Accident or collision?

Frequently in everyday life we hear the word “accident” in the context of a traffic incident. It is used interchangeably with the word “collision”. What are the differences? A collision is a traffic incident where there is material loss, damage to a vehicle or property. A traffic accident, on the other hand, is an event where there are injuries to participants. These injuries must result in disruption of health for more than seven days. The qualification of injuries is handled by forensic medicine. A fracture of the bone of the little finger of the hand does not necessarily qualify as resulting in disruption of health for more than seven days, but, for example, a fracture of the bone of the forearm with high probability already does. Knocking out a tooth – the so-called “one” will qualify as damage beyond seven days, but knocking out the so-called “three”, for example, will not necessarily. Internal injuries, despite the fact that the integrity of the skin coating is not damaged, will be more than seven days. Importantly, the mere fact of hospitalization and its duration does not affect the qualification of injuries. It is the medical qualification of the effect of the event that determines whether the proceedings will be conducted under the misdemeanor code or the criminal code, and therefore whether the event is a collision or a traffic accident