If I hit a car, and that driver takes off, what do I do?

askacop-new-version2Q: What is a driver supposed to do if they rear-end a car, and that car drives off instead of stopping to deal with the accident? -- Arthur A: "Arthur, that's a good question, and it does happen sometimes. We've even had instances where vehicles with visible damage left the scene. What I can tell you is anytime you have contact with another car, to be safe, if you can't safely wave them over, get their attention, and perform that exchange of information, you might consider calling local law enforcement just to let them know it happened. Sometimes people are confused and they don't know what to do when they're hit, and you wouldn't want us to open a hit and run investigation that never needed to start." -- Trooper Julie Judson, Washington State Patrol