Hit and Run Accident

If you’re involved in an accident and you leave the scene without following certain procedures, that’s called a hit and run. By doing so, you put yourself at risk of not just receiving a ticket, but in some cases you can be charged with a felony.

Accidents Where the Other Party isn’t Present

If you hit a car in a parking lot, of course you’re not expected to wait by that vehicle for the driver to come out so you can follow the proper accident procedures. But even then the law requires that you make every effort to contact the owner of the vehicle and take responsibility for doing so.

Leaving a note on the vehicle about what happened with your contact information is one way to ensure you’ve made the effort required to notify the owner.

Accidents in Which the Other Party is Involved

If you’re involved in an accident, regardless of whom you believe to be at fault, state law requires you to stop as soon as possible. You can then exchange information with the other driver, which usually includes your contact information as well as insurance information, if necessary. If the other party seems to be injured, you have the responsibility to do what you reasonably can to help them, like calling for emergency assistance.

Not every accident requires law enforcement be called, but if there is damage that one driver’s insurance will be expected to pay, a police report may be necessary.

Accident Conditions

What you must do following an accident depends a great deal on how bad the accident is. If the damage is to property only, you’re still required to stop and either exchange information or leave your information. But if there’s an injury, or the accident was severe enough that someone could show injury later, then law enforcement should be called immediately.

Because an accident involving injuries makes it a driver’s legal responsibility to take steps to help the injured person, leaving the scene after the accident and failing to take steps to aid someone who is hurt can result in far more than the ticket one might receive after leaving the scene of an accident where no injuries occurred. Where injury or death are involved, or possible injury is involved because an accident where you “hit and run” was severe enough, you can be charged with what’s called felony hit and run. Not only do you risk fines, probation, and loss of license, but the felony charge can require you to be incarcerated if convicted. And if a person dies as a result of the accident, the charges can be even more severe.

Have you or someone you know been cited for a traffic violation? If so, contact one of our experienced traffic violation lawyers in your area today!