Legislation designed to strengthen penalties for individuals involved in fatal hit-and-run accidents was recently signed into law, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)
Act 93 of 2012 closes a loophole in existing law that unintentionally encourages a hit-and-run driver to flee the scene of an incident, especially if the driver is intoxicated.
Under previous law, a fatal hit-and-run accident is a third-degree felony that carries a mandatory prison term of at least one year, with a maximum sentence of seven years. By comparison, a fatal accident that involves a drunk driver is a second-degree felony with a much stiffer penalty range of three to 10 years in prison. The new law increases the penalty for a fatal hit-and-run accident from a third-degree to a second-degree felony, allowing judges to issue a longer prison sentence to ensure fair penalties are enforced. The law also aims to make sure in these cases drivers stop to render help rather than flee.