Arizona Hit-and-Run Statute of Limitations and ARS Deadlines

Two years from the accident date is the deadline that decides your money. Arizona gives you that long to file a personal injury lawsuit under ARS § 12-542, and it runs whether or not police identify the driver. Four other time limits start the same day, two of them the prosecutor’s. Waiting on an investigation that goes nowhere is the most common reason a strong cyclist claim expires unfiled.

Drivers fled the scene of 16,136 crashes in Arizona in 2024. Those crashes killed 86 people and injured 4,202 (ADOT, 2024 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts). Nationally, one in four pedestrians killed in 2023, and nearly as many cyclists, were struck by a driver who fled the scene.

Hit-and-run filing deadlines at a glance

Five time limits start that day. Three are yours to protect.

• You get two years from the crash date to sue, even if police never identify the driver.
• A government bus shortens your window to a 180-day notice and a one-year lawsuit deadline.
• Send your uninsured motorist insurer written notice within three years, and keep proof you mailed it.
• The prosecutor’s seven-year felony window does nothing for you; a conviction pays no compensation by itself.
• Surveillance footage overwrites within weeks, so send preservation letters before the driver’s identity disappears.
• Keep the damaged bike, helmet, and clothing, because transferred paint is evidence a lab can process.
• Being uninsured costs you nothing in Arizona; no statute strips a cyclist’s pain and suffering damages.
• If you were hurt before turning eighteen, your two years start on your eighteenth birthday.
• Filing on day 731 gets your case dismissed permanently, so calendar the deadline this week.
• Your two-year clock keeps running while detectives work, so do not wait for an arrest.

The last two are the prosecutor’s, and a conviction pays you nothing by itself.

What counts as a hit-and-run under Arizona law?

A hit-and-run is any accident where a driver leaves the scene without stopping, identifying themselves, or helping the injured person. Arizona assigns three separate duties to every driver involved, and striking a cyclist and leaving usually breaches all three duties at once:

• ARS § 28-661. The duty to stop at the scene where an accident injures or kills someone and provide aid and assistance to any injured person.
• ARS § 28-662. A parallel duty covers accidents involving property damage, including an unattended vehicle (ARS § 28-664) and fixtures beside the road (ARS § 28-665). This duty requires the driver to stop, exchange information, and render aid.
• ARS § 28-663. The duty to give information and assistance: your name, address and license, plus the duty to render reasonable aid. The driver must render reasonable assistance to anyone hurt at the scene, and failure to fulfill this duty is itself a crime.

All three statutes reach an accident “on public or private property,” so these duties apply in parking lots and apartment complexes. Even a driver who claims the rider swerved owes every duty at the scene; any breach turns a civil case into a crime. Both duties continue until the driver performs them.

Is a hit-and-run a felony in Arizona?

Leaving the scene of an accident that hurt someone is a felony in Arizona, and the penalties turn on the severity of the injuries and on who caused them. ARS § 28-661 grades the felony offense three ways:

1. Class 2 felony. The driver caused the accident involving death or serious physical injury, then fled the scene. Penalties include prison time and license revocation for ten years when the crash caused a death.
2. Class 3 felony. The driver did not cause the accident but was at the scene, then fled. Penalties include jail or prison, and the severity of the sentence rises with the driver’s criminal history.
3. Class 5 felony. The accident caused an injury short of serious physical injury, and the driver fled. Penalties may include jail time, fines, and supervised probation.

A damage-only incident is a class 2 misdemeanor under ARS § 28-662. Felony penalties include license revocation for five years after a serious injury (ARS § 28-661(F)). Any driver convicted of failure to stop and render aid also loses their license under ARS § 28-3304. Across Arizona, prosecutors pursue these offenses aggressively, and penalties increase with prior felonies. The felony class sets the prosecutor’s time limit, not yours.

A criminal defense attorney can explain the consequences and defense strategies when the driver faces felony charges. Criminal defense situations require immediate action, because penalties include jail and license revocation.

How Long You Have to Sue After an Arizona Hit-and-Run

You have a two-year statute of limitations from the accident date to file the lawsuit, and that one filing period covers your injuries and every other category of loss:

The deadline does not wait for treatment to finish. If your cycling injuries are still developing at month twenty-two, you file anyway and let compensation mature inside the case. Leaving a downed cyclist in the road supports punitive damages. Our bicycle accident settlement guide breaks down what compensation a preserved personal injury claim is worth. Our Arizona bicycle law guide covers cyclist rights.

Comparative Negligence in Arizona Hit-and-Run Claims

Under Arizona personal injury law, comparative negligence reduces your award by each party’s percentage of fault, and yours comes off the top. Fault rarely matters in hit-and-run cases, because the driver who left the scene in breach of duty carries the responsibility a jury cares about.

How long do prosecutors have to charge a hit-and-run driver?

Prosecutors get one year for a misdemeanor and seven for a felony, any class 2 through class 6 offense (ARS § 13-107(B)). Both run from the day the state discovered the crime, so the window opens late when a driver is identified years later. Homicide carries no time limit.

Some firms write that no Arizona felony has a statute of limitations, but the code says otherwise. The unknown-identity tolling rule in § 13-107(E) reaches only the “serious offenses” defined in ARS § 13-706, a closed list of violent felonies. Leaving the scene is not on that list, so an unidentified hit-and-run driver never gets the criminal clock stopped on that ground.

