Utah Hit-and-Run Statistics

A legal dictionary defines hit-and-run as “the crime of a driver of a vehicle who is involved in a collision with another vehicle, property or human being, who knowingly fails to stop to give his/her name, license number, and other information as required by statute to the injured party, a witness, or law enforcement officers. If there is only property damage and no other person is present, leaving the information attached to the damaged property may be sufficient, provided the person causing the accident makes a report to the police. Hit and run statutes vary from state to state. It is not a violation of the constitutional protection against self-incrimination to be required to stop and give this information since it is a report and not an admission of guilt”. How serious is hit-and-run problem in the United States? Here are some facts and figures from various sources:

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety disclosed that:

• Approximately 11 percent of all police reported crashes involve at least one driver who flees the scene.
• Nearly 1,500 people die annually in hit and run crashes: with 14,914 between 1994 and 2003 (annual average = 1,491) and 1,557cases reported in 2003.
• Approximately 6 in 10 fatally injured victims are pedestrians.
•  58 percent of fatal hit and run crashes occur on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
• 47 percent of fatal hit and run crashes occur between 9PM and 3AM.

Other relevant facts and figures:

1. NHTSA disclosed that about 18 percent of the pedestrian fatalities in single vehicle crashes were as a result of a hit-and-run crashes. The proportion of hit-and-run crashes where a pedestrian was killed has not shown any change between 1998 and 2001.
2. California Highway Patrol reported that in 2008, ‘hit-and-run’ was indicated in 9.9% of the fatal and injury collisions.
3. Department of Transportation (DOT) stated that for New York fatal hit-and-run fatalities increased from 31 percent since 2010 to 47 percent in 2012.
4. For Arizona, DOT says there were 11, 694 cases of hit-and-runs reported in 2012 with 36 people killed and 3,103 injured.
5. NHTSA reports the factors relating to the drivers in pedestrian accidents from police reports were: being inattentive (7%), failure to keep in proper lane (5%), failure to yield right-of-way (9%), driving too fast for conditions (10%), operating vehicle in reckless manner (4%), and hit-and-run (20%).

Contact Us

Christensen & Hymas encourages those who witness a hit-and-run accident to report the incident to the police immediately to speed up the apprehension of the suspect. To learn about the hit-and-run reward program, click here. Call (801)-506-0800 for a free consultation regarding your hit-and-run case. Let our competent and experienced personal injury lawyers help you get what you deserve. View a compilation of hit-and-run accidents in Utah here.  For some additional details on hit-and-run incidents in 2011, read them here.

Image “Parking lot car accident damage” copyright by State Farm.

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