Hit and run in Belgium: what are the penalties and how can you defend yourself?

An accident happens in a split second. Yet what you do in the minutes that follow can weigh more heavily than the accident itself. If you drive off without allowing the necessary findings to be made, you commit the offence of leaving the scene of an accident, commonly called hit and run (délit de fuite). It is one of the most serious traffic offences dealt with by the police court (tribunal de police). And it also applies to someone who was not at all to blame for the accident.

In practice, hit and run is more common than people think: a parked car clipped while manoeuvring, a wing mirror that catches a cyclist, a collision after which someone drives off in a panic, only to report to the police themselves an hour later. Not all of these situations are hit and run. The law lays down precise conditions. And that is exactly where the room for a defence lies.

In this article, you will find out what hit and run means in legal terms, what you must do after an accident, what penalties and what driving ban (déchéance du droit de conduire) you face since the reform of 1 September 2026, and which defences exist.

What is hit and run?

Article 33 of the Road Traffic Act punishes the driver of a vehicle who, knowing that the vehicle has just caused or occasioned a traffic accident in a public place, flees in order to avoid the relevant findings being made, even if the accident is not attributable to his or her fault. The same rule applies to anyone who has caused or occasioned an accident without a vehicle, for example a pedestrian.

This definition gives rise to the elements that the public prosecutor (ministère public) must prove.

An accident in a public place

There must be a traffic accident in a public place: the public road, but also, for example, a car park open to everyone, such as that of a supermarket or a restaurant. An accident on a strictly private driveway in principle falls outside the rule.

This boundary is less clear-cut than it seems. According to the Court of Cassation, someone who leaves a private car park to pull out onto the public road and, in doing so, hits the hedge or fence of that car park does cause an accident in a public place (Cass. 12 September 2023, P.22.1673.N). The manoeuvre towards the public road is regarded as a single whole.

The notion of an accident is broad. A minor collision with only material damage also counts, such as a scratch on a parked car or a damaged road sign. Someone else must, however, suffer damage. Anyone who only damages their own car does not commit hit and run if they carry on driving (Cass. 12 May 2020).

Causing or occasioning the accident

You do not have to have caused the accident. It is enough that your vehicle occasioned it. Think of a driver who forces a cyclist to swerve and fall without touching them. Whether or not you are at fault plays no role: even someone who was entirely in the right must stop.

Knowing that there was an accident

You must have known that an accident had happened. Someone who genuinely did not notice a minor collision does not commit hit and run. The judge assesses this in the light of all the circumstances: the extent of the damage, the noise of the impact, witness statements, camera footage, and the driver’s behaviour after the event.

Fleeing to avoid the findings

Finally, you must have left with the aim of avoiding the necessary findings: who was driving, what condition the driver was in, how the accident happened. This is a specific intent (dol spécial). Someone who moves away briefly to fetch help for an injured person or to call the police, after leaving their name and address with someone present, is not fleeing (Article 52.3 of the Highway Code (Code de la route)).

This exception is narrow. Stopping for a moment, asking whether everything is all right and then driving off anyway is still hit and run. Even someone who helps a seriously injured person but leaves before the police have been able to question them runs that risk.

Fleeing does not necessarily mean leaving, either. Someone who stays at the scene but conceals that they were the driver, or denies it to the police, also commits hit and run (Cass. 8 April 2014, P.13.1610.N). You do not have to make any admissions about how the accident happened, but you must state that you were the one driving.

Your motive matters little when it comes to whether the offence is established. Panic, fear of a breath test or haste: in each case, the intention to flee may be present. Your motive does, however, play a role in the choice of penalty.

What must you do after an accident?

Article 52 of the Highway Code sets out what anyone involved in an accident must do. The rules differ depending on whether there is only material damage or also people injured.

Situation	What the Highway Code requires
All accidents	Take measures for the safety and flow of traffic.
Material damage only	Stay at the scene to make the findings together or have them made by the police, and prove your identity if asked.
Material damage only, injured party absent	Give your name and address to the injured party, or otherwise notify the police as quickly as possible.
Injuries or death	Give assistance, stay at the scene until the police have made their findings, and prove your identity if asked.

