South Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
Car accidents can have potentially devastating consequences for everyone involved. If you have suffered harm in a car accident caused by someone else’s wrongdoing, error or carelessness, we can help. At the Law Offices of Robert Dixon, our diligent Miami car accident attorneys will analyze the circumstances surrounding your wreck and help you understand your legal rights and options. With years of experience, you can trust that your case is in good hands.
Apparently, you are more likely to survive a car accident if you are riding in the front, according to a new study published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). In response to this finding, IIHS is encouraging automakers to improve safety for backseat passengers. Currently, there is no national standard or method to evaluate rear passenger safety in front-end collisions. To address this, IIHS is developing a standardized test that will determine how well a motor vehicle protects backseat passengers. The initiative began after IIHS reviewed 117 accidents across the country in which many rear passengers, who were wearing seat belts, suffered more serious injuries or were outright killed– when compared to front seat passengers in front-end accidents. According to the report, it is not necessarily that the back seat has become less safe; it is that the front seat has become more safe with automakers adding a variety of active and passive technologies (i.e., airbags that activate during side impacts and rollovers) to improve passenger safety.
All drivers on the road have an obligation to drive in a safe and prudent manner. To hold a driver accountable for an accident, you must show that the driver was negligent and that his or her negligence led to the accident and resulting harm. To establish negligence, the plaintiff (i.e., the injured party) is required to demonstrate each of the following elements: i) the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty to drive using reasonable care; ii) the defendant violated this duty to use reasonable care behind the wheel; and iii) the defendant’s violation was a direct and proximate cause of the plaintiff’s damages (i.e., bodily harm or property damage).
Every accident is different and the exact amount of compensation an injured party will be entitled to will be based on a number of factors. Typically, however, the plaintiff may be able to recover a variety of damages such as:
- Past and future medical expenses;
- Past and future lost income;
- Loss of the value of employment benefits;
- Loss of earning capacity;
- Rehabilitation costs;
- Pain and suffering.
Whether you are in the front seat or in the backseat, car accidents can lead to serious, even deadly injuries. If you have been hurt or have lost someone you loved in a car accident that was not your fault, you need to reach out to a seasoned Miami car accident attorney who can help. At the Law Offices of Robert Dixon, we can help you to determine who was at fault and how to proceed. For more information, please call our office at 1-877-499-HURT (4878) or reach out to us online today.