A traffic accident is an unpleasant event that entails bureaucratic delays and official proceedings. In order for insurance companies or the traffic police (in case of serious damage or injuries) to quickly determine the causes of the incident, in 2021 drivers must draw up an accident diagram. This is an official document (if drawn up correctly), which is the legal basis for contacting the insurance company in order to compensate for the damage caused. Also in 2021, the road accident diagram will be used in court proceedings (attached to the case materials).
Why and when is it necessary to draw up an accident diagram in 2021?
In 2021, when drawing up an accident report yourself, the accident diagram is the key document on the basis of which the insurance company identifies the culprits. With its help, traffic police officers have the opportunity to analyze in detail the circumstances of the incident. In case of going to court (for example, if there are victims), the diagram is also attached to the case materials.
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In order for an accident diagram to have legal force, it must be drawn up taking into account all the requirements described in the Federal Law “On Compulsory Motor Liability Insurance”. Otherwise, you may receive a legal refusal to pay for material damage from the insurance company.
When do you need an accident diagram?
A drawing of a traffic accident is a drawing of the site of a vehicle collision with the recording of objects that are important for establishing the causes and consequences of an emergency situation. The image is necessary to contact the insurance company, determine the guilty party, or challenge the decision of the traffic police officer during legal proceedings.
Reasons for registration
Any emergency situation must be documented. The occurrence of a traffic accident requires filling out paperwork in order to receive insurance payments. To calculate financial compensation, a detailed diagram of the accident must be drawn in the report.
Who makes up
In the event of a traffic accident, drivers can resolve the conflict without calling an inspector. To record an emergency situation, it is necessary to draw up a European protocol. In the document, each participant draws a graphic plan detailing the circumstances of the incident.
According to Art. 11.1 Federal Law No. 40, self-filling out a special form is possible subject to the following conditions:
- participation of no more than two vehicles;
- absence of injured individuals;
- availability of a valid MTPL insurance policy for each car owner:
- the maximum amount of damage is 50,000 rubles for regions of Russia, 400,000 for Moscow and St. Petersburg.
If it is impossible to resolve the conflict and disagreements arise between drivers, a traffic police officer must record the incident. Reasons for mandatory execution of documents only by an inspector:
- the amount of material damage exceeds 100 thousand rubles;
- one or more participants in the accident being under the influence of drugs or alcohol;
- the car owner does not have a driver's license or a valid MTPL;
- presence of casualties;
- hiding the culprit of the collision from the scene.
In the protocol, the inspector independently draws up a diagram of the accident on a form based on witness testimony and a visual inspection of the accident site to identify the violator of traffic rules. Participants have the right to draw an additional graphic plan before the arrival of the police commissioner or if they disagree with the decision to determine the guilty party.
Who should draw up the document?
The road accident diagram in 2021 can be compiled in two ways:
- Without the participation of traffic police officers , i.e. directly involved in the accident. In this case, all the necessary information is indicated in the Europrotocol, which is signed by both parties.
- With the participation of traffic police inspectors . This method is relevant in situations where disagreements have arisen between the parties to the accident and they are unable to reach an agreement on their own. A traffic police officer who arrives at the scene of an accident, in this case, carries out a set of measures in order to establish the degree of guilt of the participants in the accident and the damage they caused.
In 2021, the European protocol is an official document, despite the fact that it was drawn up independently. Its presentation to the insurance company is a legal basis for collecting material costs for the restoration of a vehicle damaged in an accident under compulsory motor liability insurance.
Receiving monetary compensation is possible only if no errors were made when drawing up the Europrotocol. This document must record in detail all the events that occurred, taking into account external factors (traffic lights, other traffic participants, terrain, etc.).
What should be included in an accident report?
Russian legislation does not have particularly stringent requirements for the artistic component of the road traffic accident diagram. The main factor is the reliability and completeness of the information provided. Using this scheme, traffic police and insurance company employees establish the responsibility of the parties. In 2021, the road accident report must include the following information:
- A detailed description of the location of the accident that occurred (full names of streets, routes, etc.).
- Detailed location of vehicles before the accident with directions indicated.
