision, and such report may be oral or in writing. Such written
report must be transmitted to the current address of the owner of the parked or
unattended vehicle by United States accident.
If the driver makes a written report to the owner of the
parked or unattended vehicle and the report is not given to the owner at the
scene of the accident, the report must be sent to the owner by certified
mail, return receipt requested, and a copy of such report shall be
transmitted to the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles. the report
must be sent to the Division.
No report, oral or written, made pursuant to this Article
shall be competent in any civil action except to establish identity of the
person operating the moving vehicle at the time of the collision referred to
therein.
Any person who violates this subsection is guilty of a
Class 1 misdemeanor.
(d) The
Division may require the driver of a vehicle involved in a collision which is
required to be reported by this section to file a supplemental report when the
original report is insufficient in the opinion of the Division.
(e) Investigation by
Officer. -It shall be the duty of the State Highway Patrol or the
sheriff's office or other qualified rural police to investigate all collisions
required to be reported by this section when the collisions occur outside the
corporate limits of a city or town; and it shall be the duty of the police
department of each city or town to investigate all collisions required to be
reported by this section when the collisions occur within the corporate limits
of the city or town. Every The appropriate law enforcement agency
must investigate a reportable accident. A law-enforcement officer who
investigates a collision as required by this subsection, a reportable
accident, whether the investigation is made at the scene of the collision
accident or by subsequent investigations and interviews, shall,
within 24 hours after completing the investigation, forward a written report of
the collision to the Division if the collision occurred outside the corporate
limits of a city or town, or to the police department of the city or town if
the collision occurred within the corporate limits of such city or town.
Police departments should forward such reports to the Division within 10
days of the date of the collision. Provided, when a collision occurring
outside the corporate limits of a city or town is investigated by a duly
qualified law-enforcement officer other than a member of the State Highway
Patrol, as permitted by this section, such other officer shall forward a
written report of the collision to the office of the sheriff or rural police of
the county wherein the collision occurred and the office of the sheriff or
rural police shall forward such reports to the Division within 10 days of the
date of the collision. The reports by law-enforcement officers shall be
in addition to, and not in place of, the reports required of drivers by this
section. must make a written report of the accident within 24 hours of
the accident and must forward it as required by this subsection. The
report must contain information on financial responsibility for the vehicle
driven by the person whom the officer identified as at fault for the accident.
If the officer writing the report is a member of the State Highway Patrol, the officer must forward the report to the Division. If the officer is not a member of the State Highway Patrol, the officer must forward the report to the local law enforcement agency for the area where the accident occurred. A local law enforcement agency that receives an accident report must forward it to the Division within 10 days after receiving the report.
When any a person involved injured in
an automobile collision shall die a reportable accident dies as a
result of said collision within a period of the accident within 12
months following said collision, and such after the accident and the death
shall not have been was not reported in the original report, it
shall be the duty of investigating enforcement officers to the law
enforcement officer investigating the accident must file a supplemental
report setting forth the death of such person. that includes the
death.
(f) Medical
Personnel. -Every person holding the office of A county medical
examiner in this State shall must report to the Division the
death of any person as a result of a collision involving a motor vehicle in
a reportable accident and the circumstances of the collision within five
days following such death. Every accident. The medical
examiner must file the report within five days after the death. A hospital
shall must notify the medical examiner of the county in which the
collision accident occurred of the death within the hospital of
any person who dies as a result of injuries apparently sustained in a collision
involving a motor vehicle. reportable accident.
(g) Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 49.
(h) Forms. - The
Division shall prepare and shall upon request supply to police, [medical
examiners], sheriffs, and other suitable agencies, or individuals, forms for
collision reports calling for sufficiently detailed information to disclose
with reference to a highway collision the cause, conditions then existing, and
the persons and vehicles involved. All collision reports required by this
section shall be made on forms supplied or approved by the Division. must
provide forms to persons required to make reports under this section and the
reports must be made on the forms provided. The forms must ask for the
following information about a reportable accident:
(1) The cause of the accident.
(2) The conditions existing at the time of the accident.
(3) The persons and vehicles involved.
(i) Effect of
Report. -All collision reports, including supplemental reports, above
mentioned, except those made by State, city or county police, shall be A
report of an accident made under this section by a person who is not a law
enforcement officer is without prejudice and shall be prejudice,
is for the use of the Division Division, and shall not be
used in any manner as evidence, or for any other purpose in any trial, civil or
criminal, arising out of such collision except that the Division shall
furnish upon demand of any court the accident. Any other report of
an accident made under this section may be used in any manner as evidence, or
for any other purpose, in any trial, civil or criminal, as permitted under the
rules of evidence. At the demand of a court, the Division must give the
court a properly executed certificate stating that a particular collision
accident report has or has not been filed with the Division solely
to prove a compliance with this section.
The reports made by State, city or county police and
medical examiners, but no other reports required under this section, shall be
subject to the persons who are not law enforcement officers or medical
examiners are not public records. The reports made by law enforcement
officers and medical examiners are public records and are open to inspection
of members of by the general public at all reasonable times,
and the Division shall furnish a certified copy of any such report to any
member of the general public who shall request the same, upon receipt of a fee
of four dollars ($4.00) certified copy, or the Division is authorized to
furnish without charge to departments of the governments of the United States,
states, counties, and cities certified copies of such collision reports for
official use. times. The Division must give a certified copy of
one of these reports to a member of the general public who requests a copy and
pays the fee set in G.S. 20-42.
