Volunteer Driver Liability and Immunity

The goal of this project was to identify state laws and practices related to volunteer driver liability. This report does not attempt to definitively determine the circumstances under which volunteers or the agencies, organizations or companies that engage their services might be liable. Nor does it provide a comprehensive analysis of insurance practices in all 50 states and in the U.S. territories. Instead, the report catalogs state statutes that affect civil liability for incidents involving volunteer drivers and provides supplementary information on the experiences of service providers.

NCSL examined the U.S. Code as well as statutes in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, given the time constraints and overall purposes of the project, NCSL did not research state administrative codes or regulations governing state agency use of volunteer drivers. Additionally, NCSL did not examine any local ordinances. It is important to acknowledge that in some examples, regulations, administrative codes and local laws could affect volunteer driver liability.