Does section 20003 of the California Highway Traffic Act require a driver to identify himself at the scene of the accident?

Consideration of the purpose of the statute also supports our interpretation. "[Sections 20001 and 20003 are part of a statutory scheme which imposes on drivers the obligation to self-report when the driver's vehicle has been involved in an accident. The purpose of these statutes is `to promote the satisfaction of civil liabilities arising from automobile accidents....' [Citations.] In those cases where it is not apparent that a person was driving, section 20003 would fail to serve the purpose of the statutory scheme if it did not impose a requirement that the person at the scene disclose that he was the driver of a vehicle involved in the accident"; (People v. Kroncke (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th 1535, 1546-1547, 83 Cal.Rptr.2d 493, fn. omitted.)

Other cases have noted the combined objective of the statutes in preventing potential defendants from incurring liability together with providing assistance to injured persons. "`The legislative purpose of sections 20001 and 20003 is to prevent the driver of a vehicle involved in an injury-causing accident from leaving injured persons in distress and danger for want of medical care and from attempting to avoid possible civil or criminal liability for the accident by failing to identify oneself...."' (People v. Escobar (1991) 235 Cal.App.3d 1504, 1510, 1 Cal.Rptr.2d 579.) But the statute's objective of providing assistance to injured persons would be satisfied by the furnishing of such assistance, whether the accident results in injuries to one person or to many.