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These illegal incidents affect around 1 in 250 licensed drivers each year.
Editor’s note (last updated Nov. 26, 2024): We’ve updated this page with the latest available data on hit-and-runs in the U.S.
A hit-and-run is when someone hits someone else’s car and then leaves the scene of the accident without exchanging any information. A hit-and-run could increase your car insurance rates, even if the collision wasn’t your fault. And if you lack the proper coverage, you may have to pay for injuries or property damages out of pocket.
Hit-and-runs are relatively common in the United States, according to the most recent data available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2022). Analyzing other federal data, we found these statistics:
From 2018 to 2022, there were nearly 4 million hit-and-runs in the U.S.
Year | Total estimated number of hit-and-runs | Number of fatal motor vehicle hit-and-runs | Estimated number of injury-only hit-and-runs | Estimated number of property damage-only hit-and-runs |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 809,914 | 1,995 | 215,329 | 592,590 |
2019 | 814,488 | 1,970 | 240,758 | 571,760 |
20202 | 768,789 | 2,520 | 236,433 | 529,836 |
2021 | 900,089 | 2,830 | 194,918 | 702,341 |
2022 | 859,421 | 2,854 | 189,462 | 667,1051 |
Out of these accidents:
In case you’re wondering how likely hit-and-runs are, only 0.4 percent of licensed drivers, or 1 in 250, experienced them in 2022.2 To break it down by the damages and injuries, 0.3 percent of U.S. adults experienced hit-and-runs with property damage only, and less than 1 percent involved injuries or deaths.
Fatal hit-and-runs are more common in certain areas than others, according to the latest data from the NHTSAand the U.S. Census Bureau (2022).
The West had the highest rate of fatal hit-and-runs in 2022 — 1.06 per 100,000 inhabitants. The Northeast had the lowest rates at 0.47 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Region | Average number of fatal hit-and-runs per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022 (low to high) |
---|---|
Northeast | 0.47 |
Midwest | 0.63 |
West | 1.06 |
South | 1.023 |
Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Tennessee have the highest rates of fatal hit-and-runs. The states with the lowest per capita rates are Wyoming, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Idaho.
State | Number of fatal hit-and-runs per 100,000 residents in 2022 (high to low) |
---|---|
Louisiana | 1.70 |
New Mexico | 1.61 |
Arizona | 1.47 |
Nevada | 1.42 |
Tennessee | 1.42 |
California | 1.26 |
Delaware | 1.18 |
Florida | 1.18 |
Georgia | 1.10 |
Texas | 1.09 |
Oregon | 1.06 |
Arkansas | 1.05 |
Hawaii | 1.04 |
Oklahoma | 1 |
Maryland | 0.91 |
Mississippi | 0.88 |
South Carolina | 0.85 |
Colorado | 0.84 |
Connecticut | 0.83 |
Kentucky | 0.78 |
North Carolina | 0.77 |
District of Columbia | 0.75 |
Michigan | 0.73 |
Missouri | 0.73 |
Alabama | 0.71 |
Illinois | 0.71 |
Washington | 0.69 |
New Jersey | 0.68 |
Indiana | 0.66 |
Ohio | 0.65 |
Virginia | 0.59 |
Wisconsin | 0.59 |
New York | 0.48 |
West Virginia | 0.45 |
Pennsylvania | 0.44 |
Utah | 0.44 |
Kansas | 0.41 |
North Dakota | 0.39 |
Rhode Island | 0.37 |
Montana | 0.36 |
Nebraska | 0.30 |
Alaska | 0.27 |
Massachusetts | 0.26 |
Minnesota | 0.23 |
South Dakota | 0.22 |
Iowa | 0.19 |
Idaho | 0.15 |
Vermont | 0.15 |
Maine | 0.07 |
New Hampshire | 0 |
Wyoming | 0 |
Multiple factors lead to a hit-and-run crash, from the number of pedestrians to the characteristics of the hit-and-run driver.
Most of the people killed in hit-and-runs are pedestrians, who aren’t protected by the body of a car.
Environmental factors such as lighting, the shape of roadways, and general surveillance can affect the likelihood of hit-and-runs. Areas with less lighting have more car accidents in general. The more visibility, the less likely someone is to commit a hit-and-run. In general, heavy-traffic areas with more surveillance have fewer hit-and-runs than darker, more private areas.
In 2022, the large majority of drivers involved in hit-and-run crashes were between the ages of 25 and 64, according to the most recent NHTSA data. This makes sense given that most licensed drivers are within this age group.
