Hit-and-run laws and what to do in South Dakota

Getting hit by a driver who then speeds off leaves you with two problems at once: a wrecked car or a real injury, and nobody standing there to answer for it. South Dakota treats leaving the scene as a crime, and the state also builds a specific fallback into your own insurance for exactly this situation. Here's what the law says, and the moves that protect you.

What South Dakota requires every driver to do after a crash

State law puts the same core duty on anyone in a crash. Under SDCL 32-34-3, if you're involved in an accident that injures or kills someone or damages property, you have to immediately stop and give your name, your address, the name and address of the vehicle's owner, and the vehicle's license number to the person you hit or to the driver and occupants of the other car.¹ The same statute requires you to render reasonable assistance to anyone hurt, including getting them to a physician or surgeon if it's apparent they need treatment or they ask for it.¹

Stopping isn't the whole duty. SDCL 32-34-7 requires the driver to give immediate notice, by the quickest means available, to the nearest law enforcement officer with jurisdiction whenever a crash causes bodily injury, death, or property damage that looks like $1,000 or more to one person's property, or $2,000 total for the accident.² Failing to make that report is a Class 2 misdemeanor by itself.² If the driver is too hurt to call and another occupant could have, that passenger has to do it under SDCL 32-34-9.³

For a scrape with only property damage, SDCL 32-34-6 still requires you to stop and hand over your name, address, and the owner's name. If you clip a parked car and its owner isn't there, you have to leave that information on the vehicle.⁴ Collide with an unattended car or other property, and SDCL 32-34-4 says you must either locate and notify the owner or securely attach a written note with your details in a visible spot, then notify the nearest police without unnecessary delay.⁵

What leaving the scene costs

The penalty scales with the harm.

The serious charge is SDCL 32-34-5. Any driver in a crash that causes injury or death who fails to immediately stop and meet the 32-34-3 duties is guilty of a Class 6 felony.⁶ In South Dakota that carries up to two years in a state correctional facility and a fine of up to $4,000 (SDCL 22-6-1).⁷ A conviction triggers a separate consequence too: the Department of Revenue has to revoke the driver's vehicle registration.⁶

When only property is damaged, leaving without providing the information 32-34-6 requires is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail and a $2,000 fine (SDCL 22-6-2).⁴⁸ Failing the unattended-vehicle duty under 32-34-4, or skipping the law enforcement notice under 32-34-7, is a Class 2 misdemeanor, capped at 30 days in county jail and a $500 fine.⁸ The dividing line is injury. A crash with only property damage stays a misdemeanor; add a hurt person, and driving off becomes a felony.

If a driver hit you and took off

Here's the part that matters most when you're the one left behind. South Dakota law plans for the hit-and-run driver who's never found, and it does so more plainly than a lot of states.

Every auto liability policy issued in the state has to include uninsured motorist coverage, and the statute that requires it, SDCL 58-11-9, is titled "Uninsured motorist and hit-and-run coverage." It protects you when you're "legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles and hit-and-run motor vehicles."⁹ A driver who flees and is never identified is treated as uninsured, so your own UM coverage becomes the source that pays for your bodily injury. Those limits equal your bodily injury coverage, up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident unless you bought more.⁹ Underinsured motorist coverage is built in the same way under SDCL 58-11-9.4, for the case where the driver is found but carries too little insurance.¹⁰

Because a UM claim runs against your own insurer, a few steps protect it. Report the crash to law enforcement right away, the same 32-34-7 notice the fleeing driver skipped, so there's an official record. If you caught any detail of the other car, a partial plate or its color and the direction it went, write it down before it fades. When you're ready for the official crash report, South Dakota routes those through the Department of Public Safety's Office of Accident Records, and you can get your South Dakota crash report here.¹¹

If your car was repaired but now carries a wreck on its history and is worth less at resale, that lost value is its own claim in South Dakota. We cover how it works on the South Dakota diminished value page.

The deadlines that decide your claim

South Dakota gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit (SDCL 15-2-14(3)).¹² If the injured person is a minor, the clock generally doesn't run during their minority and picks up when they turn 18 (SDCL 15-2-22).¹³ Damage to your vehicle gets a longer window, six years, under the state's catch-all limit for injury to goods or chattels (SDCL 15-2-13(4)).¹⁴ These deadlines apply to a UM claim too, so a hit-and-run doesn't pause the clock.

If police identify the driver later, fault becomes a live question, and South Dakota's rule is unusual. Instead of a 50 or 51 percent bar, the state uses a slight-gross comparative negligence standard (SDCL 20-9-2): you can still recover, reduced by your share, only if your own negligence was "slight" next to the other driver's.¹⁵ That's a judgment call for the jury rather than a fixed percentage. For a hit-and-run victim it usually helps, because fleeing is the kind of conduct that makes the other driver's share of fault look large.

Getting help

A straightforward hit-and-run claim, especially one that runs through your own UM coverage, is often something you can start yourself by calling your insurer and filing the police report. When there's a serious injury, a death, or an insurer dragging its feet on a UM claim, talk to a lawyer who handles these cases in South Dakota. You can find a South Dakota attorney in the directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 32-34-3, duty of vehicle operator to stop, give information, and aid injured persons. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-3
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 32-34-7, duty to give immediate notice of accident to law enforcement (Class 2 misdemeanor). https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-7
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 32-34-9, duty of occupant to give notice when driver is physically incapable. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-9
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 32-34-6, information furnished by driver in a property damage accident (Class 1 misdemeanor). https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-6
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 32-34-4, duty to stop after accident with an unattended vehicle or property (Class 2 misdemeanor). https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-4
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 32-34-5, hit and run accident resulting in death or injury as a felony. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-34-5
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 22-6-1, felony classes and penalties (Class 6 felony). https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/22-6-1
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 22-6-2, misdemeanor classes and penalties. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/22-6-2
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 58-11-9, uninsured motorist and hit-and-run coverage. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/58-11-9
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 58-11-9.4, underinsured motorist coverage. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/58-11-9.4
South Dakota Department of Public Safety, Office of Accident Records. https://dps.sd.gov/records/accident-records
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 15-2-14, three-year limitation for personal injury. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/15-2-14
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 15-2-22, tolling of the limitations period during minority. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/15-2-22
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 15-2-13, six-year limitation for injury to property. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/15-2-13
South Dakota Legislature, SDCL 20-9-2, contributory negligence under the slight-gross comparison. https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/20-9-2

Hit-and-Run Laws & What to Do in South Dakota