UK pedestrian-hit claims: the driver's duties, the offence ladder and the civil claim

Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988: the statutory duty to stop, exchange and report

Every UK driver involved in a collision that causes injury to a person, damage to another vehicle, damage to certain categories of animal listed in s.170(8) or damage to property is subject to the statutory duty under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The driver must stop. Once stopped, the driver must give their name and address, the name and address of the registered keeper of the vehicle if different, and the vehicle registration mark to any person having reasonable grounds for requiring them. Where personal injury has occurred, the driver must also produce a certificate of insurance to a constable, or to any person having reasonable grounds for requiring it.

Where particulars cannot be exchanged at the scene - for example because the pedestrian has been taken to hospital and is not in a fit state to take details - the driver must report the collision to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours under s.170(2)(b). The 24-hour deadline is hard. Where insurance has not been produced at the scene, s.170(3) allows the driver to produce the certificate at any police station within seven days. Failure to stop and failure to report are separate offences under s.170(4); each is an either-way offence carrying up to six months' imprisonment plus an obligatory disqualification consideration. A driver who leaves the scene without stopping and without subsequently reporting can find themselves prosecuted on the s.170(4) failure-to-stop / failure-to-report offences in addition to the underlying careless or dangerous driving charge.

The practical sequence at a pedestrian-hit collision is: stop; switch on hazard lights; call 999 and request both an ambulance and police attendance; provide the statutory particulars to anyone with reasonable grounds to require them; produce insurance to the attending officer or arrange to produce it within seven days; and cooperate with the police investigation. The driver should not make admissions of liability or speculate about fault at the scene - anything said is admissible in both criminal and civil proceedings.

Highway Code rules H1, H2 and H3: the biggest driver-pedestrian liability shift in decades

The revised Highway Code took effect on 29 January 2022 and introduced three new introductory rules. Rule H1 sets out the hierarchy of road users. Those who can do the greatest harm carry the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to others. The hierarchy runs from HGVs and large passenger vehicles at the bottom of the priority ladder to pedestrians at the top. Rule H1 does not extinguish personal responsibility on the pedestrian side, but it materially shifts the contributory-negligence baseline against the driver in any conflict with a vulnerable road user.

Rule H2 introduces a new priority for pedestrians at junctions. A driver, motorcyclist, cyclist or horse rider should give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which they are turning. The rule transformed the side-road apportionment template. Pre-29 January 2022 the pedestrian had priority only once already in the carriageway; the kerb-side pedestrian waiting had no priority over a turning driver. Under H2 the kerb-side pedestrian waiting acquires priority. Many drivers continue to operate on the pre-2022 understanding and are caught out at the side-road turn - the classic impact pattern in the new world of pedestrian-hit liability. The H2 priority applies equally to turning into and turning out of the side road.

Rule H3 requires drivers and motorcyclists not to cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse-drawn vehicles going ahead when turning into or out of a junction. The same priority logic protects vulnerable road users in the cycle lane or on the nearside of the carriageway. The Highway Code is not itself a statute but rule breaches may be relied on in any civil or criminal proceedings under section 38(7) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 - pleading rule H2 by number on the letter of claim, and pleading H1 hierarchy alongside it, materially compresses the insurer-side liability negotiation.

Impact speed and pedestrian survival: the DfT evidence base

The Department for Transport's Reported Road Casualties Great Britain series and the underpinning Transport Research Laboratory work establish the relationship between vehicle impact speed and pedestrian fatality. The published curve shows a steep rise in the probability of fatal pedestrian injury between 20 mph and 30 mph and a much sharper rise above 30 mph. The exact percentages have been refined over successive studies, and the current published figures should be checked on the live DfT publication before being cited in any specific case. The underlying differential is consistently large enough that it forms part of the policy rationale for area-wide 20 mph rollouts in Wales, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and many London boroughs.

For the driver's file the speed at the moment of impact is the controlling fact. Dashcam footage of the approach captures the speedometer reading on most modern consumer units; the vehicle's electronic data recorder or ABS module preserves five or more seconds of pre-impact speed, brake-pedal position, throttle position and steering input. An independent engineer's download of the EDR / ABS data within 24 hours is therefore disproportionately important on a pedestrian-hit file - both for the criminal proceedings, where speed is a primary aggravating factor under the Sentencing Council guideline, and for any civil contributory-negligence argument.

