Fatal hit- and- run crashes on rise in U. S.

Hit- and- run crashes are increasing in many major cities, and fatal hit- and- run collisions are rising nationally as legislators in several states look to toughen up hit- and- run laws.

Crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that the number of fatal hit- and- run crashes is trending upward, from 1,274 in 2009, to 1,393 in 2010, to 1,449 in 2011, the most recent year for which statistics were available.

Perhaps more significantly, the 13.7% increase in hit- and- run deaths over that three- year period occurred while traffic deaths overall were falling 4.5%, from 33,883 in 2009 to 32,367 in 2011.

“The problem is bigger than I think most people are aware,” said Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

A foundation analysis of hit- andrun data found that about one in five of all pedestrian fatalities are hit- and- run crashes, and 60% of hit- run fatalities have pedestrians as victims, Kissinger said. “Alcohol is a major, major part of the problem,” he said.

Los Angeles has been ground zero for such crashes. LA Weekly reported last year that 20,000 hit- and- runs occur in L. A. each year, with 4,000 resulting in injuries or death. In 2009, the newspaper reported, 48% of the city’s crashes were hit- and- run, compared with 11% nationally.

“There is a values problem,” said California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area. Calling the problem in L. A. an “absolute plague,” he introduced a bill that extended the statute of limitations for hit- and- run offenses from three to six years. The bill, signed into law, takes effect July 1.

Around the USA, the rise in hitand- runs is leading to tougher laws in some of the states with the highest rates of resulting deaths. Texas, for instance, toughened up penalties for leaving the scene of an accident, and Florida lawmakers are considering a bill that would impose a mandatory sentence of at least three years on hit- and- run drivers.