Hit and Run Accidents in Westchester County & NYC: Your Legal Options When the Driver Flees

Someone hits you and keeps driving. Within a few seconds, the one person who owed you money is gone, and you’re standing in the road trying to remember a plate number.

Short answer: yes, you can usually still recover money in New York even if the driver is never identified. Two paths exist. Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage on a New York auto policy, and the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) if no policy covers you. Both require a police report within 24 hours and, under Insurance Law § 5217, physical contact between you and the fleeing vehicle.

That’s the part every page tells you. Here’s the part almost nobody covers: whether anyone is actively looking for that driver depends on which road you were standing on, and the evidence that identifies fleeing drivers has a short shelf life. At the Law Offices of Norman Gershon, we handle these cases from both our North Salem and White Plains offices, and the investigation questions come up long before the legal ones do. If you’re weighing whether you even have a case, our page on how a car accident claim in Westchester County works covers the basics first.

The Gershon 24-30-90 Rule: The Three Clocks That Decide Whether You Recover Anything

Most hit-and-run claims that fail don’t fail on the merits. They fail on a calendar. Three deadlines start running the moment the other car disappears, and all three generally close before most people finish physical therapy.

Clock	What’s due	Where it comes from
24 hours	Report the crash to police	Insurance Law Art. 52 (MVAIC eligibility)
30 days	No-fault application (NF-2) to the insurer or MVAIC	Regulation 68, effective Feb. 2000
90 days	MVAIC Notice of Intention (unidentified driver), and wage-loss claim notice	Ins. Law § 5208

Three more sit just behind them:

• 10 days to file an MV-104 accident report with the DMV if there’s injury, death, or over $1,000 in property damage to any one person (VTL § 605). Not filing can lead to a license suspension.
• 45 days for your treating provider to bill no-fault from the date of service, also under Regulation 68, reduced from 180 days.
• 180 days for the MVAIC Notice of Intention if the driver is later identified but turns out to be uninsured.

That 45-day billing rule is the quiet one. We’ve seen benefits denied because a medical office billed late, not because the injured person did anything wrong. If you’re dealing with a provider who doesn’t handle no-fault often, ask them directly whether they’ve submitted.

Who Actually Investigates a Hit and Run in Westchester County?

This trips people up more than any other question we get, and it isn’t obvious. In Westchester, the agency that owns your case depends entirely on what kind of road you were on.

Where the crash happened	Who investigates
Bronx River, Cross County, Hutchinson River, Saw Mill River parkways; county parks and facilities	Westchester County Department of Public Safety (HQ, 1 Saw Mill River Parkway, Hawthorne)
Taconic State Parkway, Sprain Brook, I-87 Thruway, I-95, I-287, I-684	New York State Police, Troop T (SP Tarrytown, SP New Rochelle)
Local streets in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, Peekskill, Ossining, Rye, Greenburgh, Yorktown	That city, town, or village police department
Mount Kisco and Cortlandt municipal patrol	Westchester County Department of Public Safety

Why it matters: if you call the wrong agency for a copy of your report, you lose days you don’t have.

One useful detail about the county force. Its Forensic Investigation Unit runs a Digital Evidence Section accredited by the New York State Commission on Forensic Science and ASCLD. That’s the unit smaller local departments often lean on to process surveillance video and device evidence, which is exactly the evidence that identifies a fleeing driver.

Yonkers Now Has Drones in the Air in Under Three Minutes

On March 13, 2026, Yonkers PD launched a permanent citywide Drone as First Responder program with Motorola Solutions. Two dock-based units sit on opposite sides of the city and can reach any location in under three minutes, feeding into the city’s AWARE Crime Control Center, which pulls together 911 audio, radio traffic, and camera video in one place.

“In an emergency, every second matters.” Jim Wolfinbarger, VP of Real-Time Intelligence, Motorola Solutions

That system, combined with the city’s plate-reader network, has already produced results. In one fatal Executive Boulevard case, investigators identified the suspect vehicle within minutes and located it within about 28 hours.

The honest takeaway isn’t that technology solves hit-and-runs. It’s that identification tends to happen fast or not at all. Public cameras are captured quickly. The private ones, the deli across the street, the ring camera on the corner house, the parking garage DVR, are a different story. Retention varies widely by system, and some overwrite on their own within days. Nobody preserves that footage for you automatically. A lawyer can send preservation demands, but only while the footage still exists.

If your crash happened in the last week and you know of a nearby camera, that’s the call to make today. You can reach our office at 914-290-5972.

