A clarification of the Police's duties with regard to cycle crashes given on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers to a meeting of the Highways Agency Users' Consultative Committee, February 1999.
All road accidents involving human death or personal injury occurring on the highway and notified to the police within 30 days of occurrence, and in which one or more vehicles are involved, are to be reported.
Examples of accidents to be reported include:
a) Accidents which commence on the highway but which involve casualties off the highway (e.g. where a vehicle runs out of control while on the highway and causes casualties elsewhere)
b) Accidents involving the boarding and alighting of buses or coaches and accidents in which passengers already aboard a bus/coach are injured, whether or not another vehicle or a pedestrian is involved
c) Accidents to pedal cyclists including where the pedal cyclists injure themselves or a pedestrian
d) Accidents resulting from deliberate acts of violence but excluding casualties who are subsequently identified as confirmed suicides
Examples of accidents which should not be reported include:
a) Accidents which do not involve personal injury
b) Accidents on private roads or in car par ks
c) Accidents reported to the police 30 or more days after they occurred
d) Accidents involving confirmed suicides only
Note:The Stats 19 requirement is clear that all accidents involving non motor vehicles such as pedal cycles and ridden horses on public roads should be reported regardless of motor vehicle or pedestrian involvement.
See also: Section 170 Road Traffic Act 1988