- If there were obstacles in the path of the vehicles, they should be described in detail.
- Detailed location of traffic lights, road signs and marking lines. The latter is needed in order to find out whether the participants in the accident had restrictions on performing certain maneuvers.
- If there were other vehicles on the road at the time of the accident, you must indicate them.
- The place where the first contact of vehicles occurred.
- Location of cars after an accident.
How to draw a diagram of an accident: rules
If drivers can only use the Europrotocol form to independently draw up a collision plan, then a traffic police officer can use any paper sheet. This can be a notebook piece of paper, A-4 paper, or graph paper for scaling. Along with the Europrotocol, when taking out MTPL insurance, the driver is given a reminder about the procedure for filling it out. By following these instructions, motorists will be able to correctly fill out the document, displaying all the necessary information.
Information included in the diagram
The accident scene diagram must contain certain data that allows you to clearly understand the nuances of the incident. When drawing up a plan, the driver should pay special attention to the following information:
- The location of both vehicles immediately before the collision.
- If there are obstacles on the road, mark them.
- Locations of traffic lights, road barriers, signs and markings.
- Locations of other vehicles, if they influenced the accident. For example, they limited visibility or created obstacles to movement.
- Information about the width of the road, number of lanes.
- Indicate with an “ X ” the location of the vehicle collision and the point of impact.
- Arrangement of colliding cars after an accident.
Special characters
In the process of drawing up a plan diagram, for conciseness you need to use commonly understood symbols. They help decipher the picture and more clearly understand the nuances of the accident. They designate trucks and cars, motorcycles, markings and other road objects. The arrows indicate the movement trajectories of both cars and their braking distance. Road signs are either drawn visually or indicated by their serial numbers, in accordance with the provisions of the traffic rules.
Basic design recommendations
Specific standards for drawing up an accident scene map are not regulated by traffic rules or other legal acts. However, you must follow a number of generally accepted design guidelines. You should not draw the diagram with a pencil, as it may be erased over time. It is better to use a black or blue ballpoint pen. The image is given in a “top view” format. Various corrections and blots are not welcome. If possible, maintain the scale for greater clarity of the plan being drawn up.
to draw up an accident plan
accident diagrams
Compilation requirements
When drawing up a road accident diagram in 2021, you must adhere to the established requirements:
- The Europrotocol must be filled out exclusively with a black or blue ballpoint pen.
- It is recommended to fill out the document in block letters.
- Each participant fills out their part independently.
- If there is a need to make corrections to the diagram, then first cross out this part of the diagram (with the same pen), and then put the signature “correction is correct.”
- When all the points are completed, participants study the document and then sign it on the back. Once the Euro Protocol is signed, it is no longer possible to make any adjustments to it. Therefore, you should check all the data as carefully as possible.
Step-by-step instructions for drawing up an accident diagram yourself
If the participants in the accident have no disagreements, then the road accident diagram in 2021 is drawn up independently. The sequence of actions is as follows:
- The scale of the drawing is determined.
- The first step is to depict the section of the road (on which the accident occurred) with a detailed designation of the landscape, traffic lights and road signs. There is no need to go deep and apply all the smallest details.
- Next, vehicles are applied to the paper. They are usually depicted as a rectangle (headlights - as a triangle).
- After this, the exact coordinates of the vehicles must be plotted on the accident diagram both before and after the accident. To do this, measurements are taken (distance between vehicles, from wheels to the side of the road, etc.). For such purposes, it is advisable to have a tape measure.
There should be no blots in the drawing, so the best option is to first draw up a “draft”, agree on it, and after both drivers have come to a common opinion, draw up a full-fledged diagram with clarification of all the details. When the drivers have jointly drawn up an accident diagram, you can proceed to filling out the notification form (issued along with the insurance policy).
An example of a self-made road accident diagram
This is what the form for drawing up a road accident diagram looks like:
A typical diagram in which 2 vehicles moving in the same direction collided at an intersection. The cross indicates the location of the collision, the arrows indicate the direction of movement. The drawing contains street names and locations of traffic lights. Pay attention to the header - it indicates the place and date of the accident.