In New York City, a Non-Critical Injury Case May Never Get a Full Reconstruction

NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad responds to fatal and critical-injury crashes. The old “dead or likely to die” threshold was replaced in 2013 with a critical-injury standard, plus discretionary response when a duty captain decides the circumstances warrant it.

Read that carefully, because the practical consequence is significant. A hit-and-run that leaves you with a torn rotator cuff or a herniated disc will likely not get a CIS reconstruction. There may be a patrol report and not much else. The evidence gathering falls to your side.

The broader NYC picture is genuinely improving. NYC DOT reported in January 2026 that 2025 ended with 205 traffic deaths, down 19% from 253 in 2024, the fewest since record-keeping began in 1910 and 31% below 2014, the year Vision Zero launched. DOT credits enforcement aimed at drivers who are unlicensed, involved in hit-and-runs, or carrying three or more prior convictions for a considerable share of that drop.

Better citywide numbers still don’t help the individual case where nobody knocks on doors looking for video.

How Often Do Hit and Run Drivers Actually Get Caught?

Here’s what the newest national research shows. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published Understanding the Increase in Fatal Hit-and-Run Crashes on March 11, 2026 (Kasha & Tefft).

In 2023, over 900,000 police-reported crashes, 15% of all police-reported crashes nationally, involved a driver who left the scene. Those crashes caused more than 240,000 injuries and 2,872 deaths, or 7% of all crash deaths, which the brief describes as the highest percentage ever recorded.

Year	Hit-and-run crashes	% of all crashes	H&R fatalities	% of all fatalities
2017	785,012	12.2%	2,010	5.4%
2019	817,690	12.1%	2,037	5.6%
2021	899,997	14.7%	2,917	6.7%
2022	861,429	14.5%	2,972	7.0%
2023	919,292	15.0%	2,872	7.0%

Now the number that answers the question directly. In fatal hit-and-run crashes from 2017 to 2023, researchers had driver characteristic data for only 47% of fleeing drivers. For the other 53%, no information was available, in many cases because the driver was never apprehended.

That’s the fair answer to “will they catch him.” Sometimes. Often not. And it’s the reason the insurance track needs to start immediately rather than after the investigation plays out.

“Drivers must understand that leaving the scene only compounds the harm.” Dr. David Yang, President and Executive Director, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (March 11, 2026)

AAA’s Jake Nelson has made a related point in the same release, noting that bringing these crashes down takes a mix of stronger enforcement, smarter use of technology, and public education, and that the tools already exist. AAA’s Cliff Ruud has also pointed out that roadside technicians step into live traffic to help strangers, and a driver who flees puts them at even greater risk. AAA tracked 15 roadside service providers struck and killed in the prior year, at least 6 by drivers who left the scene.

What the Research Says About Who Flees

Among fleeing drivers later identified in fatal crashes, 2017 to 2023:

• 78.3% were male, and 71.4% were between 18 and 44
• 40% did not hold a valid license (17.0% never licensed, 17.5% suspended or revoked, 2.9% expired)
• Only 43.5% owned the vehicle they were driving. 39.5% were in someone else’s car, 1.6% in a stolen one
• 71.2% crashed within 10 miles of their home ZIP code, and 84.8% within 25 miles
• Over 90% were in a passenger car (44.6%) or a light truck or van (46.8%)

That geography finding is useful. Fleeing drivers are usually local. So are the cameras that catch them.

Timing follows a pattern too. The worst window is 11:00 PM to 2:59 AM, where hit-and-runs accounted for 10.5% of all fatalities in that window. In dark lighting conditions, 13,645 hit-and-run deaths, against 3,032 in daylight.

Density drives it. In cities over 500,000 people, 16.4% of all traffic fatalities were hit-and-runs, compared with 2.2% in rural areas. A crash in the Bronx or Yonkers does not carry the same risk profile as one upstate.

Hit and Run Is a Bigger Share of the Problem Here Than in the Rest of New York

The AAA brief includes state and metro breakdowns that we haven’t seen used anywhere else. They’re worth reading side by side.

Road user	New York State (2017–2023)	NY–Jersey City–Newark metro (2017–2023)
Vehicle occupants	2.0% hit-and-run	3.6% hit-and-run
Motorcyclists	4.4% hit-and-run	6.1% hit-and-run
Pedestrians and bicyclists	20.6% hit-and-run	21.5% hit-and-run
All road users	8.1% of 7,401 deaths	11.7% of 5,340 deaths

The metro rate of 11.7% runs about 44% higher than the statewide rate of 8.1%. Every category is worse here than in New York generally.

