Hit-and-run accidents
Hit-and-run accidents occur when a driver involved in a traffic collision leaves the scene without providing contact information or assisting the injured. These incidents raise significant concerns for law enforcement, insurance companies, and researchers studying vehicle accidents. The reliance on citizen reports for traffic accident management becomes problematic when drivers flee, undermining the systems intended to ensure road safety. The frequency of hit-and-run accidents appears to be increasing, particularly as more drivers may choose to escape the consequences of their actions, especially in the context of stricter penalties for offenses like drunk driving.
Data on hit-and-run incidents is challenging to compile accurately, as many accidents go unreported or are only partially documented. Research indicates that about 11% of serious accidents and 20% of fatal accidents involve a driver fleeing the scene. Additionally, defining what constitutes a hit-and-run can be complex, with debates surrounding whether it should include incidents involving debris from vehicles. Insurance implications also arise from these incidents, as the lack of available information complicates claims and the provision of adequate coverage for victims. Consequently, there is a push for harsher penalties for those who leave the scene of an accident, reflecting the serious nature of these offenses and their impact on victims’ access to necessary medical care.
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Hit-and-run accidents
SIGNIFICANCE: Hit-and-run accidents pose serious concerns for law enforcement, insurance companies, and criminologists studying determinants of automobile accidents.
In managing traffic accidents, law enforcement relies primarily on citizen reporting and cooperation surrounding automobile accidents. When drivers disobey these laws and flee the scenes of accidents, they pose a fundamental threat to the system in place for traffic control, which is dependent on courteous and reliable drivers. Moreover, hit-and-run accidents limit investigations into accident causes that are necessary for proper liability and insurance purposes as well as the assessment of cause.
The proclivity of drivers to leave the scene of accidents has been a problem since the origins of organized transportation. The use of automobiles increased greatly during the late twentieth century, and problems caused by hit-and-run accidents have increased proportionately. Indeed, the increasing severity of punishments for drunk driving—the leading cause of motor vehicle accidents—has given drivers an added incentive to leave accident scenes.
Because data on accidents, as with all data on crime, are largely reliant on reporting by victims, it is difficult to document the exact number of accidents in which drivers leave the scene. Since a high percentage of serious accidents come to the attention of police, however, there is much existing evidence suggesting a high frequency of hit-and-run accidents. Indeed, studies have found that drivers leave the scene in 11 percent of serious accidents nationally and in 20 percent of all accidents involving fatalities.
Hit-and-run accidents have created various issues for those involved in defining, refining, and studying the phenomenon. In fact, there has been substantial debate over exactly what constitutes a hit-and-run accident. Should the term be applied only to motor vehicle accidents, or should it be extended to include situations in which objects fly off vehicles and hit other vehicles? Moreover, hit-and-run accidents provide a quandary for the insurance industry, with legal debates surrounding the type of uninsured protection that should be provided for victims of hit-and-run drivers.
Since people who are badly hurt in hit-and-run accidents may not receive the timely medical help they need when drivers leave the scene, many believe that hit-and-run accidents crimes should be punished more severely. In this regard, leaving the scene of an accident is deemed a criminal offense and generally receives a punishment even when the fleeing driver is not at fault in the accident.
Bibliography
Benson, Aaron J., et al. "Fatal Hit-and-Run Crashes: Factors Associated with Leaving the Scene." Journal of Safety Research, vol. 79, Dec. 2021, pp. 76-82, doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2021.08.007. Accessed 5 July 2024.
Broughton, J. Hit and Run Accidents, 1990-2002. Washington D.C.: Road Safety Division, Department of Transportation, 2004.
Druker, Linda. The Hit and Run Accident: It’s a Crime. Boston: Massachusetts Office of the Commissioner of Probation, 1986.
Hiles, Catherine. "What to Do After a Hit and Run Car Accident?" Time, 16 Apr. 2023, time.com/personal-finance/article/what-to-do-after-a-hit-and-run-car-accident/. Accessed 5 July 2024.
Solnick, Sara, and David Hemenway. “Hit the Bottle and Run: The Role of Alcohol in Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Fatalities.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol 55 (1994): 679-684.