Pointing the Finger: How to Determine Fault After a Major Car Accident
Every time you set foot into your vehicle, you know that you’re putting yourself at risk for potentially getting into a car accident but it’s a risk you’re willing to take because you need your car for various reasons. Whether you’re running errands or going to work, you need your car to get around. You know the risks involved so, as a preventive measure, you try to do your part by being a safe driver… the only problem with that is not all drivers have that mindset. In fact, some of the people we share the road with are some of the most reckless drivers you ever hope to run into.
The reality of driving is that you’re more than likely going to get into a car accident at some point in your life. The causes of accidents can be due to a wide variety of reasons but one of the biggest reasons why car accidents happen is due to distracted driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 3,166 deaths in 2017 due to distracted driving. Whether a person is texting and driving, eating and driving, or driving while organizing electronic devices, a driver’s focus needs to solely be on the road and on the drivers around them.
As a driver, one of the hardest things to figure about car accidents is who’s at fault. There are certain types of accidents where it’s very obvious who’s at fault but then there are those accidents where each driver blames each other. Fault will definitely need to be placed when an injury is involved… If an injury happens in your car accident, this is when you’re going to need legal help in determining fault, especially in big cities like Denver where 642 people died in traffic accidents in 2017 and many, many more require some form of emergency care. Houston TX for example sees people daily for car related injuries.
Getting into a major accident in a big city like Denver, you’ll not only want to hire the best Denver personal injury lawyer but you’ll also want to provide them with as much evidence from the accident as possible. Proving fault ultimately depends on what you do right after the car accident occurs. Because nobody is accepting responsibility for causing the accident, you’ll want to make sure you do these things at the scene of the accident:
- Take pictures of the damages to your car and the other person’s car as well as any debris or skid marks
- Get the other driver’s information
- Get names and contact information of any witnesses
- Contact your car insurance provider
- File a police report
- Contact a personal injury lawyer
Those are the things you need to immediately do after a car accident but wouldn’t it be awesome if you didn’t have to prove fault? It would be nice if your car could automatically sense who was at fault upon impact and print out a report of what happened, unfortunately, that’s not how it happens. The truth is, you’re always going to have to do your part in proving fault if you’re involved in a car accident and in doing that, there are a few factors to consider to help your case.
Fault Can Easily Be Determined If Any Traffic Laws Were Broken
Fault in a car wreck is pretty clear-cut when one driver has violated traffic laws. Common traffic violations that result in car accidents include: speeding and running a stoplight or stop sign, among other violations. When it comes to traffic laws, each state is different, so if you are curious about your odds, you can research on which ones apply to your particular situation.
Fault is Always Placed on the Back Driver in Rear-End Collisions
These accidents typically happen when someone is “riding your bumper” or just simply not paying attention. With rear-end collisions, the law will always support the front driver. You see this all the time when a driver gets frustrated if the driver in front of them is driving too slow. The reason the law sides with the front driver in this type of accident is because to be a safe driver, you need to have an ample amount of space between you and another car… not doing so will, of course, result in a rear-end car accident, so just know that if you’re ever involved in a rear-end collision, the law is on your side.
Before contacting legal support, as mentioned earlier, one of the very first things you need to do is file a police report. Filing a police report will help determine fault in more ways than one. Depending on the nature of the accident, the officer will be able to write citations to the other driver and the officer can also give his input on how the accident occurred. Your police report can be the most valuable piece of information in proving liability and it’s your ticket to protecting yourself.
