OLR Report 2013-R-0235 compares Connecticut's hit and run and driving under the influence (DUI) laws with those of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. You also asked how many people were killed in Connecticut accidents involving (1) alcohol impairment and (2) hit and run drivers. We provide this information for 2011, the most recent year for which the data is readily available.
Connecticut, as do the other states in our sample, requires motorists involved in accidents in which an injury occurs to immediately stop at or close to the scene, and provide others involved in the accident, and police, with certain information, such as the driver's name and address and his or her license, registration, and insurance information. Some states, including Connecticut, require the driver to render reasonable necessary assistance to anyone injured in the crash.
Connecticut and Rhode Island have the stiffest maximum monetary penalty for a hit and run violation, a $10,000 fine, which may be imposed when a death or serious injury (Connecticut) or death (Vermont) occurs. Rhode Island and Vermont impose the longest prison term, 15 years, in the event of a hit and run crash causing a death.
In Connecticut, as in all other states, it is a crime to drive with a blood alcohol content level (BAC) at or above 0.08%. The penalties for violating this law in the eight states include fines, jail or prison terms, and license suspensions. Massachusetts's law has both the highest possible fine for first offenders ($5,000) and the longest possible prison term (2 ½ years).
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Traffic Safety Facts, Connecticut, 2007-2011, there were 220 traffic fatalities in Connecticut in 2011. Of these, NHTSA classified 92, (about 41%) as alcohol-impaired fatalities. NHTSA considers an alcohol-impaired fatality one occuring in a crash involving a driver with a BAC of at least 0.08%.
The NHTSA report does not specify which of the 220 deaths were caused by hit and run drivers. However, according to the state Department of Transportation, there were 10 hit and run deaths in Connecticut in 2011, six of whom were pedestrians. That means that just under one-quarter of the 26 pedestrian deaths in 2011 occurred in hit and run accidents.
For more information, read the full report.
