Chapter 10 - part 5 - Offences - Leaving the scene of the accident or modifying or deleting its traces

Reference articles from the legislation in force

Criminal Code - Article 338

Leaving the scene of the accident or modifying or deleting its traces

(1) Leaving the scene of the accident, without the approval of the police or of the prosecutor who conducts the investigation of the scene, by the driver of the vehicle or by the driving instructor, who is in the process of training, or by the examiner of the competent authority, who is during the practical tests of the examination for obtaining the driving licence, involved in a traffic accident, is punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 7 years.

(2) The same penalty also sanctions the act of any person to modify the condition of the place or to delete the traces of the traffic accident which resulted in the killing or injury of the bodily integrity or health of one or more persons, without the consent of the investigation team at the scene.

(3) It does not constitute an offence to leave the scene of the accident when:

a) only material damages were produced as a result of the accident;
b) the driver of the vehicle, in the absence of other means of transport, personally transports the injured persons to the nearest medical unit able to provide the necessary medical assistance and where he declared his personal identification data and the registration number of the driven vehicle, recorded in a special register, if he immediately returns to the scene of the accident;
c) the driver of the motor vehicle with priority traffic regime immediately notifies the police, and after completing the mission he presents himself at the police unit whose competence area the accident occurred in, for the preparation of the finding documents;
d) the victim leaves the scene, and the driver of the vehicle immediately reports the event to the nearest police unit.

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Text version Chapter 10 - part 5 - Offences - Leaving the scene of the accident or modifying or deleting its traces

Leaving the scene of the accident, without the approval of the police or of the prosecutor who conducts the investigation of the scene, by the driver of the vehicle or by the driving instructor, who is in the process of training, or by the examiner of the competent authority, who is during the practical tests of the examination for obtaining the driving licence, involved in a traffic accident, is punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 7 years (art. 338 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code). + the retention of the driving licence for the purpose of its cancellation. (a replacement proof is issued without the right to drive)

With the same penalty (imprisonment from 2 to 7 years) is sanctioned also the act of any person to modify the condition of the place or to delete the traces of the traffic accident which resulted in the killing or injury of the bodily integrity or health of one or more persons, without the consent of the investigation team at the scene (art. 338 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code). 

ATTENTION! THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT CONSIDERED OFFENCES

It does not constitute an offence to leave the scene of the accident when (art. 338 paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code):

• only material damages were produced as a result of the accident; 
• the driver of the vehicle, in the absence of other means of transport, personally transports the injured persons to the nearest medical unit able to provide the necessary medical assistance and where he declared his personal identification data and the registration number of the driven vehicle, recorded in a special register, if he immediately returns to the scene of the accident; 
• the driver of the motor vehicle with priority traffic regime immediately notifies the police, and after completing the mission he presents himself at the police unit whose competence area the accident occurred in, for the preparation of the finding documents; 
• the victim leaves the scene, and the driver of the vehicle immediately reports the event to the nearest police unit.