Duty Upon Striking in Texas: Reporting, Penalties, and SR-22

After any crash in Texas, the driver’s duty upon striking another vehicle, a person, or property is to stop at the scene, share identifying information, help anyone who is hurt, and notify the right people depending on what was hit. These obligations apply regardless of fault and cover everything from a freeway collision to clipping a mailbox. Skipping them can turn a traffic matter into a criminal case, and in the worst situations into a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years in prison.¹

If You Hit Another Vehicle or a Person

Stop immediately at the scene, or as close to it as you can get without blocking traffic more than necessary. If you have already passed the point of the crash, return to it.¹ There is no exception for drivers who believe the other party caused the crash.

On a freeway in a metropolitan area, the rule shifts. If every vehicle involved can still be driven safely, meaning no tow is needed and the car operates normally, each driver must move to a designated collision investigation site, a frontage road, the nearest cross street, or another safe location before swapping information.² Blocking a live lane to exchange insurance cards when both cars run fine is itself a Class C misdemeanor.

Once stopped, Transportation Code Section 550.023 requires you to give the other driver, any injured person, or the officer responding:³

Your name and address
Your vehicle’s registration number
The name of your liability insurance carrier
Your driver’s license, if asked and you have it on you

The same statute requires “reasonable assistance” to anyone injured, including arranging transportation to a hospital or doctor when treatment appears needed or the injured person asks for it. Calling 911 generally satisfies this. The common mistake is treating a minor-looking injury as reason to skip the step. If that person’s condition worsens, what started as a traffic incident can become a criminal charge for failing to render aid.

If You Hit a Parked Car, Fence, or Mailbox

Striking something unattended still triggers a stop-and-notify duty, and this is where drivers most often assume, wrongly, that no one needs to know.

Parked or Unattended Vehicles

Stop and either find the owner to give them your name, address, and the name and address of the vehicle’s owner, or leave a written note with that information in a visible place on the car.⁴ A note under the wiper with your name, phone number, and a short description of what happened meets the requirement. Driving off without leaving anything is a Class B misdemeanor if the damage is $200 or more, a Class C below that.

Guardrails, Poles, Fences, and Landscaping

If you hit a structure, fixture, or legally placed highway landscaping, you must take reasonable steps to locate the property owner and give them your name, address, and vehicle registration number.⁵ The penalty tiers mirror the parked-car rule: Class B for $200 or more, Class C below.

When You Have to Call the Police

Contact law enforcement immediately if the crash caused injury, death, or damage severe enough that any vehicle cannot be driven away safely.⁶ The statute says to use “the quickest means of communication,” which today means calling 911 from the scene. Where that call goes depends on where you are:

Inside a city: the local police department
Within 100 feet of city limits: local police or the county sheriff
Anywhere else: the sheriff or the nearest Texas Department of Public Safety office

The trigger is broader than most drivers realize. You do not need a fatality or a visible injury. If a tow truck is coming for either car, reporting is mandatory. For a minor fender-bender where everyone walks away and both cars drive normally, the statute does not force a police report, though filing one anyway creates a useful record.

The 10-Day Written Crash Report

If no officer investigates at the scene, the driver has a separate duty. When the crash caused any injury, any death, or apparent property damage of $1,000 or more, the driver must file a written crash report with the Texas Department of Public Safety within 10 days.⁷ DPS can also demand a supplemental report if the first one is thin.

This is the step people most commonly skip. A parking-lot crash with no police on scene that caused $1,500 in body damage still needs a written report. Ignoring it may not bring an immediate citation, but it leaves a gap in the official record that complicates insurance claims and later lawsuits.

Penalties for Leaving the Scene

Punishment scales with what happened. The gaps between tiers are large.

If Someone Died

Leaving the scene of a fatal collision is a second-degree felony, punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.¹⁸ That is the same felony grade as aggravated assault or robbery.

If Someone Suffered Serious Bodily Injury

When the victim survives but with serious bodily injury, the offense is a third-degree felony with 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.¹⁹

Other Injuries

For injuries that do not meet the serious-bodily-injury threshold, leaving the scene is punishable by up to five years in state prison or up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.¹ This tier catches cuts, bruises, and soft-tissue injuries without risk of death or permanent impairment.

Vehicle Damage Only

Leaving the scene of a damage-only crash is a Class B misdemeanor at $200 or more in total damage, carrying up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.² Below $200, it is a Class C misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $500 and no jail time.¹⁰

License Suspension and SR-22

A conviction for failing to stop and render aid brings a mandatory driver’s license suspension on top of the criminal sentence. A first offense means one year; a second or later offense means 18 months.¹¹

Reinstatement normally requires an SR-22, a proof-of-financial-responsibility filing your insurer sends to DPS. Carriers treat SR-22 drivers as high risk, and premiums often double or triple. Most Texas drivers must carry SR-22 coverage for two years, and letting the policy lapse restarts that clock. Even after the SR-22 period ends, the conviction continues to raise premiums for years.

If You Hold a CDL

Commercial drivers face a separate federal consequence. Leaving the scene of a crash involving a commercial motor vehicle results in at least a one-year CDL disqualification for a first offense. If the vehicle was carrying placarded hazardous materials, the minimum rises to three years. A second offense means lifetime disqualification, with a possible reduction under federal rules to no less than 10 years.¹² These disqualifications stack on top of any Texas license suspension and criminal penalty.

How This Affects a Civil Lawsuit

Criminal charges are only one layer. An injured person can also sue for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Texas uses a proportionate responsibility rule: you recover damages only if your share of fault is 50 percent or less, and nothing if it reaches 51 percent.¹³

Where the duty-upon-striking rules bite in a civil case is evidentiary. Plaintiffs’ attorneys use a failure to stop, exchange information, or render aid as evidence of negligence or consciousness of guilt. A jury that hears you drove away from an injured person will be less willing to accept your version of how the crash happened. The statute of limitations is two years for personal injury and generally two to four years for property damage, so a lawsuit can arrive long after the criminal case is over.

1
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 550.021 – Collision Involving Personal Injury or Death
2
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 550.022 – Collision Involving Damage to Vehicle
3
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 550.023 – Duty to Give Information and Render Aid
4
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 550.024 – Duty on Striking Unattended Vehicle
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State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 550.025 – Duty on Striking Structure, Fixture, or Highway Landscaping
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State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 550.026 – Immediate Report of Collision
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State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Chapter 550 – Collisions and Collision Reports – Section: 550.061
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.23 – Class C Misdemeanor Punishment
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Texas Department of Public Safety. Driver License Enforcement Actions
12
GovInfo. 49 USC 31310 – Disqualifications
13
State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001 – Proportionate Responsibility