Hit-and-run laws and what to do in Arkansas

If another driver hit you and drove off, or you're worried you may have left a scene you shouldn't have, Arkansas law is specific about what was supposed to happen and what comes next. The general idea of a hit-and-run is covered on the main guide. Here we stay on Arkansas: the exact statutes, the felony and misdemeanor lines, the dollar thresholds, and how you get paid when the other driver is gone.

What Arkansas requires a driver to do after a crash

Every driver in a crash has to stop. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 27-53-101, a driver in an accident that injures or kills someone must immediately stop at the scene, or as close to it as possible, then return and stay there.¹ The same stop-and-stay rule applies when the only damage is to another vehicle or to property, under § 27-53-102.²

Staying put is only half of it. Section 27-53-103 requires you to give your name, address, and the registration number of the vehicle you were driving, and to show your driver's license if asked.³ If someone is hurt, you have to render reasonable assistance, which can include arranging to get the injured person to a doctor or hospital.³ Arkansas even puts a clock on it: if you know law enforcement was contacted, you have to remain a reasonable time, and the statute sets that at not less than 30 minutes.³

One detail trips people up. The duty attaches to any driver "involved in" the accident, not to the driver who caused it. Even someone who didn't cause the wreck commits a crime by leaving without stopping and exchanging information.¹

The penalties, by the numbers

Leaving is where Arkansas gets specific. If you fail to stop and the crash caused physical injury to another person, § 27-53-101 makes leaving a Class D felony.¹ If the crash caused serious physical injury or death, it is a Class B felony.¹

Those are not abstract labels. A Class B felony in Arkansas carries 5 to 20 years in prison, and a Class D felony can bring up to 6 years (§ 5-4-401).⁴ The fines reach $15,000 for a Class B felony and $10,000 for a Class D felony (§ 5-4-201).⁵ A conviction under § 27-53-101 also costs you the license itself: the Department of Finance and Administration revokes the driver's license or CDL of anyone convicted.¹

Property-damage hit-and-runs scale with the dollar amount. Under § 27-53-102, driving away is a Class B misdemeanor when the damage is under $1,000, a Class A misdemeanor when it is $1,000 or more but under $10,000, and a Class D felony once the damage reaches $10,000.² A Class A misdemeanor can still mean up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine (§ 5-4-401; § 5-4-201).⁴⁵ A parking-lot scrape you drive away from is real criminal exposure, not a technicality.

Parking lots and parked cars count

A lot of Arkansas hit-and-runs happen at low speed in a lot, and the law reaches those too. If you strike a parked or unattended vehicle, § 27-53-104 gives you two ways to comply: locate the owner and give them your name and address, or leave a written note in a conspicuous place on the vehicle stating your name, address, and the circumstances.⁶ The duty applies on streets and highways, on the parking areas of private businesses, and "elsewhere throughout the state," so a store lot is not an exception.⁶ Leaving without doing one of those two things is the offense, even when the dent looks minor.

When you have to call the police

Stopping and reporting are two different duties. Under § 27-53-202, if the crash injured or killed anyone, or caused apparent total property damage of $3,000 or more, you must notify the nearest law enforcement agency immediately, and everyone involved has to make themselves available to the investigating officer.⁷ That $3,000 figure is current Arkansas law; the threshold used to sit at $1,000.⁷ When an officer does write it up, you can pull the Arkansas crash report for your wreck.

If you're the one who got hit and the driver took off

Even when police never identify the driver, you may still have a path to be paid, and it usually runs through your own policy. Arkansas requires insurers to offer uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, which is the coverage that responds when an at-fault driver flees and can't be identified, or turns out to carry no insurance (§ 23-89-403).⁸ For damage to your car, uninsured motorist property damage coverage applies, but Arkansas writes in a $200 deductible, and that deductible drops away only when the other driver has been positively identified and is solely at fault (§ 23-89-404).⁹ In a true hit-and-run the driver is not identified, so expect the $200 to come out of your property-damage recovery.⁹

Those uninsured-motorist limits track Arkansas's minimum liability limits of 25/50/25, meaning $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage (§ 27-22-104), so it's worth checking what your own policy actually carries before you need it.¹⁰

Arkansas is an at-fault state, so if the fleeing driver is found, that driver owes your losses. Your deadline to sue is 3 years from the date of the crash, for both bodily injury and vehicle damage, under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105.¹¹ If fault is shared, Arkansas uses a modified comparative fault rule: you can recover as long as your share of the fault stays below the other side's, and you are barred once your fault is equal to or greater than theirs (§ 16-64-122).¹² If your car was repaired but is now worth less on paper, that lost value is a separate diminished value claim.

What to do right now

• Get to safety and check everyone for injuries. Call 911 if anyone is hurt or the damage looks like $3,000 or more, since that report is required under § 27-53-202.⁷
• Write down everything you can about the other car: license plate, make, model, color, and the direction it fled. Even a partial plate can support a claim.
• Photograph your vehicle, the scene, and any parts or paint the other car left behind.
• Get names and phone numbers from witnesses before they leave.
• Report the hit-and-run to your own insurer promptly, because uninsured motorist coverage is often your route to payment.⁸
• If you were injured, talk to a lawyer. You can find one through the legal directory.

Arkansas treats a driver who leaves as having broken a clear statutory duty, and it gives you real tools to recover when you're the one left behind. Move quickly on the evidence and on your own coverage, because both get harder to use as time passes.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-53-101 (Requirements in accidents involving death or personal injuries). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-4/chapter-53/subchapter-1/section-27-53-101/

2. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-53-102 (Accidents involving damage only to a vehicle or personal property). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-4/chapter-53/subchapter-1/section-27-53-102/

3. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-53-103 (Duty to give information, remain at the scene, and render aid). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-4/chapter-53/subchapter-1/section-27-53-103/

4. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-401 (Sentence; imprisonment ranges by offense class). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-5/subtitle-1/chapter-4/subchapter-4/section-5-4-401/

5. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-4-201 (Fines; limitations on amount). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-5/subtitle-1/chapter-4/subchapter-2/section-5-4-201/

6. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-53-104 (Notification if unattended vehicle is struck). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-4/chapter-53/subchapter-1/section-27-53-104/

7. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-53-202 (Reports of accidents required). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-4/chapter-53/subchapter-2/section-27-53-202/

8. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-403 (Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage required). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-23/subtitle-3/chapter-89/subchapter-4/section-23-89-403/

9. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-404 (Uninsured motorist property damage coverage). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-23/subtitle-3/chapter-89/subchapter-4/section-23-89-404/

10. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-22-104 (Minimum liability coverage required). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-27/subtitle-2/chapter-22/subchapter-1/section-27-22-104/

11. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105 (Three-year limitation). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-56/subchapter-1/section-16-56-105/

12. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122 (Comparative fault). https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-16/subtitle-5/chapter-64/section-16-64-122/