The legal effect of impact speed on the criminal charge is direct. A driver travelling at the posted limit who strikes a pedestrian who has stepped suddenly into the carriageway will normally face a careless-driving or no-prosecution outcome. A driver travelling materially above the limit will normally face dangerous driving where the speed is far below the standard of a competent and careful driver; that framing is the difference between s.3 and s.2 and between s.2B and s.1 in a fatality case - a five-year ceiling versus a life maximum under ss.86-87 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

The driving-offence ladder: from s.3 careless driving to s.1 causing death by dangerous driving

The Road Traffic Act 1988 sets out a graded ladder of driving offences that may follow a pedestrian-hit collision. Where any traffic offence is charged, the most common is careless driving under section 3 - driving without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons. The test is whether the driving falls below the standard of a competent and careful driver. Careless driving is summary-only and carries up to a Level 5 fine plus three to nine penalty points or discretionary disqualification.

Dangerous driving under section 2 is the next step up. The driving must fall far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver, and it must be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous. The 'far below' test is fixed by section 2A. Dangerous driving is an either-way offence with a maximum two years on indictment plus obligatory disqualification of at least twelve months and a compulsory extended driving test before re-licensing. Where serious injury results from careless driving, the Sentencing Act 2020 inserted section 2C - causing serious injury by careless or inconsiderate driving - triable either way and carrying up to two years.

Where death results, the offence ladder rises sharply. Section 2B - causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, inserted by section 20 of the Road Safety Act 2006 - carries up to five years' imprisonment plus obligatory disqualification of at least one year. Section 3A - causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs - carries up to fourteen years. And section 1 - causing death by dangerous driving - has been uplifted from a fourteen-year maximum to a life maximum by sections 86 and 87 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 for offences committed on or after 28 June 2022. The Sentencing Council's Definitive Guideline on Causing Death by Driving (2023) sets the starting points and category ranges; the current version should be consulted on the Sentencing Council's website.

The pedestrian's civil claim against the driver's RTA insurer

The pedestrian's civil claim runs in tort, in negligence, against the driver. The driver's compulsory third-party insurance under section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 covers liability for personal injury and property damage caused to third parties. Under section 151 the insurer is required to satisfy any judgment in favour of the pedestrian even in circumstances where the policy might otherwise have been avoidable. The practical effect is that the insurer is the responding compensator from the moment of notification.

Where the driver is uninsured or untraced - for example a hit-and-run pedestrian collision - the Motor Insurers' Bureau is the substitute compensator under the Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2017 and the Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 - see our pages on a MIB uninsured driver claim and a MIB untraced driver claim. The MIB applies its own notification timetable; the untraced-driver application must normally be made within three months of the accident in most categories. Where the pedestrian is a minor the limitation extension under section 28 of the Limitation Act 1980 applies to the underlying liability claim, but the MIB's contractual notification timeframes still need to be observed by a litigation friend or representative.

The civil claim and the criminal prosecution are separate proceedings. A driver acquitted of dangerous driving may still be civilly liable in negligence; a driver convicted of careless driving will normally face an adverse civil finding because section 11 of the Civil Evidence Act 1968 makes the conviction admissible as evidence of the underlying facts in subsequent civil proceedings. A driver should therefore not assume that an acquittal in the criminal court will end exposure to the civil claim - the civil burden of proof is the lower balance of probabilities rather than the criminal beyond reasonable doubt.

Civil Liability Act 2018 tariff scope: pedestrian injuries usually fall outside

The Civil Liability Act 2018 introduced the fixed whiplash tariff and the £5,000 general-damages threshold for routing low-value road traffic personal injury claims through the Official Injury Claim portal. The Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, as revised by the Whiplash Injury (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/615) for accidents on or after 31 May 2025, set the tariff figures by injury duration up to two years.

The tariff and the Official Injury Claim portal are designed for whiplash-type soft-tissue injuries of the neck, back and shoulder sustained by occupants of motor vehicles. The Civil Liability Act 2018 expressly defines whiplash injury by reference to the duration and the soft-tissue character of the injury. Pedestrian injuries typically fall outside that definition. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle usually sustains lower-limb fractures (tibia, fibula, femur, ankle, knee), pelvic fracture, traumatic brain injury, facial fractures, multiple fractures or internal injury. None of those is a whiplash injury within the meaning of the Act. The claim is valued under the conventional Judicial College Guidelines and proceeds outside the tariff.

Where general damages exceed £5,000 - which most pedestrian-injury claims do - the claim is also outside the small claims track and proceeds through an SRA-regulated solicitor on the standard pre-action protocol route, not the OIC portal, as a full personal injury claim usually funded on a no win, no fee CFA. The duration-banded whiplash compensation tariff does not bind a pedestrian's lower-limb-fracture or head-injury claim. The driver's insurer will normally appoint a defendant-side solicitor at an early stage and may make a Part 36 offer once liability and quantum are sufficiently mature. The driver remains a party to the proceedings but is represented by the insurer's appointed solicitor under the terms of the policy.