Typical road accident diagrams
Standard drawings are presented on the official website of the Russian system of auto insurers. Drawing up an accident diagram according to an existing sample is allowed when drawing up a Europrotocol, resolving a conflict in the presence of a traffic police officer at the scene of the accident. Cases when a template image is unacceptable:
- violation of the rules for drawing up a protocol in the event of an emergency;
- non-contact road accident;
- collision while the vehicle is stopped;
- inconsistency of the standard scheme with the circumstances;
- absence of signature of the participant in the incident on the form of notification of the traffic accident.
Standard diagrams are the supporting material for drawing up a drawing of a traffic accident. There are about 30 graphic plans that, based on experiments, take into account the circumstances of the accident, the location of cars, the location of the collision, the placement of signs and markings, situations of illegal overtaking, and changing lanes. Template drawings are accompanied by comments on determining the guilty party and imposing punishment for violations of traffic rules.
How to create an accident diagram online?
Inexperienced drivers may have problems drawing up an accident diagram; several online services have been created specifically for such situations to make this task easier in 2021:
- Autocadabra. An easy-to-use editor on one of the most popular automotive sites. With its help, you can reproduce even a very complex accident, since the number of elements (road signs, vehicles, markings, etc.) in this service is not limited. This is the most popular instrument of its kind. Link - https://autokadabra.ru/road-editor
- Drawing up an accident diagram online. A Voronezh car buying company has developed its own service. It differs from the previous one in its unpretentiousness (it works even with a slow Internet connection). Link - https://avtovikup136.ru/drawing-diagram-accident-online/
- Constructor of traffic situations. Another powerful service for drawing up an accident diagram. It features more diverse functionality. The only negative is the relatively long loading time of pages (this is due to the fact that upon first launch a library of various files and data is loaded). Link - https://www.roadimage.ru
When can you not draw up a diagram yourself?
Independent drawing up of an accident diagram in 2021 is permissible only if the following list of conditions is met:
- As a result of the traffic accident, only cars were damaged, and each participant has a compulsory motor liability insurance policy.
- There were no injuries or fatalities in the accident. Any other property (for example, road signs, shop windows, etc.).
If there are victims, a protocol is drawn up with the obligatory presence of witnesses (Article 214 of the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 185).
- The damage to the car amounts to more than 100 thousand rubles, the participants in the accident could not reach an agreement, and they have disagreements regarding the degree of guilt.
If at least one of the conditions presented above is not met, then you cannot independently draw up an accident diagram in 2021 and registration must take place in the general manner (with the involvement of traffic police inspectors or accident commissioners).
If these rules are ignored, the insurance company will have the right to refuse payment.
Contents of the diagram
The rules for drawing up an accident diagram are established by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation No. 644 (item No. 280) dated 08/23/17. It determines the registration procedure and mandatory elements. The list includes:
- car collision location;
- number of lanes of the highway, its width;
- traffic lights, traffic signs;
- elements of road infrastructure (fences, traffic islands, medians, stopping points, buildings);
- position of cars relative to each other, road infrastructure;
- driving directions.
The driver must pay careful attention to the drafting. The diagram should be easy to read and not allow for double interpretation. It is in the interests of the insurance company to reduce the cost of payments. If you have no experience filling out an accident report, you should call emergency commissioners. Their services will save time and avoid problems when submitting documents. In addition to vehicles, elements of road infrastructure need to be reflected:
- tire tracks on the asphalt;
- location of all detached parts and leaked process fluids.
The above should be “tied” geographically to stationary objects (buildings, road signs). The diagram should be drawn using approved symbols.
Common Mistakes
When recording a traffic accident by a traffic police inspector, problems usually do not arise. However, when drivers, according to the European Protocol, draw up an accident diagram on their own, mistakes often occur. Let's note the most typical of them in 2021:
- The place of the first contact (impact) of the vehicles, which entailed further consequences of the accident, was incorrectly determined. Inaccuracies are caused in most cases due to insufficient care and reaction of drivers.
