While many people are familiar with the legal term “negligence” and understand that most car accidents in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area are caused by negligence, few people really know what constitutes negligent driving conduct. Negligence in the context of a car accident claim refers to an act or omission that constitutes a failure to exercise ordinary care to prevent injury to others that does in fact result in injury. While there are a handful of scenarios where liability may be fairly clear, the determination of who is the negligent party is debatable in most cases. This ambiguity and uncertainty in determining which party’s driving behavior caused a collision is used by insurance companies to challenge their insured’s liability in may California car accident cases.
Many car accident cases involve a violation of the California Rules of the Road. When a driver violates these traffic safety laws, the driver may be strictly liable for any injuries or loss caused by the violation. When a vehicle runs a red light, for example, the driver may be strictly liable for injuries suffered by occupants of the other vehicle that is T-boned after entering the intersection on a green light. In some cases liability may be shared by both parties if they both failed to exercise reasonable care to avoid a collision.
The legal principle behind this concept of negligence is the legal doctrine of negligence per se. Negligence per se essentially provides that when a party violates a statute that is intended for the safety of the public, the violation of the statute by itself is negligence provided it caused the plaintiff’s injuries. Because the California rules of the road are designed to protect motorists and prevent car accidents, these vehicle safety statutes may be the basis for imposing strict liability if the violation causes a collision.
There are some situations where the negligence of one particular driver is generally clear, such as the following:
Rear-Ender: A driver generally has an obligation to allow sufficient following distance so that the driver can stop if the flow of traffic is suddenly interrupted. While the driver that rear ends another vehicle frequently will be liable, there are exceptions, such as when the vehicle that is rear-ended does not have working tail lights.
Left Turns or U-Turns: If a vehicle is proceeding straight through an intersection or on a roadway, the driver of a vehicle making a left or U-turn will be considered negligent when turning into a vehicle proceeding straight with a couple of exceptions. If the vehicle that is proceeding straight is speeding or violates a red light, the driver of the vehicle proceeding straight may at least share fault for the accident.
Backing Out of a Driveway or Parking Space: While it is not always true that a driver that is backing up will be found to be the negligent party, this is the case more often than not.
Some of the types of conduct that most often constitute the basis for a finding of negligence in a San Francisco car accident, including the following:
- Distracted driving
- Failure to maintain one’s lane
- DUI/DWI
- Speeding
- Improper following distance
- Illegal or unsafe turns
Contact Us For Your Free Consultation
If you or someone you love is injured or a loved one dies in a San Francisco car accident, you may be entitled to seek financial compensation. It is important to contact us as soon as possible because critical deadlines apply. Our San Francisco auto accident attorneys invite you to contact The Law Office of Ian Zimmerman for your free initial consultation. We are open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., speak Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and are available for weekend, evening, home and hospital meetings and visits. We also offer free initial consultations and work exclusively on a contingency fee basis so that you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.