However, young drivers are disproportionately involved in hit-and-runs — drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 accounted for 22 percent of hit-and-runs in 2022, but this age group only represented 11 percent of licensed drivers that year.
Age group | Estimated # drivers involved in hit-and-run crashes | Percentage of total drivers involved in hit-and-runs |
---|---|---|
Under 16 | 24,760 | 2% |
16-20 | 162,284 | 11% |
21-24 | 165,937 | 11% |
25-34 | 345,421 | 23% |
35-44 | 282,868 | 19% |
45-64 | 375,590 | 25% |
65+ | 129,041 | 9% |
Unknown | 1,677 | <1% |
Male drivers are also more likely to be involved in a hit-and-run accident — 58 percent of drivers involved in hit-and-runs in 2022 were male, while 42 percent were female.
Driving under the influence is another big contributor to hit-and-runs. DUIs correlate with male drivers: In 2022, 77 percent of drivers involved in fatal traffic crashes who had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit were men.4
Men are also disproportionately killed in hit-and-run traffic accidents. Although men and women each make up about 50 percent of all licensed drivers, men make up 73 percent of all hit-and-run traffic fatality victims.
Sex | Total # people killed in hit-and-run crashes, 2022 | % of total hit-and-run traffic fatalities | % of total number of licensed drivers |
---|---|---|---|
Male | 2,145 | 73% | 50% |
Female | 764 | 26% | 50% |
Unknown | 23 | 1% | <1% |
The largest number of victims killed in an accident involving a hit-and-run in 2022 were in the 25-54 age bracket. While this group makes up 39 percent of the total U.S. population, they represent 54 percent of those killed in hit-and-run accidents. Therefore, the most likely person to die in a hit-and-run is a male between the ages of 25 and 54.
Age group | Number of people killed in a hit-and-run accident in 2022 | Percentage of the total number of people killed in a hit-and-run accident |
---|---|---|
0-15 | 80 | 3% |
16-24 | 331 | 11% |
25-54 | 1,577 | 54% |
55+ | 900 | 31% |
Unknown | 44 | 2% |
The culprits in hit-and-runs often drive older cars, suggesting a lower socioeconomic status, according to AAA data. The costs of an at-fault accident could be high, especially for those who drive without insurance — property damage, bodily injuries, state penalties and fees, and possibly even years in prison. Therefore, many people flee the scene to avoid law enforcement and the costs of the accident, but they become guilty of a greater crime (a hit-and-run) by doing so.5
If someone hits your parked car, or if someone hits your car and then leaves, will your car insurance cover your property damages and bodily injuries? It depends on your coverages and limits.
Insurance companies can apply your uninsured motorist coverage to hit-and-runs to pay your medical bills. Many states do not require you to purchase uninsured motorist coverage, but we recommend it, considering that an estimated 14 percent of drivers across the nation were uninsured as of 2022.6
Collision coverage is another coverage that you could apply to property damage from hit-and-runs, although its main usage is for accidents you’ve caused. No state requires collision insurance, but it’s part of full coverage, along with comprehensive coverage, medical payments coverage, and liability coverage.
Finally, you can apply either medical payments coverage or personal injury protection (PIP) to the costs of your injuries. While medical payments coverage will cover your medical bills, PIP will also cover any wages you lost or child care you had to pay for as a result of the accident.
Hit-and-runs are a major reason why purchasing full-coverage car insurance and uninsured motorist coverage is essential. If you lack these coverages and only have the minimum coverage your state requires, you may have to pay for the costs out of pocket if you’re involved in a crash. Check out more of our car insurance research on teen drivers, car crashes and uninsured motorists.
To perform this research, we combined third-party data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the Insurance Research Council, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST). NHTSA. (2022, Mar 2).
https://cdan.dot.gov/query
Highway Statistics 2019. NHTSA. (2024, Apr).
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2022/dl20.cfm
State Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2023. United States Census Bureau. (2024, Jun 25).
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-state-total.html
Traffic Safety Facts. NHTSA. (2024, Aug).
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/813578
Hit-and-Run Crashes: Prevalence, Contributing Factors and Countermeasures. AAA.
https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18-0058_Hit-and-Run-Brief_FINALv2.pdf
14 Percent of U.S. Drivers Were Uninsured in 2022, IRC Estimates. Insurance Information Institute. (2023, Oct 31).
https://insurance-research.org/sites/default/files/downloads/Uninsured%20Motorists%20News%20Release%201031_0.pdf