A few practical points:

• A collision with a parked car. A note under the windscreen wiper offers few guarantees: it can blow away or disappear, and it will be hard for you to prove afterwards what you left. So also notify the police or make a report as quickly as possible. Take a photo of the note and of the damage. To find out more, read our article on parking damage and hit and run.
• Where people are injured. You may not leave before the police have made their findings, even if you are not at fault. Someone who moves away briefly to fetch help is not punishable, provided they first leave their name and address.
• The accident report form. The European accident report form (constat amiable) is useful for insurance purposes, but it does not replace the obligation to notify where the injured party is absent or there are injured people. You will find a full step-by-step plan in our article on what to do after a road accident.

What penalty do you face for hit and run?

Since 1 September 2026, the new Criminal Code (Code pénal) has been in force. The Act of 25 May 2026 brought the Road Traffic Act into line with it. Penalties are no longer expressed as fixed ranges per article, but as penalty levels. The higher the level, the heavier the penalties the judge can impose. Where there are mitigating circumstances, the judge can go down to a lower level.

For hit and run, the law distinguishes according to the consequences of the accident.

Consequences of the accident	Penalty level	Driving ban	Reinstatement exams
Material damage only	Level 1	Possible, not mandatory	At the judge’s discretion
Injuries (harm to physical integrity under Article 218 of the Criminal Code)	Level 2	Mandatory, from 3 months to 5 years or permanent	Theory, practical and psychological
Death (homicide dans le cadre de la circulation)	Level 3	Mandatory, from 3 months to 5 years or permanent	Theory, practical and psychological
Repeat offence within 3 years	Level 3	Mandatory	See below

Before 2018, the law already distinguished between an accident with only material damage and an accident with injuries or a fatal outcome. The Act of 6 March 2018 on improving road safety split injuries and death into two separate categories and increased the penalties. The legislature wanted to avoid fleeing ever being more advantageous than staying at the scene, for example to escape a breath test.

Alongside hit and run, you are often prosecuted for the accident itself as well: for an offence under the Highway Code and, where people are injured or killed, for harm to physical integrity under Article 218 of the Criminal Code or for homicide dans le cadre de la circulation (causing death in traffic). The judge assesses all these offences together.

The driving ban for hit and run

Mandatory where there are injuries or a death

For hit and run with injuries or a death, the judge must impose a driving ban of at least three months and at most five years, or a permanent ban. The judge therefore cannot go below those three months.

Getting your driving entitlement back also depends on passing a theory test, a practical test and a psychological examination. Only then may you drive again, even if the ban itself has already ended. How these exams work is explained in our article on reinstatement exams.

Optional where there is material damage only

For hit and run with only material damage, the judge may impose a driving ban, but is not obliged to. The judge may also impose reinstatement exams (examens de réintégration). In practice, a great deal depends on the circumstances: the extent of the damage, the reason for fleeing and whether you came forward yourself afterwards.

Serving the ban

The ban does not start on the day of the judgment. The public prosecutor sets the start date once the decision has become final, and you hand in your licence at the court registry. Anyone who drives during the ban or before passing the reinstatement exams commits a new serious offence. See our article on driving during a driving ban.

Immediate withdrawal of your driving licence

The public prosecutor’s office (parquet) can have your driving licence withdrawn immediately, even before a judge is involved. Article 55 of the Road Traffic Act expressly allows this where the driver has fled to avoid the relevant findings being made. The withdrawal in principle lasts 15 days and can be extended by the police court. The withdrawal period is then deducted from the driving ban.

To find out more, read our article on immediate withdrawal of your driving licence.

Repeat offences: beware of cross-over repeat offending

Anyone who commits a new hit and run within three years of a final conviction for hit and run faces a level 3 penalty, even if there was only material damage.

In addition, hit and run is on the list of serious traffic offences in Article 38, §6 of the Road Traffic Act. This list works on a cross-over basis: a previous conviction for driving under the influence, for driving without a licence or for driving without insurance counts if you are convicted of hit and run within three years, and vice versa. The consequence is in each case a mandatory driving ban of at least 3, 6 or 9 months and four reinstatement exams: theory, practical, medical and psychological.

