Rideshare Passenger Injured When the Driver Fled

Attorney Answer

The driver leaving the scene does not take anything away from your claim. If anything it helps you: it is a separate offense the driver committed, and it does not change the coverage that stands behind an accepted rideshare trip. The criminal side and your injury claim run on different tracks, and only one of them is going to pay your medical bills.

On coverage, California requires a transportation network company and its driver to carry insurance at levels that step up with the stage of the ride, with the highest levels once a trip has been accepted and a passenger is in the vehicle. Public Utilities Code § 5433 sets them. During an accepted trip that means primary commercial coverage of at least $1,000,000 for death, personal injury and property damage, plus uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage while a passenger is aboard. Section 5433 was amended effective January 1, 2026, and the figures that govern a claim are those in force on the date of the crash — so have the exact numbers for your date confirmed rather than taken from a general page.

On the flight from the scene, Vehicle Code § 20001(a) requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident that injures a person other than himself to stop immediately at the scene. Subdivision (b) sets the exposure: up to a year in county jail, a fine between $1,000 and $10,000, or both, with a longer term where the crash caused death or permanent, serious injury. That case belongs to the prosecutor, not to you. You do not control whether it is filed, and it will not compensate you. What it does give you is a police investigation, a report and, usually, a driver who is identified.

The civil claim is separate and is where your recovery lives. Civil Code § 1714(a) makes a person responsible for injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care. As a passenger, your own care is not in question, and the fact that the driver left is not something you have to explain.

What you can do

1. Open the app and save the trip record — date, time, driver, vehicle and trip identifier — and the receipt, before the ride history scrolls out of reach.

2. Report the crash through the app's accident or safety reporting flow, and say plainly that the driver left the scene, so the company's insurer opens a file.

3. Get the police report number from the agency that responded and request a copy. If no report was made, report the collision now — a hit-and-run without a report is much harder to run down.

4. Get checked by a doctor even if you felt able to walk away, and keep every bill, record and discharge instruction.

5. Tell your own auto insurer, if you carry a policy, that you were injured as a passenger. Medical payments and uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy can matter, and notice is normally required whether or not you end up using it.

6. Ask a local lawyer before you give a recorded statement to any insurer and before you sign a release, and ask them which policy to pursue first — the answer depends on the trip status and on what the report shows.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with a local attorney is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A claim for injury runs on Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, which gives two years for an action for injury caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Where that lands on your facts — and whether the criminal case, the app's own reporting process, or anything else in your situation affects it — is not something to work out from a webpage. Have a local attorney confirm the deadline for your case.