What Causes Car Crashes?
Media reports often refer to these incidents as “accidents,” but that’s usually not the case. The A-word implies that the incident was inevitable and unavoidable. Instead, some form of driver error causes over 98 percent of the car crashes in Texas. Common kinds of driver error, as well as the responsible causes in the other 2 percent, are outlined below.
Driver error is usually negligence, or a lack of care. That’s especially true if the tortfeasor (negligent driver) was an Uber driver, truck driver, or other commercial operator. These motorists have a higher duty of care. If negligence caused injury, a Sugar Land car accident lawyer can obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Extreme Weather
Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, earthquakes, and other such extreme weather events are truly unavoidable and almost impossible to anticipate.
Slick roads, foggy skies, and other everyday weather events often contribute to vehicle collisions. But they don’t cause them. The aforementioned duty of care requires drivers to slow down and be more careful when conditions are poor. So, driver carelessness, and not bad weather, causes such crashes.
Sudden, powerful wind gusts are in a gray area. These weather events are unavoidable. However, drivers should anticipate them, at least in most cases. If it’s a windy day, drivers should be prepared for sudden, powerful wind gusts.
Defective Product
Defective tires cause most defective product-related car crashes. The underlying problem could be a:
- Design Defect: Many companies don’t design tires with safety in mind. Instead, they’re more concerned about the vehicle’s appearance or weight. Slim, light tires aren’t as durable as heavy, thick tires.
- Manufacturing Defect: Tire manufacturers care little about safety. But they care about profits a lot. Therefore, they often use cheap parts during the manufacturing process that compromise tire safety.
Usually, companies are strictly liable for any injuries their defective products cause. They cannot shift blame to victims who didn’t properly inflate their tires or used the wrong kind of tire (e.g. passenger vehicle tires on an off-road pickup). Such defenses might hold up in court in a negligence claim, but they don’t hold up in court in defective product claims.
Driver Impairment
Many crashes happen suddenly and without warning. Driver impairment-related crashes are slow-fuse crashes. The fuse starts burning before the tortfeasor slides behind the wheel. Common kinds of driver impairment include:
- Alcohol use,
- Drug use,
- Extreme fatigue, and
- Severe or moderate medical condition.
Jurors often award additional compensation in driver impairment cases. Arguably, these tortfeasors knew they shouldn’t drive, but they drove anyway and intentionally put other people at risk.
Aggressive Driving
Excessive speed in the most common, and most dangerous, kind of aggressive driving. Velocity increases the risk of a wreck and the force in a collision. Speeding drivers have less time to react to roadway hazards. Furthermore, speed transforms a non-injury fender-bender into a serious injury collision.
Other kinds of aggressive driving include tailgating, ignoring a traffic control device, and turning unsafely. All these behaviors increase the risk of a wreck and/or the force in a collision.
Reach Out to a Tough-Minded Fort Bend County Attorney
Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Missouri City, contact the Henrietta Ezeoke Law Firm. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.
Source:
drivethru.gsa.gov/DRIVERSAFETY/DistractedDrivingPosterA.pdf
