With approximately 29% of the crashes being rear-ended car accidents, there are a considerable number of injuries and fatalities each year. With over 25 years of experience, our rear-end accident lawyers at The Ward Law Group, PL are qualified to represent you to get the fairest compensation you deserve.
If you have been injured in a rear-end car accident, seek the highest level representation at The Ward Law Group. In the following article, you will get to know everything related to this type of accident, what exactly is, and all the potential risks, difficulties, and outcomes, keep reading.
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Rear-end collisions are the type of accidents where the lead vehicle is stopped or moving very slowly, more common places are at a stop sign, red traffic light, or entering a principal road. Following the lead car comes the second vehicle involved that hit its front, the behind part of the lead car.
Most of the time, people think that in this type of accident, the lead car that receives the impact on its behind is the one winning the case, but it is not always like that, sometimes both drivers can share responsibility due to the pure comparative negligence rule that New York state abides for.
Comparative Negligence rule may apply to rear-end car accidents because not the time, the driver who hits the behind lead’s car is fully at-fault, sometimes drivers fail to repair the broken lights of their car, which will affect them negatively, and most likely that will cause an accident.
Another scenario that may occur in which the car that receives the impact can provoke the rear-end accident is when they suddenly change from one lane to another, making a driver who goes in the next lane impact the behind of the first one.
Determining fault in a rear-end accident may be a complicated matter, and requires an expert to prove with evidence in a trial. Because the defendant may apply smart tactics to disallow the plaintiff’s arguments.
To start, it is known that every driver must proceed with a basic duty of care for others on the road. This includes avoiding tailgating which is basically to have enough distance between one car to another. A good rule of thumb for avoiding tailgating is that the back tires of the car in front of you must be visible to you as a driver.
There are also other reasons why these accidents may occur, we will discuss that below. But first, we need to know what is the comparative negligence rule.
The comparative negligence rule can be applied in personal injury claims in multiple areas, and of course, the rear-end accident is one of them, here will show you what are the elements of comparative negligence.
In this element, the objective is to determine if there was a duty owed to foreseeable victims. Both drivers involved in the accident had a duty of care to operate their vehicles safely and follow traffic laws. This duty includes maintaining a safe distance, being attentive, and driving at a reasonable speed.
We want to see how under comparable circumstances, the individual provided a level of care that aligns with what a reasonably prudent person would do.
If the driver who rear-ended the other vehicle was distracted and that was the main factor for the accident they may have breached their duty of care by not paying attention and failing to stop in time to avoid the collision.
Following the example, if it can be established that the driver’s distraction and failure to stop in time were the primary causes of the accident, there is a clear link between their negligence and the resulting harm.
There are 2 types of causation:
The last element of comparative negligence is the damages. The court or relevant authority would assign percentages of fault to each driver based on their respective contributions to the accident. For example, if the rear-ending driver is found 70% at fault and the other driver 30% at fault, damages would be apportioned accordingly.
We have previously discussed some of the causes of rear-end accidents, and here we will dive into it.
This is a form of reckless driving. Not keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you is dangerous since it is proven that a regular person’s time reaction if they have their eyes on the road it is on average 1 second, and if on top of that, you add a high speed, it becomes even more dangerous.
Multiple ways of being distracted while driving exist, some of them are texting, talking on the phone, eating, arguing with a passenger, and searching for objects in the back seat, these distractions can lead to diminishing time reactions and failure to notice slowing or stopped traffic ahead.
Driving above the speed limit or too fast when the conditions on the road are adverse, will make it harder for a driver to stop if an unexpected event occurs.
Fatigue is something that happens and has provoked over 2 thousand fatalities in recent years. Also to dive into thoughts while driving can make the driver lose focus on what is in front of them.
A variety of reasons why people suddenly stop on a highway or road like an animal crossing the street, a little child without supervision, a dangerous object coming, or even another car driving in the wrong direction may be valid reasons, that is why every driver must pay full attention to the road.
Poor weather conditions make the roads a bit dangerous due to the water or ice over the pavement which makes it lose friction between the road and the tire, that is why is recommended to slow down when there are bad weather conditions.
We have talked about the hypothetical scenario in which the car that was hit was in part liable for the accident because there were broken lights on it.
Engaging in aggressive behaviors like frequent lane changes, or weaving through traffic can increase the likelihood of rear-end collisions.
The most common injuries from rear-end accidents are:
They can be either complete or incomplete spinal cord injuries, both of them are very delicate injuries though. Due to the sudden back-and-forth movement provoked by the impact the spinal cord may suffer.
The symptoms of spinal cord injuries can be
Whiplash is a common injury in rear-end collisions. It happens when the head and neck are forcefully jerked backward and then forward, causing strain and damage to the soft tissue of the neck.
when a person suffers from a whiplash injury they may experience neck pain, stiffness, headaches, and dizziness.
Is valid to mention that there are cars that don’t have a headrest on their seats and that makes them even more dangerous for passengers and drivers when they get into a rear-end collision.
This type of injury will depend on how severe the crash was, it can go from minor concussions to more severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). It may result in cognitive impairment, memory loss, headaches, and other neurological symptoms
If the crash was hard enough to impulse the driver to hit their face on the steering wheel, they can sustain facial injuries too.
Even though the seat belt can save your life, it is also the reason why drivers and passengers may sustain chest contusions, fractured ribs, and internal injuries to organs such as the lungs or heart due to the force of the impact.
As in many other accidents, rear-end accidents are prone to generate psychological trauma to the victims, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, or depression.
As we mentioned before, rear-end accidents happen in an estimated 29% of the total amount of crashes per year, that is a significant amount of accidents and more victims added to those numbers.
The most recent statistics as of May 2023 for accidents occurring in New York State due to the causes related to rear-end accidents that are:
Shows the total number of 4,410 accidents that demonstrate a rise in the number of these accidents.
For you to recover the expenses of your loss due to a car accident in New York, you must count on an experienced rear-end accident attorney to represent you and get the fairest rear-ended car accident settlement.
The Ward Law Group, PL has a compromise of servicing the community because we know how difficult is to deal with serious injuries and not to be able to seek for what you are entitled to. Call us now at 855-DOLOR-55 and one of our lawyers will answer your questions without receiving any payment and without any commitment from your side, we want to help you get back on your feet. Contact us now for a free case consultation!
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