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45 Hofstra L. Rev. 331 (2016-2017)
Is a Hit-and-Wait Really Any Better than a Hit-and-Run

handle is hein.journals/hoflr45 and id is 341 raw text is: NOTE IS A HIT-AND-WAIT REALLY ANY BETTER THAN A HIT-AND-RUN? I. INTRODUCTION Imagine a driver making his way home after a long day's work with his mind on a myriad things. Perhaps he is thinking about the football score, the lottery drawing, the weekend, or any number of things. He comes over a hill when suddenly from out of nowhere a pedestrian steps out into the street. He slams on the brakes but, in his mind, knows it is too late. There is a terrible moment immediately before the impact where the driver is hoping that there may just be enough time to stop or perhaps swerve out of the way; then, the awful impact. From the moment of any accident the driver must immediately decide, should I stay or should I go? To most of us the proper choice seems obvious, both legally and morally-stay. The driver involved in an accident must stay at the scene until the proper authorities arrive.' Yet, every year in the United States, nearly 1500 drivers make the dreadful choice to flee the scene of fatal accidents.2 What makes these drivers flee is not abundantly clear. Some psychologists explain that the drivers flee due to sheer panic, shame, or the overwhelming fear of criminal repercussions.3 This reasoning is even cited in a North Carolina case.4 Law enforcement sources explain that in 1. See William L. O'Malley, Legislation, 6 NOTRE DAME L. REv. 372, 376 (1931) (explaining how the law that requires a driver in an accident to remain and assist the injured victim amounts to nothing more than raising to a legal status a duty which at common law was considered only moral). 2. See Press Release, AAA Found. for Traffic Safety, Hit and Run Drivers Kill Nearly 1500 People Annually with Pedestrians at Greatest Risk (May 2015), https://www.aaafoundation.org/ sites/default/files/HitandRun.pdf. 3. See Meredith Cohn, Experts Work to Understand Psychology of Hit-and-Run: Fear, Shame, Intoxication Can Overwhelm Self-Control, BALT. SUN, Feb. 7, 2015, at IA (explaining how the fight or flight instinct may kick in while the driver is under immense stress and cause the driver to make irrational decisions); see also Michael E. Young, Psychologists Cite Panic as Reason Hit-Run Drivers Flee, BALT. SUN, July 13, 1992, at 1A. 4. See Powell v. Doe, 473 S.E.2d 407, 411 (N.C. Ct. App. 1996) (Human nature being as it is, it is conceivable that the hit and run driver left the scene out of panic.). 331

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