Common Causes of Car Accidents in Long Island

There are a few common causes of car accidents in Long Island. These include speeding, drunk driving, disregarding traffic signals such as a stop sign or a traffic light, and being inattentive to a pedestrian or inattentive to other vehicles on the road.

Sometimes, people are inattentive because they are talking to somebody else in the car. Other times, they are on the phone, or simply not paying attention.

To discover any other common causes of car accidents in Long Island, it is imperative to contact a lawyer as soon as possible. A knowledgeable Long Island auto accident attorney can build a case to help produce a successful recovery on your behalf.

Drunk Driving

A case is significantly impacted when an accident is the result of drunk driving because one person is impaired. When taking into consideration comparative negligence, which is recognized in the state of New York and on Long Island, somebody who is drunk clearly is going to have a lot, if not all, of the liability against them. Drunk driving is among the most common causes of car accidents in Long Island.

Speeding

When someone is speeding, there are two ways it can impact the case. First, comparative negligence increases on the person who is speeding. Therefore, the speeding person who hits the individual may have much more liability. It also impacts the case because, generally speaking, speed affects the injuries of a client. Therefore, the faster somebody is going when they hit the client, the more likely there is going to be a serious injury.

For instance, if someone is driving 20 miles an hour, it might produce one type of injury. If they are driving 40 or 50 miles an hour, that would produce a different type of injury.

Running a Stop Sign or Red Light

When running a stop sign or red light, comparative negligence is a factor that can impact the case. Disregarding these traffic signals is another common cause of car accidents on Long Island. A person that disregards a traffic signal, whether it is a red light or stop sign, is going to have an increasing amount of liability. Anyone who has more liability is going to either get an increase or decreased value of the person’s case depending on who has more liability.

Stop signs and red lights are a frequent cause of accidents. Many attorneys will not take the case, with the exception of very specific circumstances, of someone who ran a stop sign or red light. Those are very hard cases for plaintiff’s personal injury attorneys to handle for clients if their client is the one who disregarded the traffic signal.

Driving at Night

When an accident is the result of driving at night, comparative negligence is a factor because if the person is driving at night, the person has to be more careful. The person has to be more attentive to what is in front of them. For example, if somebody is driving without lights, or if someone cannot see well at night and causes an accident, that is a problem.

Occasionally, there is an issue with lighting in the general area which might result in a different type of case. For example, if somebody is in the parking lot of a shopping center and there is little to no lighting and there is an accident, it might be a different type of claim not only against the driver in the accident but maybe even the people that own the parking lot. This common cause of car accidents in Long Island can be pursued by an experienced attorney.

Driving the Wrong Direction

A car accident that involves driving in the wrong direction would be an extremely difficult case to take. However, if a potential client comes to an attorney and says they were hit because somebody else was driving in the wrong direction, the attorney will know that is an extremely good case on liability, where there is 0% comparative negligence.

Unfortunately, people who are driving the wrong direction are usually driving drunk. Again, driving in the wrong direction could mean very serious injuries, because nobody is ever expecting that to happen and, generally, people who are driving the wrong direction are also speeding.