And look at the pedestrian line. Roughly one in five pedestrian and cyclist deaths in New York State involves a driver who left. If you were on foot when it happened, your case is not unusual, and the same UM and MVAIC routes are open to you. We cover that ground on our page for pedestrian accidents in Westchester, and cyclists face a nearly identical set of questions, which we address for anyone dealing with a bicycle crash claim in Westchester.

Where the Money Comes From When the Driver Is Never Identified

Two tracks, and which one applies depends on whose policy is in play.

Uninsured Motorist coverage. UM is mandatory on every New York auto policy, and a hit-and-run counts as an uninsured driver. Supplementary Underinsured Motorist (SUM) coverage attaches automatically to policies issued or renewed on or after June 18, 2018 unless the policyholder opted out. Claims usually go to arbitration rather than court.

MVAIC. This is the backstop when no policy covers you at all, common for pedestrians without a car in the household.

We wrote about how these mechanics work in detail in our post on what happens if the driver who hit you has no insurance in New York, so we won’t repeat it here.

One requirement deserves emphasis because it ends cases. Under Insurance Law § 5217, recovery against an unidentifiable driver generally requires physical contact with you or with the vehicle you occupied. A driver who forces you off the road without touching your car creates a much harder problem. If that’s your situation, talk to an attorney before you file anything.

If the driver is later identified, your claim can shift from UM or MVAIC to an ordinary liability claim against that person. MVAIC may then pursue the driver for reimbursement under § 5218(g)(2).

Filing With MVAIC Is Not the Same as Qualifying With MVAIC

This is the part of the process we think is least understood, and MVAIC’s own 2024 Annual Report is where the evidence sits.

For 2024, MVAIC reports 28,568 Notices of Intention received and 1,082 notices qualified, alongside 30,257 notices declined and 7,227 claims pending qualification review for 2024 and prior years. It took care of 2,248 claims and paid a combined $28.7 million across Tort and No-Fault.

1,082 qualified out of 28,568 received works out to roughly 3.8%.

Year	Notices received	Claims opened
2014	16,657	1,821
2019	21,519	1,518
2020	23,926	1,349
2022	21,400	2,183
2023	21,520	2,115
2024	28,568	2,248

That’s a 32.8% single-year jump in notices, the largest in the decade, while qualified notices stayed near a thousand. The gap between filing and qualifying is widening, and MVAIC also runs a Special Investigation Unit for questionable claims plus an in-house legal unit for tort suits.

Sending in a form is easy. Meeting the qualification requirements, in the right order, within 24, 30, and 90 days, is where claims are won or lost. We’d suggest not attempting it alone.

What MVAIC Can Actually Pay

Benefit	Limit	Note
Tort, one person	$25,000	Set by Chapter 665 of the Laws of 1979
Tort, two or more people	$50,000	Same 1979 statute
Death, one person / two or more	$50,000 / $100,000	Unchanged since 1979
No-Fault	Up to $50,000
Work loss	$2,000 per month, up to 3 years

Those limits have not moved in more than 45 years. That alone is a reason to look hard for UM coverage in your own household first, which is a question worth asking a lawyer rather than an adjuster.

Is Leaving the Scene a Felony in New York? What VTL § 600 Actually Says

It depends on the outcome. Fines are statutory, so we can state them plainly.

Situation	Charge	Fine
Property damage only, no report	Traffic infraction	Per VTL § 600(1)
Failure to exchange information only	Class B misdemeanor	$250 to $500
Same, subsequent violation	Class A misdemeanor	$500 to $1,000
Any other violation, including failing to stop	Class A misdemeanor	$750 to $1,000
Repeat offense	Class E felony	$1,000 to $3,000
Serious physical injury (Penal Law § 10.00)	Class E felony	$1,000 to $5,000
Death	Class D felony	$2,000 to $5,000

Under VTL § 600(2)(a), a driver involved in a personal injury crash must stop, exchange information, and report to police.

One thing to be clear about: a criminal conviction does not pay you. Those fines go to the state. Your compensation comes from a separate civil claim, and the two proceed on different tracks and different timelines.

What Could Change: Nick’s Law and the 2026 Session

“Nick’s Law” (S3639, Sen. Dean Murray, with Assembly companion A3344) is not law. As of this session, it was reported out of the Senate Transportation Committee on May 5, 2026 by a 7 to 2 vote with four “aye with reservations,” and referred to the Senate Codes Committee.

If enacted, it would raise leaving the scene resulting in death from a class D felony to a class B felony and set the fine at $30,000. The sponsor memo names Nicholas Puzio of Farmingville, killed in a Patchogue crosswalk on March 12, 2023, and describes elevating fatal hit-and-run to vehicular manslaughter.

