According to the National Safety Council (NSA), more than four million people in 2019 sustained severe injuries from car accidents in the U.S. During the same year, almost 30,000 people lost their lives in car accidents. A huge percentage of these accidents were caused by negligence.
A motor accident involving more than one vehicle mostly falls under negligence. Therefore if you have been in such an accident and are not at fault, you will need to prove that the other driver was negligent.
Negligence is a legal term that forms the basis of several car accidents and personal injury lawsuits. Whenever there has been an accident, the police, insurance company, or court will have to determine who is at fault and the actions that led to the accident.
What Is Negligence?
For a person to be found negligent, they must have acted in a thoughtless or careless manner, and their behavior has caused harm or injury to another person. In a car accident, a driver is considered negligent if they were doing something wrong or unlawful while driving and that action led or contributed to the accident.
While on the road, a driver must drive carefully and keenly to avoid injuring pedestrian’s motorists, passengers, or any other road user. If they are not reasonably careful, and as a result, harm someone, they can be held liable for the injuries and damages.
If you were in a car accident, it would be best to hire a Brooklyn car accident attorney to advise you and collect enough evidence to prove that the driver was negligent according to the law and traffic rules and help you file your claim.
The Basics of a Negligence Claim
The victim of the accent or the person filing a lawsuit, legally known as the plaintiff, must prove the defendant’s driver was at fault and was negligent. The plaintiff must show the following:
The Defendant Failed to Be Reasonably Careful as Required
To know if a driver violated the duty of care, the law compares their conduct with that of another reasonable driver under the same circumstances. If the defendant did not act as any other driver would have, they have violated the duty of care.
Any driver should ensure that they do the following:
Adhere to all road and traffic rules
Be vigilant and aware of other road users, hazards, and more
Drive at a reasonable speed
Keep their vehicle in good condition
Maintain control of the car
The law requires all drivers to be careful while on the road. If, for example, they did not stop at a red light, maintain a safe distance between other vehicles, stop for crossing pedestrians, were driving under the influence of an intoxicating substance, and more, they were negligent.
The Defendant Caused the Plaintiff Harm
A negligence claim is only valid if the defendant injured the plaintiff, damaged their property, or both. For example, if you claim that you suffered a neck injury or a whiplash, you must provide evidence that the neck injury or whiplash was due to the accident caused by the defendant and not some other accident.
They Were Injured and/or Suffered Some Loss
If you have sustained injuries due to negligence, you are entitled to claim compensation for your injuries, damages, lost wages, and any other loss, including the future effects of the accident.
However, to claim, the plaintiff has to show evidence that the injuries and losses resulted from the accident. To show proof, you will need to have good medical records, proof of the days you missed work or lost a contract, effects of the accident on your life, such as a disability or life-long medical conditions.
Get Legal Help to Prove Negligence
Some accidents are quite straightforward, and this makes it easy to determine negligence. However, cases that involve extensive damages such as extreme injuries, permanent disabilities, and more, are quite complicated because they are expensive to compensate for and tricky to determine negligence. In such a case, you may want to hire a car accident attorney to help you out.