A female driver in Changsha, Hunan Province received a call from the police: "Ms. X, someone reported that you ran away after hitting someone else's cat to death!" ”
On the day of the incident, the female driver was driving on the road when a cat jumped off a stone pier on the side of the road. The female driver subconsciously slammed the steering wheel and still crushed the cat to death! The female driver left without stopping, she felt that the cat crashed "because she was looking for her own death" and had nothing to do with herself!
The owner of the cat, Zhou, saw that his cat was hit and killed, and the driver ran away. After checking the surveillance in front of the door, he reported that "the XXXXXX car traffic hit-and-run, and asked the driver to compensate for the loss of 3,800 yuan for buying a cat, and asked the insurance company to compensate for his losses within the scope of compulsory traffic insurance." ”
The female driver believed: "Zhou didn't take care of the cat himself, and the responsibility for the car accident is not his own, so he doesn't agree to compensation." Your car is insured, and if you need compensation, you will be compensated by the insurance company. ”
Zhou believes: "The driver has the obligation to pay attention to the condition of the road surface when driving, and the driver should be liable for compensation if he crushed my cat to death if he did not pay attention to the road conditions." Since the vehicle involved in the accident is insured, the insurance company should compensate for its own losses. ”
The insurance company believes: "If the traffic accident liability certificate confirms that the car hitting the cat is a traffic accident, and confirms that the female driver bears all or part of the responsibility, the insurance company can pay money according to the proportion of responsibility determined by the traffic accident!" Otherwise, the insurance company is not liable. ”
Zhou asked the traffic police to issue a letter of responsibility for the accident, and the traffic police department believed: "Because it is impossible to determine under what circumstances the cat ran onto the road, the traffic police department can only issue a certificate to prove that the cat death accident occurred in a collision with the car of driver X, but the responsibility cannot be determined." ”
Zhou could not get the traffic accident certificate from the traffic police department, and the insurance company refused to compensate. Zhou believes that he has surveillance video to prove that the female driver hit the cat to death while driving, and the traffic police should issue a certificate of responsibility for the accident. But the traffic police department refused Zhou's request.
This is a very interesting civil dispute, the cat was hit by a car is a fact, the traffic police can not determine the responsibility for the accident, nor can they issue a traffic accident liability determination, of course, the insurance company has the right to refuse compensation. Under normal circumstances, after a traffic accident occurs, the responsibility of all parties to the accident is determined by the traffic police, which is the premise of compensation for the accident and insurance claims. If Zhou, the owner of the cat, cannot provide a certificate of responsibility for the traffic accident, the right to compensation claimed by him cannot be protected.
It is true that the vehicle crushed the cat is an accident, but it is not a traffic accident. The road traffic law of the mainland regulates the road traffic accident relationship between motor vehicles and motor vehicles, motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles, non-motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles, motor vehicles and pedestrians, and non-motor vehicles and pedestrians.
In traffic accident disputes, the motor vehicle and the motor vehicle, non-motor vehicle and pedestrian have the same rights and obligations as the driver of the accident, the most important of which is that both parties must abide by traffic laws and regulations, and after a traffic accident, the violating party shall bear the main or full responsibility for the accident.
Animals or pets do not have the mental consciousness of people and it is impossible to obey traffic laws. When a keeper fails to take restraint measures against his animal, and a motor vehicle strikes resulting in injury or death to the animal, the driver of the vehicle cannot be held liable. Because, the principle of compensation for traffic accidents is fault compensation, not no-fault compensation. Although the compulsory traffic insurance of motor vehicles can bear the liability for no-fault compensation to the victim, whether the principle of no-fault compensation can be applied to the death of a pet or animal after being hit by a vehicle is not stipulated by law, and the traffic police cannot enforce the law at will. In the event of a lawsuit, the court is unable to adjudicate because it is unable to determine the liability of the parties to the lawsuit.
