With the winter season comes snowy and icy roads, which make your daily commute to work or school that much more difficult. The USDOT Federal Highway Administration reported that 22 percent of all car accidents are in someway weather related. That number comes out to nearly 1.3 million and the main culprits of those wrecks are snow and ice.
With those numbers being so high, the winter season is full of liability problems. One specific liability claim that haunts winter drivers is hitting a pedestrian because of a sliding vehicle. In today’s blog post, our auto accident attorneys at Tolbert Beadle, LLC look at the liability of a driver who hits a pedestrian due to icy road conditions.
Determining Fault
While the accident may have been unavoidable, there are very few instances in which the driver will not be held liable for hitting a pedestrian. Even in cases where a jaywalker is hit by a car, the driver is still held responsible to a certain extent.
Typically, the only accidents where the pedestrian is held at fault is when they suddenly walk or run into the street. In the case of most jaywalkers, the driver still has an opportunity to avoid the pedestrian, as well as having several seconds to realize that there is a pedestrian.
So, at least in the opinion of most auto accident attorneys, you are almost certainly going to be the party at fault if you hit a pedestrian with your car, even if there is ice involved. These types of accidents are more common around apartment complexes and parking lots, where ice and snow may not be plowed and where there is consistently a good amount of people walking around.
What Can You Do?
Well, your first step is to get into contact with an auto accident attorney. An auto accident attorney is not just there for victims, but also for people who made a mistake and are looking to rebound from that mistake.
The first question you need answered is whether or not the person was injured. If the person wasn’t injured, the wreck may affect your insurance policy, but it won’t necessarily require legal action. However, if the person was injured, they will likely seek reparation for damages.
In that case, your bodily injury liability coverage should cover the loss up to your policy’s limit. If the damages exceed those limits, you will want to hire an auto accident attorney.
Tolbert Beadle, LLC Can Be Your Auto Accident Attorney
Winter weather makes everything more difficult and driving is no exception. When it comes to driving in the snow and ice, human error is often something that is unavoidable. At Tolbert Beadle, LLC, our trained auto accident attorney can help defend you fairly. Contact us today at 1-800-887-4030 or visit our website for more information.
