Hit-and-Run Laws & What to Do in Hawaii

Hawaii treats leaving a crash as a crime that scales from a misdemeanor to a class B felony. Here is what the law requires, and how PIP and uninsured motorist coverage let you recover when the other driver is never found.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
May 19, 2026
6 min read

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

Getting hit by a driver who takes off is its own kind of awful. You are hurt or your car is wrecked, and the one person who owes you answers just drove away. Hawaii treats leaving the scene as a serious crime, and it also gives you specific ways to recover even if that driver is never found. Here is what actually applies in Hawaii, with the statute numbers so you can check each point yourself.

What the law requires every driver to do

Under Hawaii's Statewide Traffic Code, any driver involved in a crash has to stop at once, stay there, and exchange information. The duty scales with how bad the crash is, but it exists even for a fender bender. A driver in a collision that damages another vehicle or property has to immediately stop and remain at the scene until they meet the requirements of the information statute.1

That information statute, HRS 291C-14, spells out exactly what you owe the other side: your name, your address, and the registration number of the vehicle you were driving, plus your driver's license shown on request.2 If someone is hurt, you also have to render reasonable assistance, which the statute defines to include carrying the injured person, or arranging to carry them, to a physician or hospital when treatment is needed or requested.2 If nobody is around to take your information and no officer is present, you have to report the crash to the nearest police officer.2

Hawaii adds a separate reporting duty on top of that. When a crash causes injury, death, or total property damage that looks like $3,000 or more, the driver has to give immediate notice to the nearest police office by the quickest means available.3 That same $3,000 line is what triggers a responding officer to file a written report.3

The penalties for leaving

Fleeing is where Hawaii gets strict, and the charge depends on what the crash caused.

If the collision resulted in serious bodily injury or death and the driver failed to stop, that is a class B felony, and the court must revoke the driver's license or permit on conviction.4 A class B felony in Hawaii carries up to ten years in prison5 and a fine up to $25,000.6 One detail catches people off guard. The statute says criminal liability does not require proof that the fleeing driver caused the injury or death, only that the crash they were in resulted in it.4 Leaving is the crime.

Step down a level and the exposure is still severe. Failing to stop after a crash that caused substantial bodily injury is a class C felony,7 punishable by up to five years5 and a $10,000 fine.6 Failing to stop after a crash involving lesser bodily injury is a misdemeanor,8 which carries up to one year in jail9 and a $2,000 fine.6 Even a property-damage hit-and-run is an offense, and Hawaii tacks trauma-fund surcharges onto these convictions, running from $100 up to $500 depending on severity.14

If you are the one who got hit

Now the part that matters most when the other car is gone. Hawaii is a no-fault state, and that shifts the math in a hit-and-run victim's favor.

Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays your medical bills regardless of who was at fault, with a mandatory minimum of $10,000 per person.10 Because it does not care about fault, PIP pays even when the driver who hit you is never identified. That is the single most useful fact for most hit-and-run victims: your medical treatment does not wait on catching anyone.

For pain and suffering and other damages beyond PIP, the tool is uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. Hawaii's insurance code defines an "uninsured motor vehicle" to include an unidentified vehicle that causes a crash resulting in injury, which is exactly what a hit-and-run driver is.11 But there is a catch written into that same definition, and it is a hard deadline. The crash has to be reported to the police or proper governmental authority within thirty days, or as soon as practicable after that.11 Miss that window and you can lose the ability to treat the phantom driver as uninsured.

One more wrinkle. UM coverage is not mandatory in Hawaii. Insurers must offer it up to your bodily injury limits, but you are allowed to reject it in writing, and if you did, it will not be on your policy.12 This is a good moment to pull your declarations page and check whether you kept UM, because it is the coverage that stands in for the driver who fled.

If the police do identify the driver, their liability insurance comes into play. As of January 1, 2026, Hawaii's minimum limits are 40/80/20 under Act 138: $40,000 per person and $80,000 per crash for bodily injury, and $20,000 for property damage.12 You can still step outside no-fault and bring a bodily injury claim against that driver when your injury is serious enough, meaning death, significant permanent loss of a body part or function, permanent serious disfigurement, or once your PIP benefits paid or payable reach $5,000.10

What to do right now

The legal steps line up with the practical ones.

  • Call the police immediately. Beyond being the right move, immediate notice is required for any injury crash or one with about $3,000 in damage,3 and a police report filed inside 30 days is what preserves your UM claim against the driver who left.11
  • Write down everything while it is fresh: partial plate, color, make, direction of travel, time, and location. Photograph the damage and the scene, and get names and numbers from any witnesses.

After that, get the official crash report from the county police. Hawaii has no state highway patrol, so reports come from the Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, or Kauai police department where the crash happened. You can see how to pull yours on our Hawaii crash reports page. See a doctor even if you feel fine, because adrenaline masks injuries and your PIP covers the visit. Notify your own insurer promptly so the PIP and UM clocks do not run against you.

If your car took the damage, a UM property claim, or a claim against the other driver's insurer if that driver is caught, can cover repairs. A properly repaired vehicle can still lose resale value, which our Hawaii diminished value guide walks through.

Keep the calendar in mind. Hawaii gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for both injury and property damage under HRS 657-7.13 And if you were partly at fault in the sequence of events, Hawaii uses a modified comparative negligence rule: you can still recover when you are up to 50 percent at fault, but recovery is barred once your share is greater than the other side's.14

Hit-and-run cases turn on early documentation and hitting the reporting deadlines, so when the injuries or the coverage questions are significant, it is worth talking to a lawyer who handles them. You can find one through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

  1. Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-13, Collisions involving damage to vehicle or property. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0013.htm

  2. Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-14, Duty to give information and render aid. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0014.htm

  3. Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-16, Immediate notice of collision. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0016.htm

  4. Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-12, Accidents involving death or serious bodily injury. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0012.htm

  5. Hawaii Revised Statutes 706-660, Sentence of imprisonment for class B and C felonies. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0706/HRS_0706-0660.htm

  6. Hawaii Revised Statutes 706-640, Authorized fines. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0706/HRS_0706-0640.htm

  7. Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-12.5, Collisions involving substantial bodily injury. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0012_0005.htm

  8. Hawaii Revised Statutes 291C-12.6, Collisions involving bodily injury. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol05_Ch0261-0319/HRS0291C/HRS_0291C-0012_0006.htm

  9. Hawaii Revised Statutes 706-663, Sentence of imprisonment for misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0706/HRS_0706-0663.htm

  10. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-306, Abolition of tort liability. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0306.htm

  11. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-103, Definitions (uninsured motor vehicle). https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol09_ch0431-0435h/hrs0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0103.htm

  12. Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:10C-301, Required motor vehicle policy coverage, as amended by 2024 Act 138. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol09_Ch0431-0435H/HRS0431/HRS_0431-0010C-0301.htm

  13. Hawaii Revised Statutes 657-7, Damage to persons or property. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0657/HRS_0657-0007.htm

  14. Hawaii Revised Statutes 663-31, Contributory negligence no bar to recovery. https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol13_Ch0601-0676/HRS0663/HRS_0663-0031.htm

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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