Nothing herein provided shall prohibit the Division from
furnishing to interested parties only the name or names of insurers and insured
and policy number shown upon any reports required under this section.
(j) Statistics. -
The Division shall receive collision reports required to be made by this
section, and may tabulate and analyze such reports and publish annually, or at
more frequent intervals, may periodically publish statistical
information on motor vehicle accidents based thereon as to the
number, cause and location of highway collisions.
Based upon its findings after analysis, the on
information in accident reports. The Division may conduct further
necessary detailed research to determine more fully the cause and control
of highway collisions. It accidents and may further conduct
experimental field tests within areas of the State from time to time to prove
the practicability of various ideas advanced in traffic control and collision
accident prevention.
(k) Punishment. - A
violation of any provision of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor. misdemeanor
of the Class set in G.S. 20-176."
Sec. 3. G.S. 20-179(d)(3) reads as rewritten:
"(3) Negligent driving that
led to an accident causing property damage in excess of five hundred dollars
($500.00) or personal injury. a reportable accident."
Sec. 4. G.S. 20-279.4 is repealed.
Sec. 5. G.S. 20-279.5(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) If at the
expiration of 20 days after the receipt of a report of a motor vehicle accident
within this State which has resulted in bodily injury or death or total
property damage in excess of five hundred dollars ($500.00), the Commissioner
does not have on file evidence satisfactory to him that the person who would
otherwise be required to file security under subsection (b) of this section has
been released from liability, or has been finally adjudicated not to be liable
or has executed a duly acknowledged written agreement providing for the payment
of an agreed amount, in installments or otherwise, or is for any other reason
not required to file security under this Article with respect to all claims for
injuries or damages resulting from the accident, the Commissioner shall
determine the amount of security which shall be sufficient in his judgment to
satisfy any judgment or judgments for damages resulting from such accident as
may be recovered against each operator or owner. When the Division
receives a report of a reportable accident under G.S. 20-166.1, the
Commissioner must determine whether the owner or driver of a vehicle involved
in the accident must file security under this Article and, if so, the amount of
security the owner or driver must file. The Commissioner must make this
determination at the end of 20 days after receiving the report."
Sec. 6. G.S. 20-279.11 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-279.11. Matters not to be evidence in civil suits.
Neither the report required by G.S. 20-279.4, information
on financial responsibility contained in an accident report, the action taken
by the Commissioner pursuant to this Article, the findings, if any, of the
Commissioner upon which such the action is based, or the security
filed as provided in this Article shall be referred to in any way, nor be any
evidence of the negligence or due care of either party, at the trial of any
action at law to recover damages."
Sec. 7. G.S. 20-279.31 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-279.31. Other violations; penalties.
(a) Failure to report
an accident as required in G.S. 20-279.4 is a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable
only by a fine not in excess of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) and in the event
of injury or damage to the person or property of another in such accident, the The
Commissioner shall suspend the license of the a person failing
who fails to make such report, or the nonresident's operating
privilege of such person, until such report has been filed and for such further
report a reportable accident, as required by G.S. 20-166.1, until the
Division receives a report and for an additional period not to set
by the Commissioner. The additional period may not exceed 30 days
as the Commissioner may fix. days.
(b) Any person who gives
does any of the following commits a Class 1 misdemeanor:
(1) Gives information
required in a report or otherwise as provided for in G.S. 20-279.4 of
a reportable accident, knowing or having reason to believe that such the
information is false, or who shall forge or, without authority, sign false.
(2) Forges or
without authority signs any evidence of proof of financial responsibility,
or who files responsibility.
(3) Files or
offers for filing any such evidence of proof of financial
responsibility, knowing or having reason to believe that it is forged or
signed without authority, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. authority.
(c) Any person willfully failing to return a license as required in G.S. 20-279.30 is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.
(c1) Any person who makes a false affidavit or knowingly swears or affirms falsely to any matter under G.S. 20-279.5, 20-279.6, or 20-279.7 is guilty of a Class I felony.
(d) Any person who shall violate any provision of this Article for which no penalty is otherwise provided is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
Sec. 8. G.S. 20-42(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b) The Commissioner and
officers of the Division designated by the Commissioner may prepare under the
seal of the Division and deliver upon request a certified copy of any document
of the Division, charging a fee of Division for a fee. The fee
for a document, other than an accident report under G.S. 20-166.1, is five
dollars ($5.00) for each document certified. ($5.00). The fee
for an accident report is four dollars ($4.00). A certified copy
shall be admissible in any proceeding in any court in like manner as the
original thereof, without further certification. The certification fee
does not apply to a document furnished to State officials or to county,
municipal, or court officials of this State for official use. use
to a judicial official or to an official of the federal government, a state
government, or a local government."
Sec. 9. This act becomes effective January 1, 1996, and applies to accidents and offenses occurring on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 7th day of June, 1995.
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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate
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Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives