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Claims and Defenses Following a Car Accident in Mississippi

After you’ve been involved in an automobile accident, and filed all the necessary paperwork, you may be stunned to find the other party—or their insurance company—asserting they were not at fault, or, worse, that you were at fault. If what you thought was going to be a simple claim process has suddenly gone south, you will need some information about the process in order to determine what to do next.

The Defendant Asserts No Negligence Was Involved

Perhaps you have filed your claim under the belief the other person was either reckless or negligent, and he or she is now asserting they behaved in the same manner as any judicious person would have. The plaintiff (you, if you filed the suit) must prove negligence as a prerequisite to collecting damages, therefore if the defendant can show that his actions were completely normal and reasonable, your claim may die a slow death.

The Defendant Asserts That You Were the Negligent Party

If the defendant asserts that any of the negligence involved in the accident was yours, then he has created a certain level of defense, at least in the handful of pure contributory negligence states. Comparative fault regulations are generally the standard in most states, however, so this will not often work as a defense. In contributory negligence states, if any of the fault for the accident was yours, then it can be argued that your own negligence was also a factor in the accident thereby barring your right to recover any damages from the other driver.  In the comparative fault states, there will generally be a rule in place that allows you to sue if the other driver was at least more than fifty percent responsible.

The Defendant Asserts You Didn’t Fully Prove Your Case

As the plaintiff you have the weight of demonstrating negligence on the part of the other driver as well as proving that negligence caused you specific harm. In our system, defendants don’t have the responsibility of proving they are not responsible for an accident. If you are unable to prove the foundations of the case, then the other driver can be judged not liable.  It’s very important that you or your lawyer have all elements of your case firmly in place before it ever goes to trial, or you may find yourself unpleasantly surprised.

The Defendant Asserts Your Injuries are Not Real

If the other driver claims you are exaggerating your injuries from the accident simply for the sake of collecting compensation—and is able to successfully prove this assertion—he may be able to walk away without any responsibility for your accident and resulting injuries. Ensure you are able to prove your injuries are medically factual through doctor’s reports, hospital reports and any paperwork pertaining to medications you are on as a result of the accident.

In twelve specific states, a car accident lawsuit may only be brought if your injuries are deemed “serious” under the specific rules of the state. The theory in this law is to prevent the filing of lawsuits for relatively “minor” accidents. However, if you have suffered a “minor” injury as the result of a car accident, and that injury is causing you considerable amounts of pain, medical bills and time away from work, you may disagree with your state’s definition of “minor.” Because this process can be incredibly complex, and because you don’t want to end up in court only to have the defendant claim any of the defenses above, it is crucial that you hire an experienced personal injury attorney who will be aware of the laws in your specific state.

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Determining Negligence in a Mississippi Pedestrian Accident

When a pedestrian is struck by a car, the results are usually catastrophic, resulting in serious injuries and death. Even though state laws do their best to protect pedestrians and keep these traumatic events from happening, in the United States alone over 5,000 pedestrians are killed and 64,000 injured each year from being hit by an automobile. These figures average out to one pedestrian being hit every eight minutes, and a life lost every 120 minutes. A pedestrian is simply no match for a car, which can be several thousand pounds of metal and glass. Even though the passengers and driver inside the car are fairly well protected, the pedestrian is totally vulnerable to serious injury.

Who Has the Right-of-Way?

Generally, pedestrians are considered to have the right-of-way, although this is not absolute, and there are certainly times when pedestrians ignore not only the traffic signals, but their own safety as well, crossing the road in a manner that makes avoiding hitting them next to impossible. This type of behavior on the part of pedestrians is, however, the exception rather than the rule. Drivers are expected to approach pedestrian crossings with extra caution and to adhere to specific safety measures, most especially when the pedestrian is clearly visible and is within ten feet of where the vehicle will be turning. Drivers should always slow down—stopping if appropriate—and yield the right of way to pedestrians, and should take special care to be extra alert in areas where pedestrians are common. As an additional caution, a vehicle is not permitted to pass another vehicle which has stopped to allow pedestrians to cross.

Proving Negligence on the Part of the Automobile Driver

In order to establish negligence on the part of the driver who struck a pedestrian, the pedestrian must prove that the driver not only owed a legal duty to the pedestrian under the specific circumstances, but that they breached that duty through negligent or reckless conduct or action—or through a failure to act. The pedestrian must also prove the actions of the auto driver caused the accident which injured the pedestrian and that the pedestrian suffered injury or harm as a result. The facts will be closely analyzed in each accident involving a pedestrian, and it may turn out that more than one person was legally responsible for the accident and resulting injuries. This could be true in a case where a sidewalk, roadway or parking lot where the accident occurred was not properly maintained or marked or if the pedestrian was also at fault.

Automobile Driver’s Duty of Care

Those who operate automobiles are charged with exercising reasonable care under specific circumstances. Some of the factors which commonly contribute to driver negligence include inattentive drivers, a driver’s failure to obverse posted speed limits or yield the right-of-way at marked crosswalks, a driver’s reckless disregard for traffic signs or signals, failure by the driver to signal a turn, a marked disregard for weather or unusual traffic conditions, or driving under the influence of alcohol. Additionally, drivers owe a particular duty of care to small children—those between the ages of 5 and 10 are the most likely to be hit by a car as they are smaller, less visible and often exhibit unpredictable behaviors. The mere presence of children is a warning to drivers to exhibit particular care and hyper-vigilance. If a driver is in the vicinity of a school or in a residential area where children are known to play, extra care must be taken to avoid hitting a child.

Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney

If you have been the victim of a pedestrian-car accident, it is likely that you are struggling to pay your medical bills. You may even be unable to return to work, and find yourself unable to provide for yourself and your family. It is imperative that you retain a knowledgeable personal injury attorney who can protect your rights and get you the help you need following your accident with injuries.

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Distracted Driving as the Leading Cause of Auto Accidents in Mississippi

Distracted Driving as the Leading Cause of Auto Accidents

Any time a driver on the road is paying attention to anything other than the road and the traffic around them, they are putting themselves, other motorists and pedestrians in danger. Although cell phone use and the practice of texting is in the news constantly as a cause of auto accidents, in truth there are plenty of other lower-tech distractions which cause as many, if not more, collisions. Consider the person who just spilled hot coffee in their lap or dropped something on the floor and bent down to pick it up—while driving. According to a study done by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, these two things are actually among the most common distractions drivers suffer. Still, cell phones are definitely a distraction—and a danger. Experts believe that those who regularly talk on their cell phone while driving are as much as four times as likely to have a car accident.

More Incidences of Distracted Driving

Unfortunately, our lives are so incredibly busy, that many people almost feel as though they live in their car. They eat breakfast in their car on their way to work, attempt to re-set the GPS, fiddle with the radio, and even put on makeup, shave and read while commuting to work. Parents find themselves turning around—while driving—to see what’s going on with the kids in the backseat, or attempting to put a bottle or pacifier into the mouth of a crying baby.  If you’ve ever passed a car where a woman was applying mascara, using the rear-view mirror, while navigating a busy city street, you probably were very alarmed—and with good reason. People who regularly eat in their car, also regularly spill, then their attention is completely consumed with cleaning up the mess from their clothing or the upholstery.

Types of Distractions

Generally speaking there are three main types of distractions, including visual, manual and cognitive. Visual distractions occur when you take your eyes from the road—most distractions tend to be visual in nature. Manual distractions occur when you physically remove your hands from the wheel of the vehicle, and mental or cognitive distractions happen when your mind is anywhere but on the task of driving.

Many forms of distractions encompass all three of these—if you are texting your husband while driving, you are visually distracted as you glance back and forth at the screen, manually distracted as you use your fingers to type, and cognitively distracted as your mind is on what you are texting rather than watching the road. If the kids are screaming in the back seat and you turn around to swat one of them, again, you have engaged in all three types of distraction—at the same time. Even daydreaming as you drive home from running errands can be a significant distraction, and can lead to an accident.

How Many Accidents are Caused by Distractions?

Because many people don’t want to admit they were applying makeup or texting when they crash into the car ahead of them, it’s hard to get solid statistics on just how many accidents are caused by distracted drivers. Research indicates that the number could be as high as fifty percent of all accidents being directly related to driver distraction—a number that truly boggles the mind. Teens especially are among the worst offenders for talking and texting while driving, although the newest phones have technology which actually shuts the phone down when it detects the motion of the vehicle.

Contacting an Attorney

If you’ve been injured in an accident due to a distracted driver, it’s important that you contact an attorney who can work aggressively to get you the settlement you need and deserve while you work on recovering from your accident and resulting injuries.

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Despite Improvements in Crashworthiness T-Bone Accident Still Serious Danger

The advent of side-impact crash tests began back in 1997 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).  These tests involved only cars but grew to include pickup trucks, SUVs and vans. The test slams a barrier into the driver’s side of a vehicle at 38.5 miles an hour with a dummy in the driver’s seat of the car and another one placed in the rear passenger seat. The dummies are wearing their seat belts when the test is conducted.  The dummies are measured by instruments to see what, if any, injuries they sustained and then the car is given a crashworthiness rating in stars. The star rating goes from one to five stars, and the higher the star rating the safer the car.

While these tests provided valuable information about vehicle safety, the rising number of larger vehicles like SUVs and trucks led the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to develop a new side-impact crash tests in 2003. These tests were thought to better predict a car’s safety when it hit by a larger vehicle such as an SUV. In some of the first crash safety tests conducted under this updated system, two out of twelve small SUVs were rated good and only two out of ten midsize sedans were rated good.

These tests were a little bit different than the old test in other ways also.  The barrier that struck the car was a foot taller (mimicking the height of an SUV), the barrier only struck at 31 mph rather than 38.5 mph, and the dummy was smaller (mimicking the size of a small women or teenager).  The dummy was smaller in order to test for the effectiveness of side airbags.

Changes Have Come

Side airbags are now all but standard on many of the new passenger vehicles on the market.  A substantial amount of these improvements are due to the testing that IIHS conducted starting back in 2003.  Impacts from side collisions can be especially devastating because there is no crumple zone like on the front and rear of a vehicle. The makers of automobiles also have done a lot over the years to actually strengthen the sidewalls of vehicles as well as installing side air bags.

The overall conclusion after analyzing crash data of the tests over a period of decades is that airbags and a vehicle’s structure work together to help minimize injuries in side-impact crashes. Without side airbags in a car, the chances of serious injury or death are greatly increased.  This is significant because 28.9% of all auto accidents in the U.S. and 20.9% of all fatalities are due to side-impact or T-bone accidents according to the NHTSA.  These accidents often occur at intersections where other drivers fail to yield or stop. The injuries that a person can sustain in side-impact accidents can be severe including spinal cord injuries, head injuries, brain damage, soft tissue injuries and broken bones.  If you have been injured in a side-impact (T-bone) crash in Mississippi, then you need the services of a good Mississippi personal injury attorney.  The experienced Mississippi accident lawyers at the Barrett Law Office have been representing T-Bone accident victims since 1933.  Our experienced Mississippi car accident lawyers offer a free initial case evaluation so call us today at (662) 834-2376.

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