5 Types of Car Accidents That Will Make You Wonder – Who Do I Sue?

Can You Guess Who Is the At-fault Driver in These Car Accident Scenarios?

If you ever had a car accident, you know how disoriented and confused you can get after the crash. And while you are checking yourselves for injuries and exchanging insurance information, police are on their way to do their part of the job – determining who’s at fault. Law enforcement officers who arrive at the scene are the ones who will determine how and why a car accident occurred.

In California, their job is especially important. California follows at-fault negligence law by which liability for the crash must be determined for either party to receive compensation. That means that, should your car accident lead to litigation, the police report on your accident is considered crucial evidence.

While you wait for the official police report, it is advisable to hire a car accident attorney and tell him your recollection of events. Besides making an educated guess on who’s liable for your accident. A California car accident attorney like Megeredchianlaw.com would help you understand the legal process of litigation and recovering compensation.

Who’s at Fault Here?

California has some of the most dangerous roads in the US. There are around 25,000 licensed drivers in California making the interstates congested and extremely dangerous. Sierra Highway alone had 10 crashes (all between 2015 and 2016) on a stretch that’s 3.5 miles long. That’s 2.9 crashes per mile.

While in the most usual types of accidents, it is quite easy to guess who the responsible party is, there are some scenarios where you may be unsure as to who is liable for the car accident.

1. Drunk Driver Car Accident

If a drunk driver caused your car accident and left you with substantial injuries, you can bet the liability falls to the drunk driver. Almost without question, drunk drivers will be held responsible for a car accident, even if they were partially to blame. Unlike in other states, in California bars that sold alcohol to the drunk driver cannot be held accountable for your car accident.

2. A Tire Blowout Car Accident

One of the most dangerous situations for a driver is when their tire blows out in the middle of their ride. At that moment it is very hard to control the vehicle, especially when driving at high speeds, which can lead to a car accident.

Because of the tricky nature of this type of accident, a thorough investigation must be conducted to determine the liability.

If it is determined that the driver neglected to maintain their vehicle properly, he will be held responsible for the car accident. But in some instances, if evidence shows that the tires were new but incorrectly installed, the person who installed the tires may share liability for the car accident.

Likewise, if it is determined that the tires were installed correctly, but they were faulty, to begin with, the tire manufacturer may share liability for the accident.

3. Commercial Truck Driver Car Accident

You drove by the book, carefully shared the road with a big truck, keeping in mind to stay out of its blind spots, but the truck still cut off your lane and caused a sideswipe collision. In this scenario, the truck driver bears the liability for your accident and any injuries it may have caused, but the liability is sometimes shared.

Truck drivers cannot drive their whole shift. There is a limit of how many hours they can drive before making a 10 hours rest. If their company is pushing them to exceed that limit, the company shares liability for the car accident.

4. Uber or Lyft (Rideshare) Car Accidents

If you have been in a car accident with an Uber or Lyft driver, and you are not at fault, the driver would be responsible for the accident. But not the company too.

Uber and Lyft drivers have a personal insurance policy. Uber as a company (or Lyft for that matter) does not share liability for the accident. The only time you can hold the company liable for your car accident is if they have a history of hiring drivers with reports of driving under the influence, long accident history, or other traffic violations.

5. A Car Accident with a Delivery Company Driver

What’s dangerous about delivery drivers on road is the nature of their job. Besides using various means of transportation, they are often under a time constriction, for example, trying to deliver pizza in 30 minutes or less.

When the weather conditions are bad, all these factors can create an opportunity for an accident. If a delivery company driver loses control over their vehicle and slams into your car, naturally the driver is at fault.

But the company they work for is also at fault and shares liability for not creating circumstances in which their delivery driver can safely do their job (call of the order or increase the delivery time).

Many of these types of car accidents have much more details than they may seem initially. Often, there is a third party sharing the liability for both the accident and any injuries you sustained from it. In this article of healthworkscollective.com you can find the most common auto accident injuries.

When this happens, litigation means fighting on both sides in hopes to receive the compensation you deserve. And when one of those sides turns out to be a big rideshare company or any other type of company, recovering your losses in court can become hard.

This is the biggest reason why you should consider hiring a car accident attorney. No matter the scenario of your car accident, an attorney will answer the question of ‘’Who is the liable party?’’ without a fault.

Not only that, but they will also be your biggest support throughout the process, as they make sure your rights to fair compensation are fully protected.