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No one wants to imagine it happening. Even more than that, no one wants it to happen. But it can happen at any time: You could get into a car accident. You might not even know it happened. You might know it happened, but not consider it a big deal. So, what does it mean to leave the scene of an accident?

Whether you pride yourself on your driving ability or acknowledge that you are just trying to get by, it is important to know exactly what it legally means to leave the scene of an accident.

What is considered leaving the scene of an accident?

Georgia law establishes the definition of a “hit and run” in code 40-6-270. The law states that if you strike a vehicle or person in such a way “resulting in injury to or the death of any person or in damage to a vehicle which is driven by a person”, you must then “immediately stop such vehicle at the scene of the accident”.

This means that “leaving the scene of an accident” is the act of failing to stop at the scene of an accident. A couple of things are worth noting about this description, however. First, you do not need to stop at the scene of an accident that resulted in no injury to anyone, nor any damage to anything.

This is a big part of the reason hit and runs happen, as most people either did not know they hit anything, or they do not believe that they have injured or damaged anyone. In general, it is best for you to get out and confirm that there was no damage in any case. If there was no damage, stopping does not hurt you.

After stopping at the scene of an accident, you will likely have to exchange personal information with the person whose body or car you hit. In short, a hit and run means that someone hit someone else’s body or vehicle with their car and then left the scene before stopping to exchange information with that person.

What do I do if I have been involved in an accident?

There are four obligations you have if you have been involved in a car accident. This applies to you whether you are the one driving into someone as well as if you are at rest and someone drives into you.

First, you must exchange personal information with everyone else involved in the accident. That personal information includes your name, address, and the registration of your vehicle. The law does not state you have to give them your phone number or any other information.

Second, you must show them your driver’s license. Technically this only needs to happen if someone requests it of you. It is best to treat it as an obligation in advance, however, to avoid a problem for yourself.

Third, you must render “reasonable assistance” to any injured person, including transporting that person (or those persons) who are injured for medical treatment upon their request or where it is necessary. “Reasonable assistance” in this context means assistance that does not endanger you, and that you are capable of giving.

Basically, you do not need to wrestle someone out of a burning car, as that puts your life in danger. There are very few situations in which someone will be at risk of dying while at the same time requiring very little effort from you to save them, so while this part is stressful sounding, be assured that it rarely comes up.

The fourth thing you must be ready to do comes up much more often: Contacting medical and law enforcement to report the accident. You must do this no matter what, but you must specifically do it when someone at the scene of the accident appears unconscious or dead, even if you think they may have been unconscious or dead before the accident took place.

The common trend throughout all four of these is that you have to do the bare minimum to make sure that the people involved in the accident know who you are, and that you keep them alive if there is any danger in that. Lots of people overthink the former out of concern for the latter, but the former comes up much more.

If you get into an accident, whether you are the one who caused it or not, stop your car and recall your name, address, and where your vehicle registration is. This can be difficult in the heat of the moment, which is why you should do it before you get out of your car, as you want to do it before you confront another person.

If the accident you are in results in the injury of another person, do not be overzealous in your response to this person’s injuries. For instance, if they have a piece of glass or metal lodged into them, do not try to remove it. Leave an injury like that to a medical professional (especially since removing it might make it worse).

What happens if I leave the accident?

One of the first things you should know about the Georgia law on accidents like this is that the damage you cause in an accident and the act of leaving an accident are two different crimes. That means that even if you only cause superficial damage to a vehicle or person, leaving the accident will still be a misdemeanor.

If you cause serious damage to a vehicle or person (or destroy the vehicle or kill the person) then that charge will be upgraded to a felony. The punishment for leaving the scene of an accident when the accident resulted in serious injury or death is at least one year in prison an at most five years, along with a $1000 or more fine.

That means that leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in serious injury or death can result in a harsher punishment than the punishment for driving under the influence. Whether the punishment is one year in prison or five years depends on the judge and how that judge perceives you and the circumstances of the accident.

To be clear, if you leave the scene of an accident that caused damage to a vehicle, it will likely only be a misdemeanor as long as no one was hurt. The punishment for this is a fine of $600 to $1000, though it can also include jail time should the judge feel it is warranted.

Defenses to Leaving the Scene of an Accident

So, you hit someone or something and, for whatever reason, left the scene of the accident. You have to appear in court to argue why you behaved the way you did. What do you say?

Well, there are three good reasons why you might not have been obligated to stay at the scene of the accident.

First, you might not have been driving the vehicle. This defense comes up a lot, as there are times when you are a parent whose child got into an accident. If anyone saw the license plate, you will be the one pulled into court. You might also have been a passenger in your own vehicle at the time of the accident.

Second, you might not have had knowledge of the injury or damage you caused. This is more possible than you might think, and an important defense to remember when dealing with insurance fraudsters. A person might bring you into court over their broken foot, saying you ran it over. But even if you did run it over, your liability in the matter is limited if you had no idea it ever happened.

The last defense is that you went for help or called for help and thought that is all you needed to do. Since most people do not know the law, as long as you can claim or prove you tried to help in some way, this defense can be viable.
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