Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 61. MOTOR VEHICLES

CHAPTER 7. ACCIDENTS AND ACCIDENT REPORTS

Part 1. Uniform Accident Reporting Act

Penalty For Violation

61-7-118. Penalty for violation. (1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3), a person violating any provision of 61-7-103, 61-7-105 through 61-7-110, or 61-7-112 through 61-7-114 is guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon a first conviction, the offender shall be punished by a fine of not less than $200 or more than $300 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 days. For a second conviction within 1 year of the first conviction, the offender shall be punished by a fine of not less than $300 or more than $400, by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both. Upon a third or subsequent conviction within 1 year of the first conviction, an offender shall be punished by a fine of not less than $400 or more than $500, by imprisonment for not more than 6 months, or both.

(2) A driver failing to comply with any provisions of 61-7-103 or 61-7-105 in an accident resulting in injury to any person shall upon conviction be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than 30 days or more than 1 year, by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $5,000, or by both fine and imprisonment.

(3) A driver failing to comply with any provision of 61-7-103 or 61-7-105 in an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, as defined in 45-2-101, or death of any person or resulting in the driver striking the body of a deceased person shall upon conviction be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not less than 1 year or more than 10 years, by a fine in an amount not to exceed $50,000, or by both fine and imprisonment. Upon conviction, the department shall also revoke the driver's license, permit to drive, or any nonresident operating privilege for the period prescribed in 61-5-205.

(4) Subject to the limitations of 46-18-231(3), an offender who fails to pay a fine shall be imprisoned in the county jail in the county in which the offense was committed, and the punishment must be commuted at the rate of 1 day's incarceration for each $75 of the fine.

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 299, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 364, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 335, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 235, L. 2011.