When you get into a collision on the roadway, no matter how serious or how sudden, you will immediately have a million thoughts running through your brain. Are you okay? If you have passengers, are they okay? Where did that other car even come from? And—what do you do now?

If you are like many Americans who get into these type of accidents every day, one of the important pieces of information that you need to know but might not be aware of is that you should absolutely always stay on the scene, and that not doing so could even be considered a third degree crime in the state of New Jersey. Not doing so could cause you to have your license suspended, need to pay steep fines and even face potential jail time. Here’s a close look into what you should do after an accident, and a particular focus on staying at the scene afterwards.

After any sort of collision on a NJ roadway, you are responsible for coming to a complete stop as quickly and as close as possible to the scene of the event. You need to give your identification to the other parties involved, as well as to law enforcement officers. If no one else is present, this is no excuse—you are required to notify the proper authorities immediately. This is also required for those driving rented vehicles, as they are subject to the laws of the road while driving, rather than the technical owner of the vehicle in question. If the rental you were driving is damaged, you will also need to discuss the costs of the damage with them to see whether that was covered in your renter’s agreement ahead of time or not.

If there are other individuals on the scene, you should also feel a moral obligation not to leave and to ensure that their physical well-being is also intact. Medical attention should always be the first priority, and collisions involving the serious injury or even death of another party can cause large problems for the party at fault later down the line.

If you leave the scene of an accident in New Jersey, you are subject to losing your license for 12 months for a first offense and paying fines of $1,000.  Depending on the circumstances you even could face serious criminal charges that could result in up to five years of prison time for leaving the scene if an individual has suffered seriously bodily injured.  Additional offenses can result in a lifetime suspension of your license.

If you have been charged with leaving the scene of the crime, you will want to immediately consult with a professional attorney on your options moving forward. For this or any other traffic violation cases, call me, David W. Polsky, today for a free consultation. I can be reached by phone at 973-686-9787 and look forward to speaking with you about your individual case soon.