Contributory negligence: Eagle v Chambers, not Froom v Butcher

The leading authority on contributory negligence in a pedestrian-hit-by-car case is Eagle v Chambers [2003] EWCA Civ 1107. The Court of Appeal reduced the trial-judge contributory finding against a pedestrian struck by a car and confirmed the principle that the driver of a motor vehicle is normally the principal author of the harm and the apportionment baseline favours the pedestrian. The judgment is consistent with the rule H1 hierarchy logic introduced in 2022 - the road user who can do the greatest harm carries the greatest responsibility.

As a working pattern derived from Eagle v Chambers and the subsequent line of first-instance and Court of Appeal decisions: a pedestrian walking in the road in poor visibility may face a contributory finding of 25-50%; a pedestrian crossing inattentively at a place not designed for crossing may face less than 25%; a young child or a pedestrian on the kerb of a side road within rule H2's priority will rarely face any contributory finding at all. The precise figure turns on the pedestrian's vulnerability category under rules 204-207, the driver's compliance with the controlling rule and the impact-speed picture from the EDR / ABS download.

Drivers' insurers sometimes plead Froom v Butcher [1976] QB 286 - the seatbelt-deduction authority - by reflex on any pedestrian file. The citation is wrong. Froom v Butcher concerns the contributory negligence of a vehicle occupant who failed to wear a seatbelt; pedestrians wear no equivalent restraint. The Court of Appeal's seatbelt deductions of 25% or 15% do not apply to pedestrians as a matter of authority. Insisting on the correct citation - Eagle v Chambers, not Froom v Butcher - on the letter of claim usually shifts the negotiating range.

Limitation, minority and mental capacity: Limitation Act 1980 ss.11 and 28 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005

The primary limitation period for a personal injury claim is three years from the date of the accident, or from the date of knowledge if later, under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980 - see our dedicated guide to the accident claim time limit for the date-of-knowledge extension, MIB notification windows and the tolling rules. The court has a discretion to disapply the period under section 33 in exceptional cases, but the three-year clock is the working baseline. For the driver, the limitation period operates as a defence: the driver's insurer is entitled to plead limitation as a complete defence to any claim issued out of time, subject to the section 33 discretion.

Two important extensions operate. Section 28 disapplies the clock while the claimant is under a disability - including minority. A child pedestrian's three-year clock starts only on the eighteenth birthday. A child pedestrian injured at age seven therefore has until their twenty-first birthday to issue proceedings. The same provision disapplies the clock for as long as the claimant lacks mental capacity to conduct the litigation; capacity is assessed under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 functional test. Where a pedestrian has sustained traumatic brain injury and lacks capacity, the clock may remain disapplied indefinitely.

A pedestrian who lacks capacity becomes a 'protected party' under Civil Procedure Rules Part 21 and must act through a litigation friend appointed under CPR 21.4. Any settlement of the claim requires court approval under CPR 21.10 - the court reviews the medical evidence, counsel's quantum advice and the proposed settlement structure (lump sum, periodical payments under the Damages Act 1996, or a combination) and approves the settlement only if it is in the protected party's best interests. Settlement monies are normally protected by a deputyship appointment from the Court of Protection or by a personal injury trust. The practical effect for the driver is that protected-party cases settle later and more carefully than ordinary cases - there is no incentive for the litigation friend to settle short.

Police interview under caution and the driver's PACE rights

A driver involved in a pedestrian-hit collision with any injury can expect to be interviewed under caution at some stage of the police investigation. The interview is governed by PACE Code C - the statutory code under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The caution is administered: "You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence." The driver has the right to free and independent legal advice before answering substantive questions, whether the interview is voluntary or in police custody.

The interview is the moment at which the offence framing is most often settled. The investigating officer brings a working hypothesis - careless driving (s.3), dangerous driving (s.2), causing serious injury (s.2C) or, in a fatality, s.2B or s.1 - and tests it in the interview. The driver's answers, the surrounding evidence (dashcam, EDR / ABS download, witness accounts, scene examination) and any admissions or hesitations shape the eventual charging decision by the Crown Prosecution Service. A driver who answers without legal advice frequently volunteers material that is later relied on as evidence of dangerous driving even where the underlying driving may have been only careless. The right to silence is preserved by the caution but adverse inferences may be drawn under section 34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 from failure to mention a fact later relied on.

The professional pattern is therefore: attend the interview; identify a solicitor experienced in road traffic and criminal defence at the outset; agree the approach in pre-interview disclosure; and decide on a fact-by-fact basis what to say and what to reserve. Insurers' legal-expenses cover often funds an initial solicitor consultation; the Legal Aid Agency provides free duty solicitor cover at the police station for any custody interview.