- Conflicting descriptions of traffic lights at the time of the incident. In such situations, eyewitnesses are usually brought in as witnesses in order to establish which driver is right.
- Hiding by drivers factors of their performance of certain maneuvers. This happens solely because of intent. Distortion of information is made in order to deflect blame from oneself and shift it to another participant in the accident. A typical example is when a driver refuses to admit that he was overtaking or speeding before the collision.
What are standard schemes and how to use them
Typical solutions are divided into images of situations when:
- Accidents of vehicles traveling in the same direction:
- when detouring or changing lanes,
- while simultaneously rebuilding,
- failure to comply with the lateral or rear interval,
- when turning or turning around, the driver did not take the extreme position on the roadway,
- one was making a turn from the outer lane, and the second from the tram tracks in its direction,
- the first was making a left turn, and the second was moving along the tram line in its direction,
- two drivers turning right from the extreme right side and from the braking lane, respectively,
- accident when overtaking,
- the motorist began to overtake the vehicle ahead, not noticing that he was already being overtaken,
- increasing speed without allowing an overtaking vehicle to pass ahead,
- overtaking a vehicle that has also started changing lanes or other maneuver,
- not allowing a car in its lane to pass when leaving the parking lot,
- moving in opposite directions:
- going into oncoming traffic,
- when overtaking, “caught” oncoming traffic,
- going down the mountain, did not give way to a vehicle moving towards him,
- reverse movement,
- driving on a one-way lane, against the flow,
- when moving, located at different angles to each other:
- driving through a prohibitory traffic light,
- did not give way to a car completing a maneuver,
- did not pass a vehicle that has the right of way at an intersection of unequal roads,
- leaving the adjacent territory, from the yard,
- when driving in reverse:
- "handed it in backwards"
- spontaneous movement of the car in the absence of its fixation with the hand brake,
- leaving the parking lot in reverse,
- options for colliding with a stationary vehicle:
- hitting a parked vehicle when leaving or maneuvering in a parking area,
- while driving in the lane, collided with a parked car,
- opening the door without making sure it is safe to do so
Consequences in case of incorrect drawing up of an accident diagram
If at least one rule was violated when drawing up an accident diagram in 2021, it will be declared invalid. Such a document will not be accepted either by the traffic police or by the insurance company, therefore, the victim will not be able to receive monetary compensation for the damage caused.
An unpleasant conclusion follows: the driver who is not the culprit of the accident is primarily interested in the correctness of the diagram. The second participant in the incident may deliberately distort information or incorrectly draw up his part of the document. Therefore, in case of the slightest disagreement, it is recommended to invite traffic police officers or emergency commissioners to the scene of accidents.
Please note: a car with a trailer counts as one vehicle.
Why draw a diagram of an accident?
Drawing up an accident diagram yourself may be necessary in two cases.
When it is not possible to wait for traffic police officers due to the threat of traffic congestion or loss of important material evidence. And when the participants in the incident have no disagreements. The Lifehacker Telegram channel contains only the best texts about technology, relationships, sports, cinema, finance and much more. Subscribe!
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But this can only be done if:
- A maximum of two cars were involved in the accident.
- No people were injured in the accident.
- Both participants in the incident have MTPL insurance policies.
- The damage does not exceed 50 thousand rubles (400 thousand for Moscow and St. Petersburg).
If at least one of the conditions is not met, independent registration of an accident report is not allowed.
The first step is to call your insurance company and report the accident.
Nuances
Let's highlight a few more pitfalls that you should know in order not to be refused by an insurance company in 2021:
- The accident diagram must be drawn on a separate A4 sheet (if the accident is being investigated by traffic inspectors), or in paragraph 17 of the Europrotocol.
- When drawing up independently, the drawing must be depicted on the “notification of an accident” form.
- Vehicles must be marked in the form of rectangles with symbols (A and B).
- The diagram must show all maneuvers performed, especially overtaking and lane changes.
- The testimony of witnesses can be entered into the protocol only with their consent (oral form is sufficient).
- It is allowed to use standard road accident diagrams (if they are suitable). You can download them on the website of any insurance company, for example, Rosgosstrakh.