Hit and run (vehicular)
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Hit-and-run is the crime of colliding with a person, their personal property (including their motor vehicle), or a fixture, and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards.
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[edit] Additional obligation
In many jurisdictions there may be an additional obligation to exchange information about one's financial responsibility (including any applicable insurance) or to summon emergency services if they are needed.
[edit] Legal consequences
Hit-and-run has severe legal consequences including the suspension or cancelling of one's driver's license, as well as imprisonment. Lifetime revocation of a driver license is possible in certain jurisdictions.
With out exception no state demands that passengers riding in the offending hit and run vehicle attempt to get aid to the victim of the hit and run accident. Representitives Tina Pickett and Matt Baker of Pennsylvania have stated that such laws would be unconstitutional.
[edit] History
Hit-and-run laws arose from the difficulties that early car accident victims faced in identifying perpetrators so that they could be brought to justice. Apart from the obvious ability of an automobile to flee the scene quickly (if still driveable), drivers often wore driving goggles, vehicles at the time did not have license plates, and roads were unpaved and thus quite dusty.[1]
[edit] Cruelty to animals
In many jurisdictions, hitting an animal and leaving the scene of the accident without stopping is equivalent to cruelty to animals.[2][3] Depending on the jurisdiction, sentences range from $200–$20,000 fines to imprisonment. [4]
[edit] Statistics
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport collects and publishes statistics and reports on accidents, including an analysis of hit-and-run accidents.[5]
Their evidence indicates that hit and run accidents occur most often on roads with a speed limit of at most 40mph. On these roads, 8% of fatal accidents were hit-and-runs in 2002, rising to 14.7% of slight accidents.[6] However there is also a pronounced effect due to time of day; between 12am and 3am the number of slight accidents that were hit-and-runs rose to 20%.[5]
Hit-and-run drivers were more likely to be driving vans than cars; to be young males; and were far more likely to fail a breathalyzer test than other drivers, if apprehended.[5]
[edit] Country-specific penalties
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[edit] Germany
Article 142 of the Strafgesetzbuch (penal code) hit-and-run ("illicit leaving of the scene of an accident") is punished with prison up to three years or a fine. Persons who have caused a traffic accident, or have contributed to it, have the duty to identify themselves to the victims or to other contributors. If the victim is not present (e.g. damage of a parking car) the one who caused the accident has to wait a certain time. If the victim doesn't appear, he has to leave his address or to report the accident to the police.
Different in that it applies not only to the perpetrator of an accident, article 323c states that anyone who fails to provide necessary help in an emergency can be punished with prison up to one year or a fine. This only applies if providing help is a "reasonable burden", that is when it can take place "especially without putting yourself in substantial danger or neglecting other important duties". Not being explicitly asked to help is, to the contrary, no acceptable reason not to do so. In a traffic accident for example, the actions expected would be 1. securing the site against follow-up accidents, 2. calling emergency services, and 3. providing first aid to your ability until professional help arrives.
[edit] Mainland China
Article 101 of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China provides lifetime revocation of driver licenses for hit and run.
[edit] Taiwan
Article 62 of the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road traffic Regulations (zh:道路交通管理處罰條例) proclaimed on 28 December 2005 and effective on 1 July 2006 provides the following administrative penalties:
Section 1: Without personal injury and death, hit-and-run drivers of motor vehicles are subject to administrative fines of 1000 to 3000 new Taiwan dollars and suspension of their driver licenses for 1 to 3 months.
Section: 4: With minor personal injury, hit-and-run drivers of motor vehicles are subject to revocation of their driver licenses, for 1 year pursuant to Section 3 of Article 67. With serious personal injury or death, hit-and-run drivers of motor vehicles are subject to revocation of their driver licenses, for lifetime pursuant to Section 1 of Article 67, but Article 67-1 allows a possible waiver after serving the revocation for 12 years if the revocation involved personal death, or 10 years if involving serious personal injury.
With personal injury or death, hit-and-run drivers of motor vehicles are also subject to imprisonment of 6 months to 5 years pursuant to Article 185-4 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China (zh:中華民國刑法). Hit and Run, although illegal, is seldom prosecuted on Taiwan. Drunk driving has a much more severe penalty so drunk drivers involed in accidents rarely stop to be tested.
[edit] United States
The penalties (and the definition) of hit-and-run vary from state to state.[7] For example, in Virginia, the crime is a felony if the accident causes death, injury, or damage to attended property in excess of a certain dollar amount; otherwise, it is a misdemeanor.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Edward C. Fisher, Vehicle Traffic Law (Evanston, IL: Traffic Institute, Northwestern University, 1961): 289.
- ^ New Hampshire legislation. University of Texas. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
- ^ Washington legislation. University of Texas. Retrieved on 2006-08-27.
- ^ criminal-law-lawyer-source.com
- ^ a b c Department for Transport (2003-07-21). DfT Research: Statistical Analysis Of Accident Data II. DfT Research Management Database. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
- ^ in this context, a slight accident is one in which at least one person is injured, but no-one is killed or seriously injured.
- ^ Leaving the Scene of an Accident/Hit and Run. Findlaw for the Public.
- ^ Code of Virginia §46.2-894. LIS Code of Virginia Searchable Database.
