Avoiding Pedestrian Accident Lawsuits

The worst thing that can happen to you as a driver is to hit a pedestrian. Pedestrians are completely unprotected so almost any contact with a car will result in serious injuries. The difference between a two ton car and a 150 pound person are just unfair. Because of this, most accidents with pedestrians will be judged the driver's fault. Even if the pedestrian acted carelessly, it is the driver's job to avoid people and other hazards.

If you are the driver in a pedestrian accident, stay calm and speak immediately with all parties involved. Call for medical help if needed. Drivers should know the basic rules for fault and liability before they are forced to call a Denver car accident attorney. The best technique of course is to avoid all accidents by staying alert for pedestrians.

Immediately after an accident, try to get any injured parties in the road to safety. Do not attempt medical treatment unless you are specifically trained in it. Then call for medical help. The next step will be the legal step. In Colorado, you are required to notify the police after any accident that involves injuries. You will want to also contact a Denver personal injury attorney, especially if you think you might be facing criminal charges. Then contact your insurance company and be prepared to give an accurate statement of events.

Try to find the pedestrians contact info. Avoid talking excessively, as a simple apology can be considered an admission of guilt in some situations. Avoid speaking directly to the other party's lawyer or insurance agent. Barring any extenuating circumstances, a civil case will be decided by negligence law. Both parties may be negligent so consult your Denver car injury lawyer beforehand. Some states do not protect the pedestrian at all if they are ruled to be a contributing cause to the accident. Colorado however follows comparative fault, which awards damages based on the percentage of fault.

The police report after the accident is important because it is the primary document that legal proceedings will be based on. They usually give an opinion of fault either on the spot or after an investigation.

The insurance company may dispute this, especially if they would be forced to pay a large claim. If the adjuster was unfair, you may need a lawyer to help modify the percentage of fault. Any injured pedestrians should be able to file against your liability insurance. Personal injury protection laws in some states require insurance companies to pay injured pedestrians regardless of fault.

Trucking Collisions and Driver Error

Truck driver accidents are often much more serious from a purely cost standpoint than the average accident. Most truck driving accidents are determined to be caused by driver error. Truck driving is a hard job and many drivers become impaired because of deprivation or drugs (commonly prescription medications and alcohol). Impaired drivers often take unnecessary risks because of impaired judgement and have problems reacting to road dangers. Even sober drivers cause many accidents when they are speeding to make up time, have mechanical problems or improperly stored loads.

Victims of trucking accidents have several possible recourses. State law has specific laws regulating trucking, so someone in the state capitol like Denver car accident attorney should be consulted. These Denver personal injury attorneys specialize in state highway laws. If it turns out that the trucking company allowed a drunk, tired or incompetent driver onto government roads, then you will have a good chance at a case.

Federal and state laws regulate the amount of time drivers can be on the road in a day. Fatigue is a major cause of accidents, but truckers often get paid by the time they make and push themselves beyond the law and their own abilities. Drivers usually get a bum rap because the trucking company does not want to pay.

Studies have tried to determine the causes of driver error. Almost half of all truck accidents were caused by drivers taking some sort of drug. Speeding and fatigue account for another 40% of all accidents.

Fatigue is the most preventable cause of trucking accidents, especially because law prohibits truckers from driving all day. The first thing a good Denver car accident lawyer will check is the driver logs to see if he was going over state limits, or cooking the books to appear like he was not.

The federal hours of service rules limit truck drivers to 11 hours of driving time a day. The driver has to be off duty for 10 consecutive hours before they can start a shift. Other obscure laws regulate whether the driver can take off after a certain number of hours a week. So the first step a personal injury lawyer should take is to determine if the driver violated the hours of service. Drivers must keep accurate logs. If the logs are inaccurate, the next step your Denver car accident lawyer can take is to review trip tickets and unloading bill time stamps.

If the company allows the driver fudge the books, the trucking company exposes themselves to a much larger lawsuit. Drug use is also heavily regulated. Truckers can only take prescription drugs if prescribed by a doctor who is familiar with the driver and his duties. Truck drivers must pass drug tests at the time of their employment and after any accidents.

Drivers may not use any controlled substances, unless prescribed by a licensed physician who is familiar with the driver's medical history and assigned duties and has determined that the drug use will not adversely affect the driver's ability to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle.

Other common causes of accidents that indicate truck liability are:

Failure to maintain blind spots:
The no zone is an area next to the truck outside of the driver's view. Drivers unaware of the no zones commonly have accidents.

