12.1 Duties After a Road Crash

Why post-crash duties sit on the FRSC CBT

Most of this study guide teaches how to avoid crashes: parade checks, speed tables, signs, SIPDE, seat belts, and offence codes. Part Three of the Nigerian Highway Code answers a different question: what must you do when a crash has already happened? The FRSC Driver's Licence Computer-Based Test samples this material because a licensed driver is expected to stop, protect life, protect the scene, report, and not make the harm worse — not only to know a circular red-border sign.

Quick Answer: If involved, stop — do not flee. Check yourself and others. If unhurt, leave the epicentre to a safer place, warn others if you can, and assist within competence. Tell the truth to law enforcement, record skid marks and identification, photograph when safe, contact your insurer, and report to the nearest FRSC office or call 0700-2255-3772. Occupants and volunteers also have duties. Hospitals must not reject accident victims. Know high-level vehicle-fire response: stop, get people out, extinguish if trained and safe, call experts for tankers.

Nigeria drives on the right-hand side of the road. After a crash that blocks a carriageway, vehicles may still approach from behind on the right-side flow pattern you trained for — so scene warning and safe positioning matter as much as first aid theory.

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Highway Code map — Part Three Section A

Part Three is titled Post Road Use Activities. Section A covers Responsibilities in the Event of Road Crash, broken into:

Section B covers vehicle fire prevention and drills — examined at high level later in this section. Section D lists traffic offences at a glance, including rejection of accident victims by hospital medical personnel.

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Drivers of vehicles — stop, do not flee

The Code's driver list is short and high-yield. Learn it as a sequence, not a shopping list of optional niceties.

1. Stop at the scene of the crash

If you are involved, stop. Leaving the scene to avoid responsibility is the opposite of Code duty and is treated in everyday enforcement language as hit-and-run / failure to stop behaviour. On the CBT, any option that says "drive away quietly if damage looks minor and no police are watching" is wrong.

Stopping does not mean standing in the live lane arguing while tankers approach at speed. Stopping means: you remain available as a responsible party and you manage the next steps.

2. Check if you are hurt

Adrenaline hides injury. Before you become the hero rescuer, check yourself: consciousness, breathing, bleeding, pain, ability to stand and think. A driver who collapses mid-rescue becomes a second casualty.

3. Check if anybody is hurt

Scan passengers, the other vehicle(s), pedestrians, okada riders, and anyone on the verge. Call out; look for people who cannot answer. Priority is life-threatening situations (Chapter 12.2), but the driver duty starts with finding who needs help.

4. If not hurt — leave the epicentre, then assist

The Code is explicit: if you are not hurt, leave the epicentre of the crash to a safe location, summon courage, and assist others. Two ideas live together:

• Do not remain where a secondary collision (another vehicle hitting the wreck) is likely.
• Do not walk away from the whole event and abandon the injured.

"Safe location" means off the live path of traffic when possible, behind a barrier if one exists, or well clear of leaking fuel and unstable vehicles — without abandoning the duty to help and report.

5. State the facts to law enforcement

If asked by law enforcement agents, state the fact of the case. Truthful reporting is a Code duty. Inventing a story to shift blame, disappearing before officers arrive when you could remain, or coaching passengers to lie, fails both ethics and exam logic.

6. Document: skid marks, identification, photographs

When it is safe to do so, the Code directs you to get skid marks, other identification, and photographs. Why the CBT cares:

• Skid marks and rest positions help reconstruct speed and path.
• Vehicle plate numbers, licence details, and witness names protect you later.
• Photographs freeze evidence before wreckers or rain erase it.

Never step into live traffic for a "perfect" photo. Documentation is secondary to not becoming the next body.

7. Contact your insurer and lawyer

Crash aftermath is civil and sometimes criminal. The Code tells drivers to contact their insurer and lawyer. For exam purposes: insurance notification is part of responsible post-crash conduct; hiding the crash from the insurer is not a Highway Code value.