The three-year period runs from the day on which the previous judgment of conviction became final (coulé en force de chose jugée). See our article on repeat offences.

You were not driving? The role of the number plate holder

Often, after a hit and run, the police only know which number plate was involved. It is then presumed that the holder of the number plate was the driver. You can rebut this presumption, but since 2018 you must in principle also state who was actually driving. Anyone who refuses to do so commits a separate offence.

How this mechanism works is explained in our article on identifying the driver as the holder of the number plate.

Insurance and compensation

The victim of a hit and run does not depend on the goodwill of the person responsible.

• The person responsible is known. The vehicle’s motor liability insurer (assureur RC auto) compensates the victim’s loss. Whether the insurer can then recover that outlay from you depends on the grounds for recovery set out in the policy and in the standard contract, such as driving under the influence. Hit and run as such is not listed as a ground for recovery, but the facts often go hand in hand with another ground for recovery. See our article on hit and run, compensation and the insurer.
• The person responsible remains unknown. The victim can then turn to the Motor Guarantee Fund (Fonds commun de garantie automobile). This compensation may be limited to personal injury.

A victim can also join the criminal proceedings as a civil party (partie civile), so that the police court judge rules directly on compensation.

Limitation period

Since 1 July 2026, all offences under the Road Traffic Act become time-barred after three years, counting from the day of the events. For hit and run, this three-year period already applied before that. The limitation period can no longer be interrupted, but it also stops running once the case is pending before the police court. For the Criminal Code offences often prosecuted together with hit and run, such as harm to physical integrity under Article 218 of the Criminal Code or homicide dans le cadre de la circulation, longer periods apply.

You will find more explanation in our article on the limitation period for traffic offences.

Defending yourself against a hit and run charge

Hit and run is not a formality that follows automatically from the fact that you left. The prosecution must prove every element. In each case, our lawyers look in particular at the following points.

• Did you know there had been an accident? With minor collisions, especially when manoeuvring a large vehicle, with a trailer or in heavy traffic, it is entirely possible that the driver noticed nothing. The damage to both vehicles, witness statements and footage can confirm or contradict this.
• Was there an intention to flee? Someone who leaves to get away from a dangerous spot, to fetch help or because they feel threatened, and who then comes forward or leaves their details, is not acting to avoid the findings. Someone who has already allowed all the findings to be made can no longer flee within the meaning of the law.
• Was the defendant actually the driver? The presumption against the number plate holder can be rebutted.
• Was it a public place? An accident on private land does not fall under Article 33.
• Did someone else suffer damage? Without damage to a third party, there is no hit and run.
• Did it go no further than an attempt? Someone who wanted to flee but did not manage to, for example because their car broke down straight away, does not commit hit and run. An attempt is not punishable.
• Requalification as a fallback. If the prosecution cannot prove the intention to flee, the judge can requalify the facts (give them a different legal label) as an offence under Article 52 of the Highway Code: failing to stay at the scene after an accident. That is a simple offence, with far lighter consequences. To find out more, read our article on defence and requalification in hit and run cases.
• Is the case time-barred, and was the procedure correct? We check the time limits and the police report (procès-verbal). See also our article on errors in the police report.
• The choice of penalty. Even if hit and run is established, your behaviour after the events makes a difference. A spontaneous statement to the police, compensating the damage and an honest explanation of what happened all weigh in the choice of penalty level and the length of the driving ban.

Acting quickly matters. A spontaneous statement is generally viewed positively, but what you say at a first interview stays in the file. You have the right to consult a lawyer beforehand.

Conclusion

Since 2018, hit and run has been punished ever more severely, and the 2026 reform confirmed this: the more serious the consequences of the accident, the higher the penalty level. Where people are injured or killed, a mandatory driving ban of at least three months applies, together with reinstatement exams.

At the same time, not every departure after a collision is hit and run. The law requires that you knew there had been an accident and that you left to avoid the findings being made. Have you been called in for a police interview or received a summons (citation) to appear for hit and run? Have your case reviewed in good time. We analyse the facts, the evidence and the possible defences. You can contact us for an initial consultation.

Frequently asked questions