In the United States, there are over four million car accidents yearly. Based on the data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), these accidents result in over 30,000 deaths annually.
As a result of these accidents, people often have to deal with medical bills and other expenses.
Negligence is a legal term that means acting without care or caution. If someone does not work with reasonable care, they can be held liable for any injuries or property damage caused by their negligence.
There are many types of negligence claims in personal injury cases involving motor vehicle accidents; let’s look at each below. If you want to know more, you can also talk to The Odierno Law Firm for more information.
Aggressive driving
Aggressive driving involves manoeuvres such as speeding or weaving around other vehicles on the road.
When someone drives aggressively, they take unnecessary risks by speeding or passing other cars dangerously close.
These actions put other drivers at risk of being hit by an aggressive driver who loses control of their vehicle or makes an error while passing another car.
This type of behaviour may be intentional or unintentional and usually results in an accident or near-misses.
Speeding
Speeding is one of the most common causes of car accidents. When you’re driving at a high rate of speed, it’s harder for you to react to changing conditions on the road and avoid accidents.
You may only be able to stop if something unexpected happens ahead of you.
Distracted driving (texting while driving)
Distracted driving is another common cause of car accidents.
Distracted drivers are guilty of various behaviours or any activity that diverts their attention away from the task, which is driving.
In many cases, distracted driving can be either visual or manual distractions. Let’s take a look at each one below.
Visual
Visual distractions include looking at something inside or outside of the car.
For example, eating while driving. This may seem harmless enough, but it can lead to severe accidents like texting while driving does.
Eating requires concentration and can easily distract you from watching where you’re going, resulting in severe injury or death if you do not pay attention while eating behind the wheel.
Manual
Manual distractions involve taking one’s hands off the wheel and eyes off the road.
For example, you are texting while driving. This involves using your phone to write or read text messages while you are behind the wheel of your vehicle.
It may also involve using social media sites like Facebook or Twitter and other forms of communication such as email and Skype.
This type of distracted driving increases your risk for accidents and injuries because it takes attention away from the road.
Head-on collisions
This collision occurs when two vehicles head in opposite directions and collide. The injuries sustained in this type of accident are usually more severe than in other accidents, which is why they are often more serious.
Rear-end accidents
These occur when one driver rear-ends another vehicle. The most common cause is following too closely, which is why many states have laws requiring drivers to maintain a safe distance between their cars and the ones ahead of them.
Single and multi-vehicle wrecks
A single-vehicle wreck is a vehicle accident in which a driver loses control of their vehicle. This causes it to crash into an object on the side of the road or another car.
Single-vehicle wrecks are often caused by driver error but can also occur when a vehicle has mechanical problems.
Multi-vehicle wrecks happen when two or more vehicles collide with each other while travelling on public roads or highways.
In most cases, these wrecks involve at least two vehicles colliding head-on or side-by-side, but they can also involve three or more cars hitting each other in a chain reaction.
Regarding multi-vehicle wrecks, two types of damages may arise: property damage or personal injury damages.
Property damage
This includes any damages to the vehicles involved in an accident, such as broken headlights or dented bumpers.
Personal injury damages
This includes any physical injuries sustained by passengers inside one of the involved vehicles and any physical injuries suffered by pedestrians.
Hit-and-run accidents
A hit-and-run occurs when a driver strikes another vehicle or object and leaves without stopping to help or exchange information with other drivers involved in the accident.
Hit-and-run accidents often occur at night, especially when alcohol is involved.
In some states, leaving the scene of an accident is considered criminal conduct punishable by jail time and monetary fines, even if no injuries were sustained by anyone involved in the collision.
This negligence case can be difficult for victims because it is hard for them to prove who was at fault for the accident. After all, there is not much evidence from the driver who fled the scene.
Police officers or detectives solve only 30% of hit-and-run cases because many people who commit hit-and-run crimes do not have any records that would lead back to them.
T-bone accidents
This occurs when two vehicles collide while travelling on a single-lane road or highway.
In theory, a T-bone accident can happen when two cars meet at an intersection, and one fails to yield the right of way. However, most T-bone accidents occur on roads with no cross-traffic lanes.
In T-bone accidents, the front corner of one car hits the side corner of another car. The damage to both vehicles is usually severe, but it can be awful if the passenger compartment of either vehicle suffers significant damage.
Final Thoughts
Negligence is a legal concept that refers to a failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in the same situation.
You can view it as a deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would follow in similar circumstances.
Regarding motor vehicle accidents, negligence means that one party failed to use reasonable care or caution in carrying out their actions, which resulted in injury or damage to another party.
To determine whether you have a valid negligence case, you need to consider the type of negligence that occurred.
Listed above are some of the most common types of negligence concerning motor vehicle accidents.