8. Report to FRSC

Report the crash to the nearest FRSC office or phone 0700-2255-3772. FRSC is the Federal Road Safety Corps — the national road-safety authority that also frames much of your theory exam. Memorise that reporting is a driver duty, not a favour you do only if the other party insists.

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Vehicle occupants — your role if you are not the driver

Occupants (passengers) have their own Code list:

1. If not hurt, vacate the hazardous location on the highway.
2. Give all necessary information.
3. If hurt but able to talk, explain where it hurts to the first aider.
4. Cooperate with the first aider.

Passengers who film for social media while blocking help, or who refuse to leave a smoking wreck "to guard luggage," are working against the Code. Vacate hazard first; protect property second.

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Volunteers and bystanders

Not every helper was in the crash. Volunteers who stop should:

• Stop to help at traffic crash scenes (the Code frames this as expected civic road-user behaviour).
• Cooperate with the first aider.
• Not compound the victim's pain with loud emotional scenes, panic shouting, or blame fights over the casualty.
• Help clear obstructions when safe.
• Not constitute obstructions themselves (parking across both lanes "to watch," clustering in the live path, or creating a second jam that causes more collisions).

Code note: the life you help save today may save yours tomorrow. On the CBT, choose options that help without blocking and calm the scene rather than drama.

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Make the scene safer without further risk

The assignment theme "warn other traffic; make scene safer if possible without further risk" stitches several Code duties together:

Secondary crashes kill people who survived the first impact. Your defensive SIPDE skills from Chapter 9 still apply as a pedestrian at a crash scene: search for approaching traffic, predict late brakers, decide a safe standing zone, execute by getting yourself and others out of the path.

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Assist within competence — then get professional help

Drivers and volunteers assist within competence. The first-aid chapter (12.2) expands the medical skills. For 12.1, lock the policy level:

• You are not required to perform surgery at the roadside.
• You are expected to stop, protect, call, and help at a basic level.
• The Code later says: never assume the role of a doctor — evacuate victims to hospital.
• Use bystanders sensibly for transport and crowd control when needed.

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Hospitals must not reject accident victims

Highway Code Section D — Traffic Offences at a Glance includes among listed offences:

Reject accident victims by hospital medical personnel

That item is exam-relevant even though you are a driver candidate, not a hospital administrator. Why it appears in a driving code:

• Crash survival depends on prompt hospital acceptance.
• Public policy treats refusal of accident victims as an offence theme, not a private hospital "preference."
• As a driver/volunteer, your job after stabilisation steps is transport without delay to a medical centre — and the system is not supposed to bounce the casualty at the door for payment theatre while they bleed.

CBT stems may ask which listed behaviours are offences. Prefer the option that says hospitals must not reject accident victims / rejection is an offence over myths that hospitals may freely turn all crash cases away.

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Vehicle fire awareness (high level)

Part Three Section B covers vehicle fire prevention and drills. You need principles, not a firefighter licence.

Fire triangle

Fire needs oxygen, heat, and fuel. Remove any leg of the triangle and the fire dies. Extinction methods in the Code language include cooling (water to lower temperature), smothering (foam/blanket to exclude air), and starving (remove fuel/burnable material from the path of spread).

Classes of fire (recognition)

Automobile fires often start in the engine compartment from electrical sparks, faulty wiring, or overheating.

Automobile fire drill (exam package)

1. As soon as fire is discovered: switch off and safely discharge passengers.
2. Reach for the fire extinguisher.
3. Open the bonnet gently and discharge extinguisher at the base of the fire.
4. Disconnect battery terminals if safe, to reduce further sparks.
5. Passenger-compartment fires may need water jet; cool a fuel tank with spray if needed to reduce burst risk.
6. Nearby vehicles: stop and switch off; park at a reasonable distance from a leaking tanker.
7. No smoking; call the fire brigade; for a tanker fully on fire, clear people and leave expert firefighting to professionals — don't "fight" a fully involved tanker fire as an amateur.