The last enacted change came on August 12, 2022, when Governor Hochul signed A.3964/S.9163, raising the fine range for leaving the scene of a personal injury crash to $750 to $1,000.

New York still has no hit-and-run alert system. The AAA brief identifies California, Colorado (the Medina Alert), and Maryland as states running Yellow Alert programs, and notes that drivers are less likely to flee when they believe they’ll be caught. New York bills to create one have been introduced repeatedly across prior sessions, including S4257 (2017), S1375/A6602 (2019), S5547 (2021), and S5588 (2023). None has been enacted.

Minimum liability coverage in New York also remains at 25/50/10 per the Department of Financial Services. Bills to raise it are pending, and we covered those in our earlier post linked above.

If a Fleeing Driver Killed Someone in Your Family

This part is hard, and it’s also current. Governor Hochul vetoed the Grieving Families Act for a fourth consecutive time on December 5, 2025. New York’s wrongful death statute, on the books since 1847, still limits recovery to pecuniary loss. Grief, loss of companionship, and emotional suffering are not compensable under current law.

Families are often surprised by this, and understandably upset. It changes how a case has to be built, with far more attention to economic proof from the start. If you’re facing that, our page on wrongful death claims in Westchester explains what the current statute does and does not allow.

Note also that the wrongful death deadline is two years under EPTL 5-4.1, a year shorter than the three-year personal injury deadline under CPLR 214(5). And if a government vehicle was involved, a Notice of Claim is due within 90 days under General Municipal Law 50-e.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the very first thing I should do after a hit and run in New York? Call the police from the scene and make sure a report is filed within 24 hours. That single step preserves MVAIC eligibility under Insurance Law Article 52. Everything else, including camera canvassing and the DMV MV-104 filing, has more room in it.

Can I recover anything if the driver is never found? Yes, in most cases, through UM coverage or MVAIC. The main obstacle is the § 5217 physical contact requirement. If the fleeing car never touched you or your vehicle, that’s a conversation to have with an attorney before you assume the claim is dead.

How much is my hit and run case worth? We can’t answer that in a blog post, and any page giving you a number is guessing. Value depends on your injuries, whether you meet the serious injury threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d), available coverage limits, and how liability is documented. That’s a consultation question.

Will my premium go up if I file a UM claim? That depends on your carrier, your policy, and your history. Ask your broker or agent directly before you assume the answer, and ask an attorney before you assume it should stop you from filing.

Should I give the insurance company a recorded statement? Talk to a lawyer first. Recorded statements are routine requests, but what you say in one can affect the claim later, and there’s usually no urgency that requires doing it the same week.

Can a pedestrian or cyclist file an MVAIC claim? Yes, if you qualify under Article 52 and meet the physical contact requirement. Given that roughly one in five pedestrian and cyclist deaths statewide involves a fleeing driver, this comes up often.

Do I really have to file with the DMV too? If there was injury, death, or more than $1,000 in property damage to any one person, an MV-104 is due within 10 days under VTL § 605. Non-filing can result in a license suspension, which is an avoidable problem stacked on top of an injury.

How long does surveillance footage stick around? It varies too much by system for anyone to give you a reliable number, and some systems overwrite on their own. That’s precisely why preservation letters go out early rather than after the investigation stalls.

Talk to Someone Before the 24-30-90 Clocks Close

The evidence in a hit-and-run case tends to disappear on its own schedule. The private camera that saw the plate does not wait for you to feel better, and MVAIC’s 3.8% qualification rate is not a number to test on your own.

Norman Gershon has spent more than 35 years trying injury cases in Westchester and New York City, with over $100 million recovered for clients, including a $2,500,000 verdict in Westchester Supreme Court in Yurkovic v. Cepin, a motor vehicle intersection case involving cervical fusions. Past results don’t predict what any individual case will do, but they reflect the kind of case we’re prepared to take to trial rather than settle short.

If a driver hit you and left, in Yonkers, White Plains, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, the Bronx, Manhattan, or anywhere in Westchester County, the Law Offices of Norman Gershon offers a consultation at no cost to you.

Call 914-290-5972. 60 June Road, North Salem, NY 10560 1 Barker Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601 Hablamos Español.

Sources referenced: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Understanding the Increase in Fatal Hit-and-Run Crashes (Kasha & Tefft, March 11, 2026); MVAIC 2024 Annual Report; NYC DOT press release, January 2026; NYPD Collision Investigation Squad guidance; Westchester County Department of Public Safety; City of Yonkers and Motorola Solutions, March 13, 2026; New York State Senate, S3639; NY Department of Financial Services; NY VTL §§ 600 and 605; NY Insurance Law Article 52.