If you see a car accident, are you obligated to stay for a report?

Folks, particularly with harsh reactions (shared and withheld), I have to give D credit for something, and it's important. He had some twinge of uncertainty. Instead of ignoring that twinge, he in this public forum shared it.

If more people would pause and ask for directions or correction as D did, fewer people would be lost in the world.

With the one vehicle being parked and apparently unoccupied, here's another facet. First, the concept of insurance is to transfer risk of a significant financial catastrophe (the surprise of thousands of dollars in repairs bills in this case) from one individual to everyone "pooling" their money together, the policy holders.

Insurance is not intended to be a means of transferring the consequences of one's carelessness, foolishness, inattention, impaired or otherwise incorrect judgments to others.

Scenario:
You return to your vehicle that you had legally parked and left to find that it has been damaged by another vehicle.

If you have no collision coverage on that vehicle, you either pay for the repairs yourself or file a claim with your carrier, assuming you have valid UMPD (uninsured motorist property damage) coverage and assuming you meet all the requirements for a claim to be paid.

Let's say you file and your insurance company pays the claim. Great. Who's really paying? You and other policy holders have paid and will pay because the driver of the vehicle who caused the damage is unknown.

Enter a third-party witness who reports what he knows, license plate number and maybe any other identifyers. When the insurance adjuster accurately concludes who caused the H&R, P&U (hit and run, parked and unoccupied) collision, then it is no longer you and your fellow policy holders paying to repair the damages. The driver of the other vehicle, whether through his insurance policy or on his own, will pay and should pay for the repairs.

Of course, had you stayed at the scene, would the driver have stopped? Would there have been an interaction that could have posed a threat to you? If the driver left the scene with no interaction with you, would you have waited a short or a long while until the owner of the vehicle or the police showed up? Would a reasonably prudent person have waited in sweltering heat, the snow, torrential downpour or late-night hours?

All excellent reasons to be ready for contingencies like small note pad and pen in your own glove box, maybe a plastic zip bag if you have to leave a note under a parked and now-damaged car's windshield wiper.

Thanks again, D, for being wise enough to through out there the genuine doubt you had for not stopping at the scene.