UNSAFE LANE CHANGE ACCIDENTS LAWYER

To promote safety, there are several things to do before and during a lane change. Check other traffic, including the vehicles traveling beside and behind you. When you have enough time and room to change lanes, turn on your blinker so that other vehicles are aware that you’re about to make a steering adjustment.

If you’re merging into traffic, ensure that your speed closely matches the cars around you. Never change lanes in restricted areas, such as on two-lane roads with a solid double line.

Avoid making sudden lane changes. If you need to make evasive maneuvers to avoid an emerging hazard, you might inadvertently collide with a car traveling next to you. Be alert and cautious whenever you change lanes.

Although some accidents are hard to avoid, such as when an animal darts in front of you or strong winds blow your vehicle into oncoming traffic, human error causes most of these collisions. When negligence in the form of human error is responsible for your accident, you can usually seek compensation from the at-fault party.

Distracted Driving

Safe driving requires hands on the wheel, eyes on the road and mental focus on the act of driving. Distracted drivers don’t meet one or more of these requirements, doing things like interacting with passengers, eating or daydreaming.

Distracted drivers may not even realize they’re drifting into an adjacent lane.

Driving Under the Influence

Alcohol, drugs and fatigue have similar detrimental effects on a person’s cognitive and physical functions. These drivers often can’t drive safely, especially when changing lanes.

Entering the Wrong Lane During a Turn

When a traffic signal allows two or more lanes of traffic to turn in the same direction simultaneously, drivers should stay in the same lane throughout the turn. Unfortunately, some decide to change lanes mid-turn, causing an avoidable collision.

Failing To See Vehicles in Blind Spots

Every vehicle has blind spots, which are areas around a vehicle that are almost impossible to see with mirrors. In fact, the blind spots on large trucks are so broad that they have a name: No Man’s Land.

Drivers must turn their heads to check their blind spots before initiating a lane change to ensure no vehicles are present. If they fail to notice vehicles in their blind spots, collisions can occur.

Miscalculating Speed

It’s important to judge speed accurately. When drivers change lanes going too slow or too fast in relation to other cars traveling close by, collisions can happen.

Missing Turns

Drivers often change lanes abruptly when they realize they are about to miss their exit or turnoff. These sudden movements don’t necessarily allow other drivers enough time or space to avoid hitting the vehicle.

Multiple Cars Entering a Lane at the Same Time

Highways and interstates often have three or more lanes for vehicles traveling in the same direction. Particularly in heavy traffic, two autos can simultaneously start to enter the same lane from opposite sides.

Not Checking Mirrors

It is vital to check the surroundings in the rearview and side mirrors before initiating a lane change. Drivers should also continue to monitor mirrors until they are safely traveling in the new lane.

Sloppy Passing

At times, passing other cars is necessary, whether on two-lane streets or multi-lane highways. Some drivers pass others by weaving through traffic, often entering a new lane too close to another vehicle. Other drivers may travel on the lane dividing lane indefinitely, causing confusion as to which lane they intend to move into. Many rear-end collisions occur because someone changed lanes unsafely.

Passing large trucks is especially dangerous. Semi-trucks take more distance and time to stop than cars traveling at the same speed. Drivers sometimes merge directly in front of trucks, mistakenly thinking that the truck can slow quickly enough to avoid a collision.

Turn Signals

Drivers should turn on their blinkers before changing lanes and ensure that they turn off once the lane change is complete. Failing to do either can result in a collision.

Drivers have a duty of care to follow safe driving practices to reduce the risk of harming others sharing the road. Negligence is failing to behave as a reasonable person would in the same situation, whether by action or inaction.

Negligence is the basis for most car accident claims and other types of personal injury cases. You will need to prove that:

• Someone owed you a duty of care.
• That party breached their duty of care.
• You sustained injuries.
• The breach was the direct cause of your injuries and associated damages.

You can’t just make these statements; you’ll need evidence to support them. Investigating an unsafe lane change accident takes time, resources and the knowledge of what kinds of evidence to look for. Most people can’t conduct an effective investigation on their own, but your Big Auto accident lawyer can.

Each state has laws that govern whether you can seek compensation after a motor vehicle accident and how much you can obtain. These laws differ, and you’ll need to follow the laws in the state where your unsafe lane change accident happened.

Negligence Laws

If you share responsibility for causing your car crash, the state’s negligence laws come into play. Most states allow you to seek compensation from other at-fault parties, although you may be unable to do so if you’re more than 50% responsible. A few states prevent you from obtaining compensation if you were even 1% to blame for causing your accident.

If you qualify to seek compensation, your percentage of fault affects how much compensation you can receive. For example, if you are 20% at fault, the most you can obtain is 80% of your total damages.

An accurate fault determination is a key component of your accident claim. Insurance companies may try to take advantage of you if you don’t have legal representation, blaming you unfairly so they can reduce your payout.

Government Agency Involvement

Various governmental agencies are responsible for road design and upkeep, traffic signals and lighting on public roadways. If potholes or other maintenance issues contribute to causing your accident, you can hold them accountable for their part.

The same applies to government employees and vehicles in most circumstances. However, this type of claim has strict protocols and shorter filing timeframes.

Multiple-Party Liability

There are several potentially liable parties in large truck or multi-vehicle collisions. The more parties involved, the more complicated your case becomes.

Insurance Companies

Insurers don’t like paying claims. Although they know how much your case is worth, they often try to minimize your payout by offering unreasonably low settlement amounts, blaming you unfairly, tricking you into admitting fault or denying your claim.

Handling insurance company tactics like these effectively takes experience, negotiating skills and thorough knowledge of the applicable laws. When you hire a car accident lawyer from Big Auto, we won’t let insurance companies take advantage of you.

Accurate Damages Evaluation

You won’t know if you’re getting a reasonable settlement offer if you don’t know how much your case is worth, and most people don’t know how to calculate damages correctly. Fortunately, Big Auto’s unsafe lane change accident lawyers can tell you how much your case is worth and help you obtain a favorable settlement.

Accident claims have several steps, deadlines and tasks to complete. Your Big Auto attorney will take care of things for you so you can focus on recovery. We will:

• Explain relevant information and offer legal advice
• Perform claim-related administrative tasks
• Investigate your accident and gather evidence to support your claim
• Serve as your spokesperson with insurance companies
• Negotiate a favorable settlement or file a civil lawsuit and take your case to court

We know that your unsafe lane change accident has likely created a financial strain, so you won’t have any upfront costs. We are so confident in our abilities to win your case that we won’t charge you anything if we don’t win compensation for you.