The prosecution belongs to the county attorney, and your two-year civil filing period keeps running while detectives work. The tolling rule can pause the criminal period if the accused leaves Arizona or has no known address in the state (ARS § 13-107(D)), but your civil time limit gets none.

Which time limit runs out first

Criminal vs. civil time limits

How long each Arizona statute of limitations runs

A lawsuit filed on day 731 gets dismissed. Calendar the date this week.

Arizona’s two-year statute of limitations: when it starts and what pauses it

The clock starts on the day of the accident. Identifying the driver months later does not restart it. Tolling means the clock pauses, and the exceptions reach only narrow circumstances.

• The discovery rule. A latent injury such as a traumatic brain injury or cognitive impairment discovered weeks after the crash can start the filing period at diagnosis. Courts read this narrowly, and few circumstances qualify.
• Minors. A rider hurt before turning 18 gets two years from their eighteenth birthday.
• Incapacity. An accident that leaves the rider incapable of managing their affairs pauses the period until recovery. Impairment severe enough to qualify requires clear evidence.
• A defendant who leaves. Time the driver spends outside Arizona may not count against you, though the rule takes legal analysis to apply.

What if a government vehicle was involved?

A government bus or public employee replaces your two-year filing period with two shorter ones. You must file a formal claim within 180 days stating a settlement figure and the facts behind it (ARS § 12-821.01(A)), and the lawsuit is due within one year (ARS § 12-821). If a government vehicle might have been involved, contact our attorneys for information and to take legal action within the 180-day window.

What happens if the driver is never found?

An unidentified driver does not end your claim. In that case, Arizona treats fleeing, unknown motorists as uninsured ones. Uninsured motorist coverage stands in for the auto insurance policy that drove away. Every auto liability policy in the state must offer this coverage (ARS § 20-259.01), and the coverage applies even though you were on a bicycle.

Of hit-and-run drivers identified after a fatal crash, 40% had no valid license and most drove an automobile registered to someone else (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, March 2026). Nationally, 33.4% of motorists were uninsured or underinsured in 2023. Your insurer will not extend a coverage time limit while law enforcement investigates.

Cyclists who do not own a car

Uninsured motorist coverage follows people, not vehicles, and a resident relative’s insurance policy may provide coverage. Review all available policies before writing off coverage.

Your uninsured motorist coverage time limits

You must give your insurer written notice of intent to pursue coverage within three years of the accident. The three years can instead run from the day you learned the driver was uninsured.

Your insurer then has two years to respond, and you have three years from your own letter to demand arbitration or sue (§ 12-555(C)). Miss that and your coverage against uninsured motorists pays nothing, leaving you to handle medical bills on your own.

Does being uninsured cost you damages in Arizona?

Being uninsured costs an Arizona cyclist no damages at all. Several legal pages call ARS § 12-558 a “no pay, no play” rule that strips uninsured claimants of pain and suffering, but the statute covers space flight participants, with nothing about automobiles, bicycles, or insurance.

Arizona has no such rule and could not pass one. Article 18, Section 31 of the Arizona Constitution forbids any law limiting the damages recoverable for causing death or injury.

Why evidence disappears before the filing period does

In a hit-and-run the driver’s identity decays first. Surveillance footage overwrites within weeks, and witnesses forget a partial plate within days. Pedestrian and cyclist cases share this problem, because evidence at the scene scatters quickly.

That decay is why the 44 bicyclists ADOT counted killed on Arizona roads in 2024 (2024 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts), out of 1,075 nationally, so often leave families with uncompensated losses and no one to sue.

The steps that protect your bicycle hit-and-run claim

Hit-and-run accidents are won or lost in the first few weeks. Each step you take early preserves evidence and strengthens your claim.

1. Report the accident to law enforcement immediately. The police report documents the scene and anchors both the criminal investigation and your coverage claim.
2. Send written preservation letters. No one keeps surveillance footage or finds witnesses until someone asks in writing.
3. Tell the government within 180 days if a city, county, or state agency may have been involved.
4. Write to your UM insurer well inside the three-year window, and keep proof you sent it.
5. Keep the bike, helmet, and clothing. This step matters: the paint on them is evidence a lab can process.
6. Contact a personal injury attorney as the next step to guide you through the claims process and protect your rights.

What happens if you miss the two-year deadline?

The court dismisses the case. A missed filing period is an affirmative defense the insurer raises on a motion. The loss of coverage and compensation is permanent. Insurers know the date too, which is why friendly talks drift past month twenty-three and go cold. If your date has passed, contact us or check the tolling exceptions above before assuming the case is dead.

Talk to a bicycle accident attorney before filing periods decide for you

Filing deadlines are the one part of a hit-and-run case whose consequences no later proof can repair. Our law firm is staffed by cyclists and trial attorneys. A free consultation answers frequently asked questions about your accident and confirms every deadline: the two-year personal injury claim filing date, any tolling, the 180-day notice, and your coverage time limits. Contact us to discuss your options and learn what information you need to recover compensation.

Our law firm handles bicycle accidents, car accidents, pedestrian claims, motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice cases, and other personal injury claims across Arizona on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Contact us today for a free consultation at (888) 521-6377.

Posted by Robert Goldwater

Robert Goldwater is a cyclist representing cyclists. He has practiced personal injury and wrongful death law for more than 20 years, graduating with Honors from Arizona State University Law School, and has helped recover over $1 billion for clients, including injured cyclists.

All articles by Robert Goldwater