(ThyBlackMan.com) Automobile accidents are alarmingly common occurrences. Road crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 1-50. In addition, millions of Americans are injured on the road every single year. Because of the sheer frequency and dire consequences of automobile accidents, a whole branch of civil litigation has arisen to ensure that people receive compensation to cover their medical and mechanical bills resulting from a crash. Not everybody, however, has a case. Here is how you know you might have a case for compensation.
When Another Driver Was At Fault
If the other driver involved in an accident was drunk, fatigued, unlicensed, or otherwise impaired, then you will very likely have a case for claiming compensation from them. The process of establishing blame during an accident is relatively hard but becomes much easier if the defendant is found to have broken the law. Installing a dashcam into your car is a good way to provide evidence that an accident was not your fault and capture footage of any wrongdoing from other drivers.
When You Were injured Thanks To A Defect
In certain cases, an accident is the fault of a vehicle’s manufacturer. For example, in the early 2000s, Toyota’s vehicles were recalled in huge numbers after discovering that they tended to accelerate uncontrollably. This obviously led to an increase in accidents, and Toyota was sued successfully many times over by customers who had been involved in accidents that would not have occurred had their car not been faulty. In the same manner, Ford and Firestone got in hot water in 2000 by providing customers with poor quality tires that were prone to blowouts on the road. To have a case against a manufacturer, you need to have demonstrable proof that the car was at fault.
When You Preserve The Evidence
Good lawyers like Horst Shewmaker in Georgia will have a much easier job getting you a generous settlement if you preserve the evidence after your accident. If you are able to, take pictures of the crash, take the names of the people involved and keep any medical bills that you incur. Obviously, none of this is easy to remember in a stressful situation. If emergency services are present, their records will be available to lawyers upon request.
Preserving evidence is important all over the world. For example, in Russia, insurance fraud and dishonest legal action was so prevalent that digital dashcams became standard so that evidence could be collected to thwart fraudsters.
When The State Is At Fault
Very occasionally, an accident may be caused by an issue with the road itself. If, for instance, a traffic light is non-operational and nobody has notified drivers, the likelihood of an accident at a cross-section is very high. In cases like this, drivers involved in accidents that could have been prevented with proper road stewardship are usually able to take the authorities to court and win some kind of compensation.
Staff Writer; Paul Jones