Related offence list item: driving without a fire extinguisher appears among Code offence themes — prevention starts before the crash or fire.

Extinguisher operation mnemonic from the Code

Hold upright: pull the pin / break cartridge → aim at the base → squeeze → discharge at the base of the flame.

Hazardous loads: read the danger labels

Part Three Section C of the Code covers warning / danger labels for hazardous substances. Vehicles carrying dangerous goods display hazard information panels and diamond danger labels whose codes tell responders what chemical is being carried, what equipment a spillage or fire needs, and the telephone number for an emergency. Recognition basics: a black bomb on an orange background warns of explosion risk, a black flame on red warns of flammable gas or flammable liquids, and a skull on white warns of toxic gas. Practical rules for the car candidate:

• Keep well back from placarded tankers and dangerous-goods vehicles; never linger alongside them (Chapter 6 weight-disparity logic, amplified by cargo risk).
• If you are involved in or stop at a crash involving such a vehicle, tell the emergency services what the load is and the code numbers shown, if given.
• Treat smoke, vapour, or spillage around a placarded vehicle as a keep-away zone — in that situation assist within competence means calling the experts and keeping others back, not approaching with a handheld extinguisher.

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Realistic crash-scene scenarios (Nigeria)

Scenario A — Minor bumper knock in traffic. Both drivers unhurt. Still stop, exchange identification, photograph plates and damage, check whether any pedestrian was involved, and report as required. "It is only paint" is not a licence to disappear.

Scenario B — Injury crash on a dual carriageway. You are unhurt. Leave the epicentre to the shoulder/barrier side when safe, switch on hazards, check casualties, call 0700-2255-3772 / emergency help, give first aid within competence (12.2), keep bystanders from blocking the fast lane, tell officers the facts, contact insurer later when life is stable.

Scenario C — Fuel smell after impact. Treat fire risk as real: engines off, no smoking, passengers out, extinguisher ready, distance from other traffic, professional help. Do not "check the tank with a lighter."

Scenario D — Crowd theatre. Volunteers argue and film. Correct volunteer behaviour: cooperate with the first aider, clear obstruction, do not become the obstruction, calm emotional outbursts near the injured.

Scenario E — Hospital gate. Casualty arrives after roadside care. Code offence theme: medical personnel must not reject accident victims. Your driver/volunteer duty was timely transport; the system duty is acceptance for care.

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Study checklist for Section 12.1

1. Stop if involved — no fleeing.
2. Check self, then others.
3. Unhurt → leave epicentre → assist.
4. Facts to law enforcement; document safely; insurer/lawyer.
5. Report FRSC / 0700-2255-3772.
6. Occupants vacate hazard and cooperate; volunteers help without blocking.
7. Hospital rejection of accident victims = offence theme.
8. Fire: triangle; passenger first; extinguisher at base; tanker = experts.

Link forward

Section 12.2 turns "assist within competence" into Highway Code first-aid rules: scene safety, breathing, bleeding, recovery position, and what not to do. Section 12.3 reviews the whole CBT for exam day.

Post-crash duty card (say it aloud)

1. Stop — do not flee.
2. Me → them — check injuries.
3. Safe place if unhurt — then help.
4. Warn / don't block.
5. Facts to officers; photos/IDs/marks when safe.
6. Insurer (and lawyer as needed).
7. FRSC report — office or 0700-2255-3772.
8. Hospital path — victims must not be rejected.

Exchange of details in plain language

The Code language emphasises stating facts, identification, and documentation. In practice that means names, contact details, vehicle registration/identification marks, licence particulars where required, and a clear account of what happened — given to lawful authority and shared as the process requires. Do not invent details; do not refuse all identification because you "feel innocent."

Link to offence culture

Chapter 11 taught codes such as dangerous driving and phone use. Post-crash, new failures appear: leaving the scene, obstructing marshals, failing to report as required, and system failures such as hospital rejection of accident victims. Safe driving prevents crashes; responsible aftermath limits the second wave of harm.