What you need to do if you have a car accident in Norway
If you find yourself in a car accident in Norway there are certain steps you need to take.
Being in a car accident can be an incredibly stressful experience. Imagine you've recently relocated to Bergen in western Norway. You decided to buy a car for work purposes and are currently on your way to the office.
As you drive down Sotraveien, cross the central bridge, and tune in to the local Radio Sutra station, an unexpected situation unfolds.
EXPLAINED: The ways you can lose your driving licence in Norway
The vehicle in front of you suddenly slams on its brakes, and you are unable to stop in time. This results in a minor collision that damages both vehicles.
In that split second, as your adrenaline surges from 0 to 100, especially in a foreign country where you might still be navigating your Norwegian language course, it's not uncommon for most people to feel overwhelmed or freeze.
That's precisely why knowing the correct steps to take is crucial for effectively handling this situation.
So, here's what you need to do.
Carefully examine your surroundings, stop, and provide assistance
The first and most important step following a traffic accident is to stop your vehicle and offer assistance.
In Norway, the law requires anyone involved in or encountering a traffic accident to stop and provide aid to injured people (and animals).
READ MORE: What happens if you are caught driving without a valid licence in Norway?
As Marius Rehn, an air ambulance doctor at Oslo University Hospital, said in a 2022 interview with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), the most dangerous scenario in such situations is when nobody takes action.
According to Rehn, ordinary people can play a pivotal role, and, as he said, making an effort is far superior to doing nothing at all.
"When no form of first aid is administered at the scene, it significantly negatively affects the emergency services' ability to provide advanced first aid," Rehn said at the time.
So, whether you are directly involved in the accident or merely a passerby, your immediate assistance can be crucial in saving lives.
Always stop when you spot such an accident – but do so at a safe distance from the accident scene if you're not directly involved so that emergency services can access the site without issues.
Remember to activate your vehicle's hazard lights to alert other drivers to the presence of an accident, and put on a reflective vest (such vests are mandatory in all vehicles in Norway and should be easily accessible from your front seat).
As the Norwegian Automobile Federation (NAF) points out on its website, if no one has taken charge of the situation, assume responsibility for securing the accident scene.
Assign someone to manage traffic and place a warning triangle to signal to other drivers the presence of an accident. The warning triangle should be positioned at least 50 meters from the accident site in densely populated areas. In less populated areas, it should be placed between 150 to 250 meters from the scene.
If someone else is already coordinating these efforts, assist them as needed.
Call the emergency services
Once you've taken these immediate actions, call emergency services immediately. Dial 113 for an ambulance or 112 for the police.
When you reach a dispatcher, share all the essential information, including your name, location, and contact number.
Additionally, describe the accident, specifying the number of injured people, the number of vehicles involved, and whether anyone is still trapped as a result of the accident.
The dispatcher will usually give you some instructions.
What if there are injured people on site?
If you can see that a person is injured at the accident scene, you may be required to to administer first aid.
Standard guidelines state that people not making sounds or displaying signs of consciousness should be prioritised.
In an extreme circumstances you may be required to perform potentially life-saving CPR on an injured victim. You can find out more advice on first aid and giving CPR from the Red Cross.
…or do the following if you can't spot any injuries
If no injuries are apparent in the accident, activate your hazard lights, then put on a reflective vest to ensure your safety. Lastly, secure the accident scene by placing a warning triangle.
If you're not sure whether you need to inform the police, err on the side of caution and notify them. If there are injuries the police should be called.
Remember that issues such as driving under the influence are within the police's jurisdiction, even if there are no reported injuries. So, collect witness information, take photographs of the accident scene, and complete a damage report.
Filing reports and exchanging details
After an accident, you will need to file a damage report. The person in the other vehicle will be required to do the same, you will also need to get the other person to sign your damage report.
This means you will need to come to some agreement on what caused the accident or what happened. Insurance companies suggest filling out the accident report as soon as you can. However, they also encourage you not to sign anything you disagree with.
In practice, this can make getting the report filled out quite stressful, as the two parties might have different ideas about what caused the accident in the first place.
However, as long as you get the other person's main details, such as name, address, phone number and vehicle reg, you can send your report off without their signature.
Ideally, you will also need to take pictures of the accident site and vehicles before they are moved.
These accident forms can be kept in your glovebox if you need them or accessed digitally via the Norwegian Automobile Federation's online form.
The idea of the form isn't to attribute blame but to gather all the facts. It's actually down to the insurance companies to figure out who is to blame. So, as long as you remember this, the forms shouldn't feel too confrontational.
Once the report is filled out, you will need to send it off to your insurance company as soon as possible.
