A hit-and-run turns an ordinary crash into something more frightening. The other driver is gone, you may be hurt, and two questions hit at once: who pays, and how long you have to act. Maryland answers both, and it also spells out exactly what a driver owes at the scene. Here is what the law says, with the statute numbers so you can check every point yourself.
What Maryland treats as a hit-and-run
Maryland's code never uses the phrase "hit and run." The duties sit in Title 20 of the Transportation Article, and they apply to every driver "involved in an accident," whether or not you caused it. Leaving before you meet those duties is the crime.
What you must do at the scene
If the crash injured or killed someone, you have to stop as close to the scene as you safely can and stay there until you have done what Section 20-104 requires.1 That section is the checklist: give your name, address, and vehicle registration, show your driver's license if asked, and render reasonable assistance to anyone hurt, which includes arranging a ride to medical care when it is requested or clearly needed.2 If no officer is on scene and there is no one to give your information to, you must report the crash to the nearest police authority right away.2
The rules shrink for property-only crashes, but they do not vanish. Hit an occupied car or other attended property and Section 20-103 still requires you to stop and exchange the same information.3 Clip a parked car or a mailbox with no one around, and Section 20-105 says you have to find the owner or leave a written notice in a conspicuous, secure place on the property with your details.4 Pulling out of a parking lot after tapping an empty car is a hit-and-run in Maryland.
There is also a paperwork step. Section 20-107 gives you 15 days to file a written report with the MVA after any crash that hurt or killed a person, unless a police officer already investigated and filed a report.5 Call the police and let them write it up, and that requirement is usually handled for you.
The penalties for leaving
The punishment tracks the harm. These are the tiers:
- Damage to an attended vehicle or property (Section 20-103), an unattended vehicle or property (Section 20-105), or a failure to give information and aid (Section 20-104): a misdemeanor carrying up to 2 months in jail, a fine up to $500, or both.342
- An accident that caused bodily injury (Section 20-102): a misdemeanor with up to 1 year in jail and a fine up to $3,000.1
- An accident that caused death (Section 20-102): up to 5 years and a fine up to $5,000.1
- Leaving when you knew or should have known the crash was likely to cause serious bodily injury: a felony, up to 5 years and $5,000. If you knew or should have known it was likely to cause death, the felony rises to 10 years and $10,000.1
Maryland defines "serious bodily injury" as an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, causes permanent disfigurement, or brings a protracted loss of function of a body part, organ, or mental faculty, which is what separates the felony tier from the rest.1
The criminal charge is only half the exposure. A conviction for leaving the scene puts points on your Maryland driving record, and the MVA opens suspension proceedings once you reach 8 to 11 points within two years and moves to revoke your license at 12 or more.6
If a driver hits you and runs
Turn it around now: you are the one who got hit, and the other car is gone. The first minutes count. Get yourself and your vehicle clear of traffic if you can, then call 911. The police report is the backbone of a hit-and-run claim, and your insurer can require you to report the crash to police promptly, sometimes within a specific window written into your policy.7 Jot down whatever you caught about the other car (make, color, a partial plate, the direction it fled), photograph the damage and the scene, and get names and numbers from any witnesses. You can pull the official report later through thatcarhitme.com's Maryland crash report page.
The volume here is real. Montgomery County alone logged 898 crashes in May 2025, and hit-and-runs are a steady slice of that count.8
How you get paid when the driver is gone
This is the part people do not expect: you can often recover even if the driver is never found. Maryland requires every auto policy to carry uninsured motorist coverage (UM), set to match your bodily injury liability limits unless you signed a written waiver lowering it.910 The Maryland Insurance Administration treats a hit-and-run or unknown driver as "uninsured," so your own UM coverage pays for your injuries.7 One Maryland-specific catch: UM applies only when the missing driver is found 100% at fault, because Maryland still follows contributory negligence, under which being even slightly to blame can bar your recovery entirely.711
Personal injury protection (PIP) helps here too. It pays your medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash, which fits a hit-and-run exactly. Maryland insurers must offer at least $2,500 in PIP, though you may have waived it in writing.12 For the money your car loses in resale value even after a clean repair, see thatcarhitme.com's Maryland diminished value guide.
What if you had no coverage of your own, say you were a pedestrian or cyclist struck by a car that fled? Maryland Auto Insurance runs an Uninsured Division built to compensate residents injured by uninsured drivers who have nowhere else to turn, paid for out of MVA fines.13 It is a last resort with its own eligibility rules, but it exists for cases just like that.
The deadlines that matter
The clock is what people miss. Maryland gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit for injuries or property damage, under the general limitations statute at Courts and Judicial Proceedings Section 5-101.14 Your policy's own reporting deadline can be much shorter, so a UM claim should not sit. And because Maryland's minimum liability limits run just 30/60/15 ($30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, $15,000 for property), even catching the driver may not cover everything; their policy could be too thin, which is one more reason your UM coverage carries the weight.15
When to get a lawyer
Hit-and-run cases tangle quickly, between the criminal case against the driver and an insurer weighing whether the phantom driver was really 100% at fault. If your injuries are serious or your carrier is pushing back, it is worth talking to a Maryland attorney, and you can start with thatcarhitme.com's legal directory.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Md. Code, Transportation § 20-102 (duty to stop and remain at the scene of an accident causing bodily injury or death; penalties). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr§ion=20-102&enactments=false
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Md. Code, Transportation § 20-104 (duty to give information and render aid). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr§ion=20-104&enactments=false
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Md. Code, Transportation § 20-103 (accidents damaging an attended vehicle or property). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr§ion=20-103&enactments=false
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Md. Code, Transportation § 20-105 (accidents damaging an unattended vehicle or property). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr§ion=20-105&enactments=false
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Md. Code, Transportation § 20-107 (written accident report to the MVA within 15 days). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr§ion=20-107&enactments=false
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Maryland MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration, Driver's License Points and point assessment thresholds. https://mva.maryland.gov/about-mva/Pages/info/26100/26100-01T.aspx
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Maryland Insurance Administration, Uninsured Motorist coverage (consumer guidance, including hit-and-run and 100%-fault requirement). https://insurance.maryland.gov/Consumer/Pages/uninsured-motorist.aspx
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thatcarhitme.com, Montgomery County, MD crash report, May 2025. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/maryland/montgomery-county/may-2025-report
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Md. Code, Insurance § 19-509 (uninsured motorist coverage). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin§ion=19-509&enactments=false
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Md. Code, Insurance § 19-510 (waiver or reduction of uninsured motorist coverage in writing). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin§ion=19-510&enactments=false
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Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013) (Maryland retains contributory negligence). https://www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinions/coa/2013/9a12.pdf
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Md. Code, Insurance § 19-505 (personal injury protection benefits). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gin§ion=19-505&enactments=false
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Maryland Auto Insurance, Resources for Uninsured Marylanders (Uninsured Division). https://www.mymarylandauto.com/site/resources-for-uninsured-marylanders/
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Md. Code, Courts & Judicial Proceedings § 5-101 (three-year civil statute of limitations). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcj§ion=5-101&enactments=false
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Md. Code, Transportation § 17-103 (minimum required liability limits). https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gtr§ion=17-103