Unfortunately, many of you will have already experienced it: One moment of not paying attention and it's already happened - having caused a traffic accident is always an unpleasant situation. Bodywork damage is particularly common in parking lots, for example when parking or leaving a space or when a shopping trolley rolls away. But dents on vehicles are not the only consequences of accidents: Time and again, people also come to harm and are injured - with varying degrees of severity.
Whatever type of traffic accident you have caused: Please don't panic! Mistakes do happen. However, in these moments it is important to act correctly and report the incident to the police immediately. Every year, however, several hundred road users in Lippe fail to do this: instead, they flee the scene of an accident and commit a criminal offense. A hit-and-run is not a trivial offense - even if there are "only" a few scratches on the vehicle.
Always put yourself in the position of the injured party, for whom it is terribly annoying and complicated not to know who caused the accident and is responsible for the damage to the vehicle. It is even worse for people who are injured and suffer damage to their health for which no one takes responsibility - especially as some injuries are not visible immediately after the accident but only become apparent later.
From a police perspective too, hit-and-run accidents often lead to unnecessarily time-consuming investigations for only minor (sheet metal) damage. However, this takes up a lot of time for the traffic police, which could be better invested in investigating serious traffic offenses instead... That's why we answer the most important questions about hit-and-run accidents below and explain why it should never be an option.
Help prevent hit-and-run accidents: Report a traffic accident to the police yourself and don't make yourself liable to prosecution - true to our motto #hit-and-run with me!
If you witness a hit-and-run, please pass on your information to our traffic police department: The contact details can be found on the right-hand side of this page (on mobile devices at the bottom).