Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Accident definition

What does Accident mean? In legal practice, an accident describes a sudden, unintended and unexpected event that causes personal injury, death or property damage. The term is descriptive and used across personal injury (negligence, employers’ liability, public liability), insurance and health and safety law; its precise scope depends on context and any applicable statute or policy wording. In road traffic cases, legislation imposes duties following an accident (for Great Britain, see Road Traffic Act 1988, s.170; Northern Ireland has equivalent provisions; Ireland’s Road Traffic Acts contain similar duties). In workplace health and safety, reporting regimes refer to accidents (for example, RIDDOR in Great Britain and...

MIB and Untraced Drivers’ Agreement: liability, time limits, exclusions, costs and arbitration for accidents 14 February 2003–28 February 2017 [Archived]

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Practice notes

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained.

NOTE: The Untraced Drivers’ Agreement dated 2003 applies to accidents on or after 14 February 2003 but before 1 March 2017. Before then, claims involving untraced motorists were governed by the Untraced Drivers’ Agreement 1996. Supplementary agreements were issued in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015. The most recent Untraced Drivers’ Agreement, dated 2017, applies to accidents occurring on or after 1 March 2017—see Practice Note: Untraced drivers and the role of the MIB.

The untraced driver

Where the driver responsible for a collision cannot be identified, for example after a ‘hit and run’, the claimant should apply directly to the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB). Under the relevant agreement, the MIB will compensate victims of accidents involving an untraced driver for:

injuries
death
property damage

Uninsured or untraced driver?

It is sometimes unclear whether the claimant should proceed under the Untraced Drivers’ Agreement or the Uninsured Drivers' Agreement, for example where the driver supplied a name that may not be genuine...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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