Colorado Hit-and-Run Laws and What to Do

Getting hit is bad enough. When the other driver speeds off, you're left with a damaged car, maybe an injury, and the feeling that whoever did this got away clean. Colorado treats leaving as its own crime, separate from whatever caused the wreck, and the state also gives you specific ways to recover when the driver is never found.

Here's what the statutes actually require, and the steps that protect both your health and your claim.

What Colorado requires you to do after a crash

Any driver involved in a crash in Colorado has to stop right away, at the scene or as close to it as possible, and stay.¹ Before leaving you must give your name, address, and vehicle registration number to the others involved, show your driver's license if asked, and give reasonable help to anyone hurt, including arranging a ride to a doctor when the injury calls for it.² If no one is able to take your information and no officer is present, you have to report the crash to the nearest police authority.² This duty applies to every driver involved, whether or not you caused the crash; the obligation to stop and exchange information doesn't turn on fault.¹

Clip a parked car and can't find the owner? Colorado still requires you to leave a note in a visible spot with your name, address, and vehicle information, then report it.³ There is no version of the law where quietly driving off is allowed.

Penalties climb with the harm done

Colorado grades leaving the scene by what the crash caused, and the top of that scale is prison time.

Flee a crash that killed someone and it's a class 3 felony,¹ punishable by 4 to 12 years behind bars and a fine as high as $750,000.⁴ Leave a crash that caused serious bodily injury and it's a class 4 felony,¹ carrying 2 to 6 years and a fine up to $500,000.⁴ Serious bodily injury is defined narrowly: injuries that carry a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement, or lasting loss of a body part or function, plus certain fractures and second- or third-degree burns.¹

If the crash caused an injury that isn't "serious," leaving is a class 1 traffic misdemeanor.¹ If only cars or property were damaged, it's a class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense.⁵

The criminal case isn't the whole cost. A conviction for leaving the scene adds 12 points to your Colorado driving record, and the state can suspend an adult's license at 12 points in any 12 months, or 18 in any 24 months.⁶ A single conviction reaches that line on its own.

The Medina Alert, a Colorado-specific tool

Colorado has something most states don't: a rapid public alert built for hit-and-run cases. The Medina Alert is run by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and works like an Amber Alert for fleeing drivers.⁷ It's named for Jose Medina, a young Denver valet killed by a hit-and-run driver, and it has run statewide since January 1, 2015.⁸

A local police agency can ask CBI to issue one when someone has been killed or seriously injured in a hit-and-run and investigators have enough to act on: a full license plate, or a partial plate plus the car's make, style, and color, or the identity of the suspect.⁸ Once it goes out, the description reaches radio and TV stations, highway message signs, and other outlets across the state.⁷ That is why the small details you catch in the first moments carry so much weight.

What to do if a driver hits you and takes off

Call 911 first. Get medical attention for anyone who needs it, and tell the dispatcher it was a hit-and-run so an officer responds and, if the case qualifies, a Medina Alert can be requested.⁸

Without chasing the other car, write down or photograph everything you can while it's fresh: the direction it fled, any piece of the plate, the make, model, and color, the damage you saw, and the time and place. Photograph your own vehicle and the scene, and ask nearby drivers or businesses whether anyone saw it or has security footage. An investigating officer files a crash report, and the Colorado State Patrol makes those reports available to the people involved;⁹ you can get yours through the Colorado crash reports page.

Tell your own insurer promptly too. In a hit-and-run your policy is often what carries you, and a late report can complicate the coverage you're about to lean on.

Getting paid when the driver is gone

This is the part that surprises people. Colorado is an at-fault state, so ordinarily you collect from the driver who hit you. When that driver disappears, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage takes their place.

Every auto insurer in Colorado must offer UM coverage matching your bodily injury limits, and you can only turn it down in writing.¹⁰ The statute treats a driver who can't be located as uninsured,¹⁰ which is exactly what a hit-and-run creates. If you kept that coverage, it can pay for the same losses you'd claim against the at-fault driver, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, even though that driver is never identified. Not rejecting UM is the single most useful thing you can do before a hit-and-run ever happens.

Medical payments coverage (MedPay) helps on top of that. Insurers have to offer you at least $5,000 of it with every policy, it pays your medical bills no matter who was at fault, and it too can only be declined in writing.¹¹ That lets you start treatment without waiting on a fault decision.

Your car is a separate question. A hard hit can leave a vehicle worth less even after a clean repair, and Colorado drivers can pursue that shortfall as a diminished value claim.

If police do identify the driver, your civil options widen. Colorado allows exemplary (punitive) damages for willful and wanton conduct, up to the amount of your compensatory damages,¹² and fleeing a crash is the kind of behavior that can justify them. One more rule to know: Colorado follows modified comparative negligence, so you can recover as long as you're less than 50% at fault, with your award reduced by your share.¹³ When the other driver caused the crash and then ran, that math usually lands in the victim's favor.

The clock is running

Colorado gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury or property damage suit tied to the use of a motor vehicle.¹⁴ Three years sounds generous until you remember what hit-and-run cases depend on: a witness's memory, and footage that gets recorded over before anyone asks for it. The sooner the evidence is locked down, the better your position, whether the driver turns up or you end up relying on your own policy.

If your injuries are serious or your insurer is stalling on a UM claim, talk to a lawyer. You can find a Colorado attorney through the legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Colorado Revised Statutes 42-4-1601, leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, serious bodily injury, or death. Colorado General Assembly, Title 42. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-42.pdf
C.R.S. 42-4-1603, duty to give information and render aid. Colorado General Assembly, Title 42. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-42.pdf
C.R.S. 42-4-1604, striking an unattended vehicle. Colorado General Assembly, Title 42. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-42.pdf
C.R.S. 18-1.3-401, presumptive felony sentencing ranges. Colorado General Assembly, Title 18. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-18.pdf
C.R.S. 42-4-1602, leaving the scene of an accident involving vehicle or property damage. Colorado General Assembly, Title 42. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-42.pdf
C.R.S. 42-2-127, authority to suspend license and schedule of points. Colorado General Assembly, Title 42. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-42.pdf
Medina Alert. Colorado Bureau of Investigation. https://cbi.colorado.gov/medina-alert
C.R.S. 24-33.5-416.7, Medina alert program. Colorado General Assembly, Title 24. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-24.pdf
Online Accident Report Request. Colorado State Patrol. https://csp.colorado.gov/colorado-state-patrol-on-line-accident-report-request
C.R.S. 10-4-609, insurance protection against uninsured motorists. Colorado General Assembly, Title 10. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-10.pdf
C.R.S. 10-4-635, medical payments coverage. Colorado General Assembly, Title 10. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-10.pdf
C.R.S. 13-21-102, exemplary damages. Colorado General Assembly, Title 13. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-13.pdf
C.R.S. 13-21-111, comparative negligence. Colorado General Assembly, Title 13. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-13.pdf
C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(I), three-year limitation for actions arising from motor vehicle use. Colorado General Assembly, Title 13. https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-13.pdf

Hit-and-Run Laws and What to Do in Colorado