When a driver leaves after a traffic accident in China, the injured person or family may need to act before the vehicle or witnesses can be identified. Arrange medical treatment and report the incident to traffic police or the public-security traffic-control department. Record the location, time, vehicle description, direction of travel, and any witness or camera information that may help the investigation.
The Road Traffic Safety Law requires drivers involved in an accident to stop, protect the scene, assist injured people, and report a casualty accident. It also allows the road-traffic accident social assistance fund to advance part or all of certain rescue expenses in hit-and-run cases. This is emergency-cost support subject to the law and fund process, not a promise that the fund will pay every loss.
Prioritize treatment and make a prompt report
Seek medical care and keep the treatment records and receipts. Report the accident to the traffic police or the public-security traffic-control department. Get the report reference or case number and ask how to provide additional information. Do not pursue the fleeing vehicle yourself or place yourself in danger.
Article 70 of the Road Traffic Safety Law addresses stopping, protecting the scene, rescuing injured people, and reporting the accident. Article 71 says witnesses and others with relevant knowledge should report a vehicle that fled. Traffic police investigate, collect evidence, and issue a written accident confirmation recording basic facts, causes, and party liability.
Preserve details that can identify the vehicle
Write down the time, exact location, travel direction, vehicle color, make, body style, damage, and any partial license-plate characters. Keep photographs, dash-camera files, witness details, and messages in their original form. Identify nearby shops, residential compounds, buses, or road cameras that may have recorded the event and ask the relevant operator or authority how to preserve footage. Keep copies of medical records, receipts, and proof of missed work.
Ask about the emergency assistance fund
Article 75 provides that medical institutions should not delay emergency rescue because rescue costs have not yet been paid. Where a vehicle has fled, the vehicle is unidentified or uninsured, or rescue costs exceed compulsory insurance limits, the road-traffic accident social assistance fund may advance some or all rescue expenses in circumstances covered by law. The fund administrator may recover amounts advanced from the person responsible.
The fund’s advance for rescue expenses is distinct from a final compensation award. Ask the hospital, traffic-control department, or local fund administrator which application documents and procedures apply. After the investigation, compensation disputes may be handled through traffic-department mediation or a civil action in a people’s court.
Sources: Road Traffic Safety Law, Articles 70–75; Civil Code, Article 1216.
This overview is general information. Preserve evidence promptly and obtain advice on the specific accident and local fund process.