Key vocabulary:
Trafikkulykke (traffic accident)
Kollisjon (collision)
Skade (damage)
Førstehjelp (first aid)
Ambulanse (ambulance)
Politiet (police)
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Being in a car accident can be an incredibly stressful experience. Imagine you've recently relocated to Bergen in western Norway. You decided to buy a car for work purposes and are currently on your way to the office.
As you drive down Sotraveien, cross the central bridge, and tune in to the local Radio Sutra station, an unexpected situation unfolds.
EXPLAINED: The ways you can lose your driving licence in Norway
The vehicle in front of you suddenly slams on its brakes, and you are unable to stop in time. This results in a minor collision that damages both vehicles.
In that split second, as your adrenaline surges from 0 to 100, especially in a foreign country where you might still be navigating your Norwegian language course, it's not uncommon for most people to feel overwhelmed or freeze.
That's precisely why knowing the correct steps to take is crucial for effectively handling this situation.
So, here's what you need to do.
Carefully examine your surroundings, stop, and provide assistance
The first and most important step following a traffic accident is to stop your vehicle and offer assistance.
In Norway, the law requires anyone involved in or encountering a traffic accident to stop and provide aid to injured people (and animals).
READ MORE: What happens if you are caught driving without a valid licence in Norway?
As Marius Rehn, an air ambulance doctor at Oslo University Hospital, said in a 2022 interview with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), the most dangerous scenario in such situations is when nobody takes action.
According to Rehn, ordinary people can play a pivotal role, and, as he said, making an effort is far superior to doing nothing at all.
"When no form of first aid is administered at the scene, it significantly negatively affects the emergency services' ability to provide advanced first aid," Rehn said at the time.
So, whether you are directly involved in the accident or merely a passerby, your immediate assistance can be crucial in saving lives.
Always stop when you spot such an accident – but do so at a safe distance from the accident scene if you're not directly involved so that emergency services can access the site without issues.
Remember to activate your vehicle's hazard lights to alert other drivers to the presence of an accident, and put on a reflective vest (such vests are mandatory in all vehicles in Norway and should be easily accessible from your front seat).
As the Norwegian Automobile Federation (NAF) points out on its website, if no one has taken charge of the situation, assume responsibility for securing the accident scene.
Assign someone to manage traffic and place a warning triangle to signal to other drivers the presence of an accident. The warning triangle should be positioned at least 50 meters from the accident site in densely populated areas. In less populated areas, it should be placed between 150 to 250 meters from the scene.
If someone else is already coordinating these efforts, assist them as needed.
Call the emergency services
Once you've taken these immediate actions, call emergency services immediately. Dial 113 for an ambulance or 112 for the police.
When you reach a dispatcher, share all the essential information, including your name, location, and contact number.
Additionally, describe the accident, specifying the number of injured people, the number of vehicles involved, and whether anyone is still trapped as a result of the accident.
The dispatcher will usually give you some instructions.
What if there are injured people on site?
If you can see that a person is injured at the accident scene, you may be required to to administer first aid.
Standard guidelines state that people not making sounds or displaying signs of consciousness should be prioritised.
In an extreme circumstances you may be required to perform potentially life-saving CPR on an injured victim. You can find out more advice on first aid and giving CPR from the Red Cross.
…or do the following if you can't spot any injuries
If no injuries are apparent in the accident, activate your hazard lights, then put on a reflective vest to ensure your safety. Lastly, secure the accident scene by placing a warning triangle.
If you're not sure whether you need to inform the police, err on the side of caution and notify them. If there are injuries the police should be called.
Remember that issues such as driving under the influence are within the police's jurisdiction, even if there are no reported injuries. So, collect witness information, take photographs of the accident scene, and complete a damage report.
Filing reports and exchanging details
After an accident, you will need to file a damage report. The person in the other vehicle will be required to do the same, you will also need to get the other person to sign your damage report.
This means you will need to come to some agreement on what caused the accident or what happened. Insurance companies suggest filling out the accident report as soon as you can. However, they also encourage you not to sign anything you disagree with.
In practice, this can make getting the report filled out quite stressful, as the two parties might have different ideas about what caused the accident in the first place.
However, as long as you get the other person's main details, such as name, address, phone number and vehicle reg, you can send your report off without their signature.
Ideally, you will also need to take pictures of the accident site and vehicles before they are moved.
These accident forms can be kept in your glovebox if you need them or accessed digitally via the Norwegian Automobile Federation's online form.
The idea of the form isn't to attribute blame but to gather all the facts. It's actually down to the insurance companies to figure out who is to blame. So, as long as you remember this, the forms shouldn't feel too confrontational.
Once the report is filled out, you will need to send it off to your insurance company as soon as possible.
Key vocabulary:
Trafikkulykke (traffic accident)
Kollisjon (collision)
Skade (damage)
Førstehjelp (first aid)
Ambulanse (ambulance)
Politiet (police)
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