(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a motor vehicle involved in a traffic accident and the driver of the motor vehicle shall be subject to this section.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-10-117

  • accident: includes any collision or crash, regardless of the degree of care exercised by the drivers involved or whether it was the result of criminal conduct. See Tennessee Code 55-10-101
  • Driver: means :
    (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) This section shall apply to any motor vehicle traffic accident that occurs on a divided, controlled access highway or interstate highway of this state.
(c) When a motor vehicle traffic accident occurs with no apparent serious personal injury or death, the driver of each motor vehicle involved in the traffic accident, or any other occupant of any such motor vehicle who possesses a valid driver license, should remove the vehicle from the immediate confines of the roadway into a safe refuge on the shoulder, emergency lane, or median, or to a place otherwise removed from the roadway whenever, in the judgment of the driver, the moving of a vehicle may be done safely and the vehicle is capable of being normally and safely driven, does not require towing, and may be operated under its own power in its customary manner without further damage or hazard to itself, to the traffic elements, or to the roadway. The driver of the motor vehicle may request any person who possesses a valid driver license to remove the motor vehicle as provided in this section, and that person may comply with the request.
(d) The driver or any other person who has removed a motor vehicle from the main traveled way of the road as provided in subsection (c) before the arrival of a law enforcement officer shall not be considered liable or at fault regarding the cause of the accident solely by reason of moving the vehicle pursuant to this section.
(e) This section does not abrogate or affect a driver’s duty to file any written report that may be required by law, but compliance with the requirements of this section does not allow a driver to be prosecuted for the failure to stop and immediately report a traffic accident.
(f) This section does not abrogate or affect a driver’s duty to stop and give information in accordance with law, nor does it relieve a law enforcement officer of the officer’s duty to render a report in accordance with law.
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