From practice · Our own case · Road traffic injury
The person who caused an accident does not always have to be identified for compensation to be possible. In this case handled by Arslan, the District Court of The Hague ordered the Dutch Motor Traffic Guarantee Fund, Waarborgfonds Motorverkeer, to compensate a scooter rider’s loss. The central issue was not finding a registration number, but proving that an unidentified motorist caused the accident.
The case and the result
The scooter rider stated that a black car failed to give way at an intersection. He fell and the car drove off. The Guarantee Fund disputed the basis for compensation. The court assessed the rider’s account together with a witness statement and the police records. The circumstances had been consistently described from the outset. Taken together, the evidence sufficiently established the unidentified driver’s liability.
The Fund had to compensate the accident-related loss and pay €3,067.69 in costs of the partial-dispute proceedings. The total personal injury loss was not determined. The decision is dated 22 December 2022: ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2022:13946.
A missing registration number does not mean there is no evidence
After a hit-and-run, information normally exchanged following a collision is often missing. That does not make the other evidence worthless. The question is what the evidence as a whole shows about a motor vehicle’s involvement and the fault that caused the accident.
A report made immediately afterwards, the injured person’s account and a passer-by’s observations may record different parts of the event. A witness need not necessarily have seen every moment to provide relevant evidence. It must remain clear, however, what that person actually observed and what is an inference.
This decision does not establish that every single-vehicle fall with an unidentified car nearby will be compensated. The circumstances, evidence and requirements of a claim must be examined separately in each case.
The value of a verifiable timeline
After an accident, distinguish your own recollection from information provided by others and documents received later. Record what you said immediately and to whom. Keep original messages, photographs and police report details. Do not fill in missing parts later as if you witnessed them.
Different wording does not automatically make an account incorrect. It may nevertheless be necessary to explain why accounts diverge. A lawyer can assess which differences affect the central issue and which details do not matter for liability.
What does the costs order mean?
The procedural costs concern the handling of this specific dispute. The amount is not compensation for pain and suffering or the client’s final damages award. After liability is established, medical consequences, loss of income and other losses may still need further substantiation.
Keeping these issues separate avoids unrealistic expectations. A successful liability application can move the claim forward without resolving every remaining question.
What can you preserve after a hit-and-run?
Incident information: record the place, time, directions of travel and features you actually observed. Keep available footage and request preservation of existing camera recordings.
Witnesses: record contact details and ask witnesses to write down their own observations. Do not agree on a shared account.
Reports and consequences: preserve police documents, medical information and receipts. Obtain timely advice about the appropriate notification or next step. This earlier decision does not replace checking the requirements that apply to your own claim.
Frequently asked questions
Must a witness have seen the collision itself?
The evidential value depends on what the witness could actually observe and the other documents. In this case, the court assessed the material together.
Does the Fund cover every accident with an unidentified person responsible?
No. The applicable conditions and the unidentified person’s liability must be examined.
Did the decision mean all the loss had been paid?
That has not been established. The decision imposed a compensation obligation but did not calculate total personal injury loss or prove a later payment.
Help after an accident with an unidentified driver
Dutch-language background is available on hit-and-runs and the Guarantee Fund and our road traffic accident services. Through our contact page, you can explain your situation and the evidence available.
Source and scope: District Court of The Hague, 22 December 2022, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2022:13946. The publication identifies mr. Arslan as the representative. Because earlier source records contain different initials, we have not linked this article to an individual lawyer’s profile. Subsequent proceedings have not been established. The illustration is symbolic and does not reconstruct this scooter accident.
