Leaving the Scene of an Accident in PA: Penalties and Suspensions

Leaving the scene of an accident in Pennsylvania is a separate crime from whatever caused the crash, and the penalty ranges from a $300 fine for hitting an unattended parked car to a mandatory three-year prison sentence if someone dies. In between sit misdemeanor and felony charges tied to injuries, automatic license suspensions imposed by PennDOT, and civil liability that insurance may refuse to cover. The severity turns on one question: what happened to the people and property you left behind.

Penalties When Only Property Is Damaged

Pennsylvania splits property-damage hit-and-runs into two categories, and the gap between them is large.

Hitting an Attended Vehicle or Property

If someone was in or near the vehicle or property you damaged, leaving is a third-degree misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is a $2,500 fine and up to one year in jail.¹ A conviction also triggers a six-month license suspension.² Insurers may deny coverage for the underlying crash after a conviction, which often means paying for the other party’s repairs personally on top of the fine.

Hitting an Unattended Vehicle or Property

Clipping a parked car with nobody around and driving off is a summary offense, the lowest tier of Pennsylvania crime. The penalty is a $300 fine and up to 90 days in jail.³ To comply with the law instead, you have to leave a written note in a visible place on the damaged property with your name, address, registration number, and insurance information, and then notify the nearest police department without unnecessary delay.

Penalties When Someone Is Injured or Killed

Once a person is hurt, the charges escalate sharply and mandatory minimums appear.

Bodily Injury

Leaving the scene of a crash that caused any bodily injury is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.⁴ Whether the driver made any attempt to help the injured person before leaving tends to matter at sentencing.

Serious Bodily Injury

If the victim suffered serious bodily injury, meaning harm that creates a substantial risk of death, causes permanent disfigurement, or produces long-term impairment of a body part or organ, the offense becomes a third-degree felony. The judge cannot go below a 90-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine, and the maximum sentence is seven years.⁴

Fatal Accident

Fleeing a crash that killed someone is a second-degree felony carrying a mandatory minimum of three years in prison and a fine of at least $2,500, with a maximum of ten years.⁴ Prosecutors in these cases commonly argue that leaving prevented emergency responders from providing care that could have saved the victim.

License Suspensions

PennDOT imposes suspensions administratively, meaning they apply on top of whatever the criminal court does. The two triggers are straightforward:

Getting a license back requires serving the full suspension period and completing every step in the Restoration Requirements Letter PennDOT issues. Restoration fees are set by statute and adjust every two years based on the Consumer Price Index, with separate amounts for standard and commercial licenses.⁵ You can check the specifics on PennDOT’s Driver and Vehicle Services website or by calling 717-412-5300.

What Happens to Commercial Drivers

A CDL holder faces a separate track of consequences that applies even if the crash happened in a personal vehicle. Leaving the scene is classified as a “major offense” under both federal and Pennsylvania rules.⁶

First offense: one-year CDL disqualification, or three years for drivers with a hazardous materials endorsement.
Second offense: lifetime CDL disqualification with no path to reinstatement.⁷

For a professional driver, a second conviction ends the career.

What the Law Required You to Do

Understanding the charge starts with what the statute demanded at the scene. Every driver involved in a crash must stop immediately at or as near the scene as possible without blocking traffic, regardless of fault.⁴ From there, three duties apply.

Share your name, address, and vehicle registration number with the other people involved, and show your license and proof of insurance on request. If anyone is hurt, help them and call for emergency assistance.⁸

Notify the nearest police department immediately if the crash caused any injury, any death, or damage severe enough that a vehicle cannot be driven safely under its own power.⁹

For an unattended vehicle or property, leave a written note with your information in a visible place and notify police without unnecessary delay.³

There is also a paperwork step people often miss. If a crash involves any injury, any death, or damage severe enough to require towing, and police did not investigate at the scene, the driver has to file a written accident report (Form AA-600) with PennDOT within five days. If the driver cannot complete it, the vehicle’s owner has to.¹⁰¹¹

How Long Prosecutors Have to Charge You

For a fatal hit-and-run, there is no statute of limitations. A charge under § 3742 that resulted in a death can be filed at any time, even years later.¹²

For non-fatal offenses, the general rule is two years from the date of the crash.¹³ That window gives police time to work backward from surveillance footage, vehicle debris, partial plate numbers, and tips.

Civil Liability and Insurance

The criminal case is only half the exposure. A victim can sue for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering, and the burden of proof in civil court is lower than in criminal court. Courts often treat flight itself as strong evidence of negligence or recklessness, and punitive damages may be available when the conduct is found to be especially reckless.

Pennsylvania uses modified comparative negligence: a victim who was partially at fault can still recover as long as their share does not exceed the defendant’s.¹⁴ Arguing that a victim was primarily at fault is hard when the defendant left the scene, because the flight suggests consciousness of guilt.

Insurers may refuse to cover a driver convicted of a hit-and-run, leaving personal assets exposed. In a serious-injury case, that exposure can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Long-Term Record Consequences

A hit-and-run conviction stays on the criminal record and shows up on background checks. Misdemeanor convictions affect employment, professional licensing, and housing applications. Felony convictions add further consequences, including the loss of firearm ownership rights.

Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate Act automatically seals summary offense records after five years, so an unattended-vehicle conviction may eventually qualify. Misdemeanor and felony hit-and-run convictions are not eligible for automatic sealing, and traditional expungement of convictions in Pennsylvania is narrow. Whether petition-based sealing or a pardon is realistic depends on the individual case and is worth asking an attorney about.

Talk to a Lawyer Before Talking to Police

If you are being investigated or charged, get a criminal defense attorney involved before making any statement. Possible defenses include lack of awareness that an accident occurred, mistaken identity, and a medical emergency that prevented stopping. These are fact-specific arguments that are hard to raise on your own, particularly in felony cases where mandatory minimums remove the judge’s discretion at sentencing.

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Accidents Involving Damage to Attended Vehicle or Property
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Revocation or Suspension of Operating Privilege
3
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Accidents Involving Damage to Unattended Vehicle or Property
4
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Accidents Involving Death or Personal Injury
5
PennDOT. Driving Privilege Sanctions and Restoration Requirements Letter Fact Sheet
6
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Disqualifications and Traffic Offenses FAQs
7
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
8
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Duty to Give Information and Render Aid
9
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Immediate Notice of Accident to Police Department
10
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 75 – Written Report of Accident by Driver or Owner
11
PennDOT. Driver’s Accident Report
12
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42 Chapter 55 – Limitation of Time
13
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42 – Other Offenses
14
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42 – Comparative Negligence