Florida Duty to Render Aid: Requirements, Penalties, and Reports

Under Florida’s duty to render aid, any driver involved in a crash that hurts someone or damages an occupied vehicle or attended property must stop, give their name, address, and vehicle registration (and show a license if asked), and provide reasonable help to anyone injured. The rule lives in Florida Statute 316.062. Ignoring it is how an accident turns into a hit-and-run charge, and the penalties climb from a 60-day misdemeanor to a first-degree felony carrying a four-year mandatory minimum prison sentence when someone dies.¹

What You Must Do at the Scene

Section 316.062 imposes two obligations on anyone involved in a qualifying crash. You have to hand over your identifying information, and you have to help the people who are hurt.

The information piece is specific. Give your name, address, and the registration number of the vehicle you were driving to any person injured in the crash and to the driver or occupant of any other vehicle involved, or to the owner of any damaged property. If a law enforcement officer asks, show your driver’s license.¹

If no one at the scene can receive your information and no officer is present, the statute tells you where to go next: report the crash to the nearest law enforcement office and give the same details there. Section 316.062 by itself is a noncriminal traffic infraction. The real exposure comes from the hit-and-run statutes that attach when a driver leaves without doing any of this.¹

What “Reasonable Assistance” Means

The aid half of the duty is less precise, but the statute gives examples. Reasonable assistance includes carrying an injured person to a hospital or physician, or arranging that transportation, when it’s apparent the person needs medical care or when the injured person asks for it. Calling 911 and staying until help arrives generally satisfies the duty in a world where ambulances are the default answer.¹

You are not expected to put yourself in serious danger. The word “reasonable” does work in the statute. A burning vehicle, a chemical spill, or an unstable crash site does not create an obligation to run in. You still have to stop, call for help, and provide your information. You don’t have to be a first responder.

You also don’t need medical training. What draws felony charges isn’t failing to perform CPR correctly. It’s leaving.

Penalties for Leaving the Scene

Hit-and-run charges in Florida sort by what the crash did. Property-only damage falls under Section 316.061. Injuries or death fall under Section 316.027, which breaks into three tiers.

Property Damage Only

Leaving a crash that damaged only a vehicle or other property, with no injuries, is a second-degree misdemeanor. The maximum is 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, and a court can order restitution to the property owner.²³

Injury

Leaving a crash where someone was injured, but not seriously, is a third-degree felony. Maximum penalties: 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.⁴³

Serious Bodily Injury

If the injury meets the statute’s serious-bodily-injury threshold, the charge jumps to a second-degree felony, with up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. This is the tier that surprises people. A broken bone, a concussion with lasting effects, or internal bleeding can be enough to triple the maximum sentence.⁴⁵

Death

Leaving a fatal crash is a first-degree felony. The exposure is up to 30 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and a mandatory minimum of 4 years in prison. The same mandatory minimum applies if the driver was under the influence when the crash happened.⁴³

The criminal case is only one front. Victims and families can sue a driver who fled, and the hit-and-run itself can be used as evidence of negligence in a personal injury or wrongful death action. Insurers often cancel coverage or raise premiums after a conviction.

When You Also Have to File a Written Report

If a law enforcement officer investigates the crash, the officer writes the Florida Traffic Crash Report within 10 days and you don’t have to file anything separately. The written-report duty on drivers kicks in only when no officer investigates.⁶

In that case, if the apparent property damage is at least $500, you must submit a written report to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles or a local traffic records center within 10 days. Skipping it is a noncriminal traffic infraction. This is easy to overlook after a parking-lot bump where no one calls the police, and it’s the kind of thing that produces a citation months later.⁶

If You’re on a Boat

Florida applies a parallel duty on the water. Under Florida Statute 327.30, a vessel operator involved in a collision or other casualty must help anyone affected, so long as doing so can be done without serious danger to their own vessel, crew, or passengers. The operator must also provide name, address, and vessel identification in writing to anyone injured and to the owner of any damaged property.⁷

Federal law layers on another obligation at sea. Under 46 U.S.C. § 2304, the master or person in charge of a vessel must help anyone found in danger of being lost at sea when doing so won’t seriously endanger their own vessel or crew. A violation can carry a fine of up to $1,000, up to 2 years in prison, or both. Government vessels on public service are exempt.⁸

When the Duty Doesn’t Apply

Section 316.062 reaches only drivers involved in the crash. Florida does not impose a general duty to rescue on bystanders. If you drive past an accident you had nothing to do with, you have no statutory obligation to stop, help, or call 911. Some states require that. Florida isn’t one of them.

Separate relationships can create a duty where the traffic statutes don’t. Caregivers, employers, school officials, and parents may owe a legal duty to people in their charge that comes from the relationship itself rather than from the accident. Those duties live in case law and professional regulations and sit outside the hit-and-run framework.

Step by Step at a Florida Crash Scene

The statutes come down to a short checklist. Working through it in order is what keeps a crash from becoming a felony.

Stop at the scene, or as close to it as you can safely pull over. Even a brief departure can be charged as leaving the scene.
Check for injuries and call 911 if anyone appears hurt. That call generally satisfies the reasonable-assistance duty.
Give your name, address, and vehicle registration to anyone injured, to the other driver or occupants, and to any property owner. Show your license if an officer asks.
Stay until you’ve met those obligations. If no one at the scene can receive your information and no officer arrives, report to the nearest law enforcement office.
If no officer investigates and property damage looks like $500 or more, file a written crash report within 10 days.⁶

The through-line in every tier of the law is the same. Drivers get into the worst trouble not for how they handled the aftermath of a crash, but for driving away from it.

1
Justia Law. Florida Code 316.062 – Duty to Give Information and Render Aid
2
Florida Senate. Florida Code 316.061 – Crashes Involving Damage to Vehicle or Property
3
Justia Law. Florida Code 775.082 – Penalties; Applicability of Sentencing Structures
4
Justia Law. Florida Code 316.027 – Crash Involving Death or Personal Injuries
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 775.083 – Fines
6
Florida Senate. Florida Code 316.066 – Written Reports of Crashes
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 327.30 – Collisions, Accidents, and Casualties
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 U.S. Code 2304 – Duty to Provide Assistance at Sea