A hit-and-run is an accident in which a driver causes damage and departs without providing information or assistance to others involved. A hit-and-run accident is incredibly distressing because the victim is injured, shaken, or frightened, and is often left without immediate support. That’s why legal advice is essential for individuals navigating the subsequent steps.
What is a Hit-and-Run?
A hit-and-run accident can be described as not doing what is required after an accident, which may include failing to:
- Stop at the scene immediately following the crash
- Identify yourself to the persons involved
- Render reasonable assistance to persons injured
The hit-and-run might involve striking another vehicle, damaging property, or injuring a pedestrian. Courts view these situations seriously because fleeing leaves injury victims without helpful, timely assistance, which would otherwise have helped with worse injuries. Lawyers play an important role in helping the victim navigate the claiming process.
Impact on Victims and Their Families
For victims, the impact is often emotional shock, pain, and uncertainty, and families suffer both emotional and financial distress. Notable impacts are:
- Medical bills, which can cripple household budgets
- Lost time from work or loss of a source of income
- Psychological injury where it feels that justice is delayed for a long time
Families of the deceased suffer a much more profound level of emotional damage. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 23% of pedestrian deaths were a result of hit-and-run drivers.
Lawyers provide victims with a necessary and important role by:
- Pursuing compensation through a claim with insurance, if they have insurance, and possible litigation.
- Representing the victim’s rights in the courtroom.
- Pursuing accountability is necessary for helping families achieve closure.
Families are likely to be able to navigate the pervasive nature of this tragedy when they have legal aid.
Challenges in Investigating and Prosecuting Hit-and-Run Incidents
Investigating hit-and-run incidents is notoriously difficult. Common difficulties involve:
- Drivers leaving the scene and disappearing, leaving little to no evidence.
- Witnesses who can be unreliable and who give only partial recollections of the events.
- Video footage from stores or other surveillance resources that is missing, unclear, or won’t help the investigation.
- Physical evidence from the vehicle that merits a forensic examination.
Lawyers help this process by gathering witness statements, following up with investigators to ensure all evidence and witness statements are reviewed, and keeping victims and their families informed of what evidence surfaces. When drivers are not apprehended, lawyers guide clients through the legal options available if a driver is never located or only takes away victims’ rights.
How Communities and States, and Local Governments, are Responding
Reducing hit-and-run incidents is something that communities and local and state law enforcement can do together. They can do the following:
- Deliver public awareness campaigns for drivers to take responsibility and stop,
- Provide a means for reporting crime tips without fear of being identified, thereby providing police with information that may lead to solving a hit-and-run.
- Employ technology that includes traffic camera evidence, license plate reader devices, or other public camera resources to limit detected incidents.
- Enact tougher laws and penalties to prevent drivers from fleeing.
Lawyers advocate for victims through these community approaches. Lawyers can enhance action campaigns delivered by communities and law enforcement, local and state, to violence or other crime prevention initiatives.
A hit-and-run accident leaves more than physical injuries. Victims endure emotional trauma, their families carry the loss, and offenders face significant criminal charges that lead to legal consequences.
Advocacy and legal support offer a viable mechanism for developing evidence to address the effects a person has on their family, economic challenges, and social ramifications from a hit-and-run accident.
Take Aways
- A hit-and-run occurs when a driver leaves the scene of an injury accident without providing assistance and identification.
- Victims suffer physical injuries, emotional trauma, and financial hardship.
- There are challenges to investigating the hit-and-run incident, usually from a lack of evidence.
- Lawyers provide advocacy for victims’ rights and the pursuit of justice.
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