Hit by a vehicle while walking?

Where you were and what the road looked like is usually the hardest thing to reconstruct weeks later. Describe it plainly and avoid estimating speeds or distances as if they were facts.

If it is safe and practical to return later, photographs of the same spot in daylight and after dark can both be useful — there is no expectation to go back, particularly if you were hurt. Note anything that has since changed, such as new roadworks or a removed sign.

A registration number is the single most useful detail. If you did not get it, write down everything else you do remember: type of vehicle, colour, livery or signage, roof box, taxi plate or delivery branding, and which way it went afterwards.

Do not fill gaps with guesses. "A dark hatchback, I did not see the plate" is a stronger record than an invented registration.

Various cameras may hold useful footage: shop cameras, bus cameras, traffic-signal cameras, home doorbells and dashcams in stopped traffic. Traffic-signal cameras do not always record, and there is no way to know from the scene whether footage exists. Note where those cameras are while you can still picture the scene, and consider asking the owners.

Retention and access vary widely and footage is often overwritten, so asking promptly may improve your chance of obtaining it — though it cannot be guaranteed. Note the exact time as closely as you can, because holders need it to find the right clip.

GOV.UK guidance for drivers says a driver involved in an accident must give their name and address, the vehicle registration, and the vehicle owner's details if that is someone else. Where those details were not exchanged, the guidance says the accident should be reported to the police within 24 hours, and drivers are told to notify their own insurer even if they are not claiming.

Those duties are written for drivers, not for people on foot. As a pedestrian you are not the person under them. What is useful to you is keeping any details that were given, and any police or ambulance reference number.

Incidents involving an untraced or uninsured driver follow a separate route through the Motor Insurers' Bureau, which applies its own criteria. That route exists independently of anything on this site.

Official Injury Claim is a direct route for some lower-value driver and passenger claims in England and Wales, with its own eligibility rules. Do not assume it covers your situation — check its own criteria.