There are many other accidents that can be caused by driver error. A car accident lawyer is the first place you should go to determine this. Many errors that seemingly have no evidence are actually recorded by high tech devices like gps tracking devices that may shed some light on the cause of the accident.

Whiplash Injuries

A famous term in accident law is whiplash. Unfortunately, it is famous because many people sustain these injuries, especially in car accidents. Whiplash is actually more of a legal than medical term. It refers to several neck injuries to soft tissues. These injuries are commonly caused by rear end accidents. Case law is built through the legal process, not by doctors. Denver accident lawyers like whiplash because the liability for rear end accidents is almost iron tight. No matter how recklessly the car in front behaves, the car that runs into it is almost always liable.

When a car is rear ended, the passenger's bodies fly forward faster than their heads. As the head catches up, it receives a double dose of extreme stretching. This backwards snap is what whiplash is named for. On the other hand, the term whiplash has fallen out of favor by Denver personal injury attorneys because the abuse of the term in injury claims. Ambulance chasers have been known to go so far as give neck braces to clients to make the claim seem more valid. Therefore, although whiplash is the common term for these kinds of injuries, it is best to get a Doctor's report and follow his wording. These types of injuries are commonly called hyper-extension, fasical injuries, or cervical sprains in legal situations.

Other common accidents that cause whiplash type injuries are: Vehicle accidents other than rear-ends, contact sports, assault, skiing accidents, snowboarding accidents, repetitive stress, child abuse and any kind of fall on a hard floor.While whiplash is an overused term, these sorts of injuries can be caused by relatively low speed collisions. The causes of neck injury go beyond speed; in most injuries, the deciding factors were position of the driver in the vehicle and the weights of the vehicles involved. Soft tissue damage to the neck can cause further complications if left untreated, so if you have been involved in an accident of this type, contact your doctor and a Denver injury lawyer as soon as possible to get your neck fixed.

You should call a doctor if any injury occurs in a car accident. Some common symptoms of long-term damage to look out for are neck pain, reduced range of motion, dizziness, blurred vision, cognitive difficulties, unusual sensations and the inability to sleep. These symptoms may take several days to appear.Remember, always contact your medical practitioner before you contact a personal injury attorney. Your health is paramount. The next step is to contact your insurance company. Keep a detailed record of your correspondence with your attorney, doctor, insurance company, and the other driver involved in the accident.

Accidents Caused By Cell Phone Use

Due to new Colorado and federal laws, if you have an accident while using a cell phone, the probability of liability is very high. Colorado state law allows municipalities to also enforce their own cell phone regulations. Not only is cell phone use while driving illegal, but it can expose you to lawsuits from Denver personal injury attorneys.

Although exact laws regarding moving violations change depending on the jurisdiction, general negligence law applies to most civil situations. To prove negligence and win the case, the plaintiff in the suit has to prove that careless driving by the other driver caused the accident. In Denver, recent cases have provided some case law indicating that driver use of a cellphone during an accident was grounds for negligence. These Denver accident attorneys have more experience in this area of law than most lawyers.

On the other hand, injured plaintiffs have still won cases, but had their claims reduced because they were using a cell phone. In such a case, the court will usually reduce the settlement by a percentage of the determined liability. Simply using a cell phone during an accident is not evidence of liability in all jurisdictions. Some things that will be considered dangerous driving by any Denver injury lawyer are: Driving with one hand, Taking your eyes off the road to dial or pick up a cell phone, Simply being distracted from surroundings because of your own or a passenger's cell use, Being distracted by an emotional call.

Proving that a defendant acted in any of these ways is a good first step in proving liability. When an employee causes a car accident, the employer may be liable if the employee was on a work-related call. Plaintiffs usually sue employers because they are more likely to have the money to pay for an accident. To counteract this, most employers forbid their employees to make any work calls while driving. This is mostly just to cover the company's behind, because then they can lay the blame on any accidents on the driver.

Another important area of law to consider is parent-child responsibility for cell use. Recently, some plaintiffs have argued that if the parents provide a minor with a cell phone and allowed them to use it in the car, then the parents were liable. Fortunately for parents, Denver accident lawyers have yet to be able to definitively prove a case in such a way. However, it is something that all parents should be aware of.

On the other hand, Colorado has special cell laws for teen drivers. Teens who do not yet have a full licence are not supposed to use cell phones in any way while driving. Insurance companies may increase premiums are possibly even not pay when cell phone use is involved, so be careful.