One day many years ago, when the author drove to the Ji'an agency business, a group of free-range chickens were frightened by something and suddenly flew to the other side of the road, and a chicken hit the author's car and died instantly.
The owner of the chicken asked the author for compensation, and the author said: "You can report to the traffic police, as long as the traffic police can confirm that I am responsible, I will pay money." Otherwise I won't compensate. ”
The owner of the chicken thought for a moment, mentioned the dead chicken, and said, "Forget it, eat chicken today!" ”
On this day, I don't know what happened, when the author walked back to the outside of Qinghe Town, a cat suddenly came out of the grass and crossed the road, and the wheels "clucked" and bumped. When I stopped and looked, a cat was lying on the road and died instantly.
The owner of the cat was enjoying the shade in front of the door, he looked at the scene and waved his hand, saying: "You go, a beast, you don't know the traffic rules, you look for death, I can't complain about you." ”
The author gave him a thumbs up and said, "Reasonable people should be praised!" ”
The owners of the animals I met were all reasonable people, and it would be troublesome if I met unreasonable people. Therefore, in the event of a driver hitting and killing an animal, the car should be parked in the emergency lane or pulled over in time, and the emergency double flashing lights of the vehicle should be turned on. If the owner of the animal is in front of him, the two parties can negotiate and explain the reason, if the negotiation fails, the police should be called in time to explain the accident to the traffic police. If your vehicle is damaged, you can apply to the insurance company to pay a claim for the vehicle if you want the traffic police to issue an accident certificate.
The "Measures for the Handling of Road Traffic Accidents" does not stipulate that the vehicle hitting the animal is a traffic accident, but there are provisions on the highway and national highway that animals are not allowed to wander, and the traffic police department generally does not file a case in such cases. In addition, the animals should be led by the owner on the road, and the households on the side of the road should keep the chickens in captivity, and the animals should not be free-roam on the road. From a legal point of view, the animal is only the private property of the keeper, and the keeper is obliged to take good care of his animal. In principle, the motor vehicle shall not be liable for the death or injury of an animal that is not controlled by its owner while driving normally.
Article 2 of the Measures for the Handling of Road Traffic Accidents stipulates: "The term "road traffic accident" in these Measures refers to an accident in which vehicle drivers, pedestrians, passengers and other persons engaged in traffic-related activities on the road negligently cause personal injury or death or property damage due to violations of the Road Traffic Management Regulations of the People's Republic of China and other road traffic management regulations and rules (hereinafter referred to as violations). ”
According to this article, the death of an animal by a vehicle is not a "road traffic accident", but can only be regarded as an accident in which a motor vehicle collides with an animal.
Article 17 of the Measures for the Handling of Road Traffic Accidents stipulates that: "After ascertaining the cause of the traffic accident, the public security organ shall determine the responsibility of the party concerned for the traffic accident based on the causal relationship between the party's violation and the traffic accident, as well as the role of the violation in the traffic accident."
If a party has violated a violation, and there is a causal relationship between the violation and the traffic accident, it shall bear responsibility for the traffic accident. If the party concerned has not violated the rules or has violated the rules, but there is no causal relationship between the violation and the traffic accident, he shall not be liable for the traffic accident. ”
This provision has made it clear that "the two parties to the traffic accident are only the parties", and whether an animal collides with a vehicle or not, regardless of whether the animal is injured or killed, it is impossible to determine whether the animal is responsible in accordance with the law, so the collision between the car and the animal can only be regarded as a property damage accident, and the responsibility of the animal and the driver cannot be determined by the Measures for the Handling of Road Traffic Accidents.
Article 60 of the Road Traffic Safety Law stipulates that "tamed livestock shall be used to drive an animal-powered vehicle; When driving an animal-powered vehicle across the road, the driver should get out of the vehicle and pull the livestock; When the driver leaves the vehicle, he shall keep the animal on a leash. ”
According to this provision, if an animal is hit by a car on the highway because it is not restrained, if the driver does not violate the rules, it is not at fault and should not bear tort liability.