Leaving the scene of an accident in Maryland — commonly called hit-and-run — is a crime that scales sharply with what the accident caused. Under Md. Code, Transp. § 20-104, any driver in an accident must stop, remain, render reasonable aid, and exchange information. Leaving an accident involving only property damage is a misdemeanor (up to 2 months and $500, 8 points). Leaving one involving bodily injury is a more serious misdemeanor (up to 1 year and $3,000, 12 points). If the accident caused serious bodily injury or death and the driver knew or should have known, it becomes a felony — up to 5 or 10 years respectively. The duty to stop applies even to a parked car you hit.
Most hit-and-run charges are not about reckless people fleeing — they are about drivers who panicked, did not realize they hit something, or did not know the law required them to stay. Maryland’s statute does not care much about the panic; it cares about whether you stopped and met your obligations. But it does require that you knew, or should have known, an accident happened — and that knowledge requirement, along with the question of who was actually driving, is where most of the real defense lives.
What the Law Requires After Any Accident
Section 20-104 sets out the duties that apply whenever you are in an accident involving injury, death, or property damage. You must stop at the scene (or as close as safely possible), remain there, render reasonable assistance to anyone injured — including arranging transport for medical care where needed — and provide your name, address, and vehicle registration, showing your license if asked, to the others involved and to any responding officer.
If no one is present to receive that information — say you hit a parked, unattended car — you must leave a note and report it. For accidents involving injury or death, Maryland also requires a written report within 15 days. Meeting these duties is what keeps an accident from becoming a separate crime on top of whatever caused it.
The Penalty Tiers, From Property Damage to Death
The single biggest factor in a hit-and-run case is which tier applies:
- Property damage only: misdemeanor — up to 2 months in jail, a $500 fine, and 8 points.
- Bodily injury (not serious): misdemeanor — up to 1 year, a $3,000 fine, and 12 points, which alone triggers license revocation proceedings.
- Serious bodily injury: felony — up to 5 years and a $5,000 fine.
- Death: felony — up to 10 years and a $10,000 fine.
For a closer look at how the two most common tiers compare, see our guide to Maryland hit-and-run: property damage vs. injury. The felony tiers turn on a knowledge standard, discussed next.
The Knowledge Requirement — and Why It Matters
Maryland’s hit-and-run law is not a strict-liability trap. To be convicted, you must have known, or reasonably should have known, that an accident occurred — and, for the felony tiers, that it might have caused serious injury or death. A driver who genuinely did not realize they clipped something has a real argument that the knowledge element is not met.
Be honest with yourself about how far that goes, though: the “I didn’t know” defense weakens as the severity of the impact rises. It is far more believable for a minor scrape in a parking lot than for a collision that caused serious injury, where a jury may find you should have known. We cover this directly in being accused of a hit-and-run you didn’t know happened.
Identity: Often the Central Defense
In many hit-and-run cases the driver leaves before being identified, and the charge arrives later by mailed summons based on a license plate or a witness description. That makes identity the central battleground: the State must prove that you — not just your car — were the person driving.
A plate ties a vehicle to an owner, not necessarily to a driver. If someone else was behind the wheel, or the identification is shaky, that gap is frequently the strongest part of the defense. A mailed summons carries the same weight as an arrest, so it should never be ignored — but it is also not proof of who was driving.
What to Do If You’re Charged
If you have been charged, do not assume the outcome is fixed — these cases range from very defensible to quite serious depending on the tier and the evidence. Avoid making statements about who was driving before you have advice, preserve anything that helps establish what happened, and take the summons seriously. Our guide on what happens after a hit-and-run charge walks through the process from summons to resolution.
The difference between a misdemeanor property-damage charge and a felony injury charge is enormous, and so is the difference between a clean identification and a weak one — which is exactly why these cases reward careful handling rather than a quick guilty plea.
Related Questions
- Maryland hit-and-run: property damage vs. injury penalty tiers
- Driving without insurance in Maryland
- How Maryland’s point system works
- License suspension vs. revocation vs. cancellation
- How insurance companies treat traffic convictions
Charged With Leaving the Scene? The Tier and the ID Decide Everything
Because the stakes swing from a minor misdemeanor to a felony, and because identity is so often contestable, a hit-and-run charge is worth a careful look before you respond. A Maryland hit-and-run lawyer can assess which tier truly applies, test the strength of the identification, and work to reduce or defeat the charge.
Toll-free: 1-877-566-2408. For the broader picture, see the complete Maryland insurance and hit-and-run guide.
Last updated: May 2026.