If you leave the scene of an accident in New York, penalties run from a $250 traffic infraction for a property-damage-only incident up to a class D felony carrying as much as seven years in prison when someone dies. Vehicle and Traffic Law 600 sets the tiers, and where your case lands depends on what the accident caused and whether you stopped at all.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 600 License revocation, insurance consequences, and civil liability sit on top of the criminal charge.
Penalty Tiers Under VTL 600
Property Damage Only
Leaving after an accident that caused only property damage is a traffic infraction. The maximum fine is $250, with up to 15 days in jail.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 600 An infraction is not a crime and will not show up on a criminal background check, but it goes on your driving record and your insurer will see it.
Personal Injury
Once someone is hurt, the statute splits into two tracks depending on what you did.
If you stopped but failed to give your license, insurance card, or the other required information, the charge is a class B misdemeanor with a fine of $250 to $500. A second offense in this category becomes a class A misdemeanor with a fine of $500 to $1,000.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 600
If you drove away from an injury accident, the charge is a class A misdemeanor. The fine runs from $750 to $1,000 and the jail exposure is up to one year.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 6002NY CourtHelp – Unified Court System. Types of Criminal Cases
Serious Physical Injury
When the accident causes serious physical injury, the charge is a class E felony even on a first offense. Serious physical injury means an injury creating a substantial risk of death, causing long-term disfigurement, or resulting in extended impairment of health or loss of an organ. Fines range from $1,000 to $5,000, and the maximum prison term is four years.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 6003New York State Senate. New York Penal Law 70.00 – Sentence of Imprisonment for Felony
Death
Leaving the scene of a fatal accident is a class D felony. Fines run from $2,000 to $5,000, and the maximum prison sentence is seven years.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 6004New York State Law. New York State – Felony Classes and Sentences Courts have upheld convictions even when the driver turned themselves in hours later. The law punishes the failure to stay at the scene, not the decision to come forward afterward.
What the Law Required You to Do
The statute triggers based on your involvement and your knowledge that damage or injury occurred, not on fault. Even a driver who did nothing wrong in causing the crash still has duties.
For property damage, you have to give your name, home address, insurance carrier, policy number, and driver’s license number to whoever owns the damaged property. If the owner is not around, you must report to the nearest police station or leave a written notice with your contact information in a visible place on the damaged property.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 600
When someone is injured, you have to stop, give the same identifying information to the injured person and to a police officer, and offer reasonable assistance. That can mean calling 911, staying with the person until paramedics arrive, or helping arrange transportation to a hospital. If no officer is at the scene, you must report to the nearest police station as soon as you physically can.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 600
Repeat Offense Enhancements
A prior conviction for leaving the scene of a personal injury accident pushes a second offense from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony, with a fine of $1,000 to $3,000 and up to four years in prison.1New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 600 The enhancement applies even if the injuries in the second incident are relatively minor. The information-exchange tier follows the same pattern, moving from a class B to a class A misdemeanor on a second violation. Any repeat offense moves up one level in severity.
License Revocation and Getting It Back
A conviction for leaving the scene of a personal injury accident triggers mandatory license revocation under VTL 600(2). The DMV has no discretion once the conviction is entered. The DMV can also suspend or revoke a license through an administrative action without waiting for a criminal conviction, because license actions are treated as administrative rather than criminal.5New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 510
Restoration is not automatic. You have to apply through the DMV, pay a $100 re-application fee, submit proof of insurance, and possibly complete a defensive driving course.6NY DMV. Request Restoration After a Driver License Revocation The DMV reviews your driving history and the severity of the offense before deciding.
If you were driving without insurance at the time of the accident, add a $750 civil penalty on top of everything else.7NY DMV. Pay a Driver Civil Penalty You will also need to file and keep proof of financial responsibility with the DMV for a continuous period before restoration. Any lapse restarts the clock.
Commercial Driver Consequences
If you hold a CDL, federal law layers on separate consequences, and they apply even when the accident happened in your personal car on your own time. Leaving the scene is classified as a “major offense” under 49 CFR 383.51.8eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
- A first offense brings a one-year CDL disqualification, extended to three years if hazardous materials were being hauled.
- A second offense brings a lifetime disqualification. A state may allow reinstatement after 10 years if the driver completes an approved rehabilitation program, but there is no guarantee.8eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
Civil Lawsuits and Insurance
The criminal case is not the end of it. A victim can sue for medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering, and the fact that you fled can support a claim for punitive damages. Punitive awards are meant to punish especially reckless conduct rather than to compensate; courts generally require clear and convincing evidence of extreme recklessness, and leaving an injured person on the road tends to meet that standard.
On the insurance side, a hit-and-run conviction will typically produce dramatic premium increases or outright cancellation. Some insurers refuse coverage entirely for drivers with a hit-and-run on their record, which can push you into the assigned-risk pool where rates are substantially higher.
How Long Prosecutors Have to Charge You
For misdemeanor-level leaving-the-scene offenses, prosecutors have two years from the date of the accident to file. Felony charges involving serious physical injury or death carry the standard five-year limitations period.9New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 30.10 The clock runs from the accident itself, not from when investigators identify you. In practice, most hit-and-run cases either produce a suspect within weeks or go cold, but the two-year window matters when a minor injury turns out to be more serious than it first looked.
Defenses That Have a Chance
The strongest defense is usually lack of knowledge. VTL 600 applies to drivers who knew or had reason to know that damage or injury occurred. If you genuinely did not realize contact was made, such as during a minor sideswipe in heavy traffic, your attorney can argue the knowledge element is missing. The prosecution will point to the force of impact, audible collision sounds, and visible damage to your own vehicle to show you must have known.
Other defenses include proving that you actually did comply, meaning you stopped and provided the required information, and challenging the identification of you as the driver.
One argument that does not work: turning yourself in later. Courts have consistently held that the duty runs at the time and place of the accident. Voluntary surrender afterward may help at sentencing, but it does not undo the violation.