Related UK collision and claim pages

Each linked page covers an adjacent collision-type or driver-category file. The young-, elderly- and learner-driver pages cover demographic-specific liability and insurance picture; the school-run page covers the pedestrian-rich school-gate environment; the reversing page covers the related driver-perspective low-speed pedestrian-hit pattern; the injury-claim referral page sets out the separate-consent framework under which CityGrip refers an injury claim to an SRA-regulated solicitor.

• UK collision types hub
• Car accident claims
• Non-fault car accident claims
• Young driver accident claims
• Elderly driver accident claims
• Learner driver accident claims
• School run accident claims
• Reversing accident claims
• Injury claim referral (separate consent)

Six-step UK driver post-incident sequence after hitting a pedestrian

1. Step 1

   Stop, secure the scene and call 999 for any injury

   Stop the vehicle, switch on hazard lights and make the scene safe without exposing yourself or other road users to further risk. Call 999 immediately and request both an ambulance and police attendance for any pedestrian injury - even an apparently minor one. Do not move the pedestrian unless there is a present danger from passing traffic; secondary movement of a head-injured or spine-injured casualty can worsen the outcome. Where you cannot remain at the scene safely, stop as soon as it is safe and report the collision to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours under s.170(2)(b) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

2. Step 2

   Comply with section 170 RTA 1988 - stop, exchange and report

   Give your name and address, the name and address of the registered keeper if different, and the vehicle registration number to any person reasonably requiring them, including the pedestrian or their representative. Where personal injury has occurred, produce your certificate of insurance to a constable, or produce it within seven days at any police station under s.170(3). Where particulars cannot be exchanged at the scene - for example because the pedestrian has been taken to hospital - report the collision to the police within 24 hours. Failure to stop and failure to report are separate offences under s.170(4) carrying up to six months' imprisonment in serious cases.

3. Step 3

   Preserve dashcam, ABS / EDR data and scene evidence

   Extract and back up dashcam footage of the approach and impact within 24 hours; consumer dashcam memory cards overwrite older clips on a rolling loop. Photograph the pedestrian's final rest position, vehicle position, road markings, traffic signals, signage, kerb height and any debris before the scene is cleared. Note the lighting condition, weather and surface state. The vehicle's electronic data recorder or ABS module typically preserves five or more seconds of pre-impact speed, brake-pedal position, throttle position and steering input - instruct an independent engineer to download the data before the vehicle is repaired or written off, because the data is overwritten on subsequent ignition cycles in some vehicle systems.

4. Step 4

   Notify your insurer and seek legal advice before any police interview under caution

   Notify your motor insurer of the collision as soon as reasonably practicable - policies typically require notification within 24 to 48 hours regardless of fault. The insurer's duty under s.151 RTA 1988 to satisfy any judgment in favour of the pedestrian engages from notification. If police request a voluntary or PACE-detained interview under caution, exercise the right to free and independent legal advice before answering substantive questions. The offence framing - careless driving (s.3), dangerous driving (s.2), causing serious injury by careless driving (s.2C), causing death by careless (s.2B) or causing death by dangerous driving (s.1) - turns on the manner of driving and any aggravating factors; the interview is the moment those facts are most often established.

5. Step 5

   Cooperate with the civil claim through your insurer; do not negotiate directly

   The pedestrian will normally bring a civil claim in negligence against you, with your motor insurer responding under sections 145 and 151 RTA 1988. Do not engage in direct settlement discussions or admissions with the pedestrian or their family; refer all civil-claim correspondence to your insurer and your insurer's appointed solicitor. The civil claim and the criminal prosecution are separate proceedings - but anything you say or write outside the criminal interview can still be deployed in either forum. Where the pedestrian's injuries fall outside the Civil Liability Act 2018 tariff (most pedestrian injuries do), the claim runs on conventional Judicial College Guidelines through an SRA-regulated solicitor, not through the Official Injury Claim portal.

6. Step 6

   Address vehicle damage, possible licence action and your own welfare

   Instruct an independent engineer to inspect the vehicle before any repair, particularly where structural damage is present and where the EDR / ABS download is required. Where a fatal or serious-injury collision is involved, the police may seize the vehicle for forensic examination under s.165A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 or under PACE; the vehicle is normally released after the collision investigation report is complete. A driver charged with an offence in the s.1 / s.2 / s.2A / s.2B / s.2C / s.3 / s.3A range faces obligatory disqualification on conviction for the more serious offences and discretionary disqualification for careless driving. Drivers involved in serious-injury or fatal collisions are at high risk of psychological injury themselves - request a GP referral early.