Car Accidents: Failure to Yield
When a driver turns on their vehicle and proceeds into the roadway, they automatically owe a duty of care to their fellow drivers and pedestrians on the road. This means that a driver has a legal duty to operate their vehicle with reasonable care and to follow the rules of the road while driving. This includes following all traffic signals, rules of roundabouts, etc. but also driving safely for current traffic, road, weather and visibility conditions. An important rule of the road is yielding to other drivers and pedestrians when appropriate. If there is a failure to yield the right of way when it is legally required to do so, that driver may be legally liable for any traffic accident that happens as a result.
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Proving Fault in Chain Reaction Accidents
The most common type of chain reaction accidents are multi-vehicle accidents where a car at the end of a line of cars rear-ends the car in front of them and the car that was hit rear-ends the car in front of them because the momentum pushed them forward and so on. In some cases, there are six plus cars involved.
Proving fault in chain reaction accidents
You may think it’s obvious that the driver who caused the initial collision is responsible for the crashes but with so many cars, drivers and passengers involved in a chain-reaction crash; there may be more than one driver found negligent for the accident. There may be situations where the driver who caused the first rear-end collision is found to be intoxicated or was using their cell phone at the time of the crash, making it easier to assign 100% liability. In many accidents like these, however, bad weather, poor road conditions, tailgating or malfunctioning brake lights may all play a part.
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When a Medical Emergency Causes A Car Accident
There is a whole range of common issues that cause car accidents. When car crashes happen, there is usually one driver to blame but sometimes both play a role. Distracted driving and drunk driving get most of the attention and deservedly so, but today we’re going to take a look at what happens when medical emergencies cause car accidents. When accidents happen because of an unforeseen medical emergency or disability, the at-fault driver may not be considered negligent because of the sudden medical emergency defense available in many states.
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What Employers Need to Know about Being Held Liable for Cell Phone Crashes Involving their Employees
In 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined that driving a vehicle while texting is six times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Texting while driving causes over 3,000 deaths and 330,000 injuries every year according to a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Talking on a cell phone while driving is very dangerous too because our brains are not capable of focusing our full attention on the road while talking on the phone. Overall, drivers are four times as likely to crash their vehicle when using a cell phone while driving. The risk of cell phone crashes needs to be taken seriously by drivers and their employers.
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Reminder: You Have 3 Years to File a Car Accident Claim in Washington State
Car accidents are a hassle at the least and deadly at the worst. When a person is injured in a car accident, they are entitled to a car accident settlement that provides compensation for property damage to the vehicle, medical expenses and pain and suffering. Depending on the circumstances and consequences of the injury, some are also entitled to compensation for lost wages, loss of consortium, and disability. Injured parties are also legally entitled to a length of time within which to bring a claim.
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What to Do if You’re in a Car Accident in your Rental Car
Most of the time, we drive our own vehicles in our home state, covered by our own personal car insurance. If we get into a car accident, we have a reasonable idea of how our car insurance will protect us. But what happens when you get into a car accident while driving a rental car?
What to do if you’re in a car accident in your rental car
For the most part, a person should follow the same protocols that they would if they were in a car accident in their own vehicle. This includes:
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What Would It Look Like if Cars Could Stop Drunk Driving?
According to a report by NPR.org, a team of bi-partisan senators introduced legislation last week that would require all new cars and trucks to come built with alcohol detection systems by 2024. The Reduce Impaired Driving for Everyone Act of 2019 (RIDE ACT), would also benefit government funded research into new breath and touch-based sensors that monitor a driver’s blood alcohol level in real-time to the tune of $10 million and allocate an additional $25 million to test and implement the technology in government-owned fleets.
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September 15-21, 2019 is Child Passenger Safety Week
September 15-21, 2019 is Child Passenger Safety Week and September 21, 2019 is National Seat Check Saturday. Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council, the organizations have launched a new series of public service ads (PSAs) that remind parents and caregivers to protect their child’s safety at every stage of life from infant to teen, by making sure they secure them in the appropriate car seat for their age, height, and weight. The ads created for Child Passenger Safety week link to a page that helps parents identify the safest seat for their child.
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Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Campaign
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is dedicated to stopping deadly driving behavior that contributes to the loss of thousands of lives every year. They are using the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign during the week of August 16- September 2, 2019 to remind drivers that drunk driving is a deadly epidemic that takes the lives of more than 10,000 people each year.
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August 4-10, 2019 is Stop on Red Week
The National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR) is partnering with organizations and communities across the country to raise awareness about the dangers of red-light running during National Stop on Red Week. Each day of this week focuses on different safety themes around red lights, useful statistics and information.
Running red lights is a common safety problem on our roads; a study of 19 intersections without red light cameras in four states found a violation rate of 3.2 per hour per intersection (Hill & Lindly, 2003). According to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 890 people were killed in car crashes that involved red light running in 2017. An additional 132,000 people were injured by drivers running red lights that year.
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