CAR ACCIDENTS
Backing Out Accidents
Car accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents are caused by various factors. One of the most common causes is a backover or backing out accident. A backover or backing out accident involves a vehicle reversing and striking another vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately 18,000 of these accidents occur each year. Tragically, 3,000 of these backover accidents result in debilitating injuries. Many of these accidents sadly involve children. As such, these accidents clearly result in substantial medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. The experienced attorneys at Slatter Law Firm will aggressively fight to recover the maximum compensation for your injuries.
Majority of backover accidents involve trucks, vans, and SUVs. These large vehicles have large blind spots, which make other pedestrians, vehicles, and bicyclists essentially invisible when reversing. Another cause of these accidents is drivers’ failure to properly check their surroundings before backing out. This failure is often caused by hastiness, laziness, and/ or overconfidence with abilities. Drivers have a duty to exercise care to prevent harm to others on the road. This duty requires drivers to be attentive and adequately check their surroundings before reversing. If they fail to do so, they may be at-fault for your injuries.
Backover accidents occur in many different locations. The most common locations are parking lots and residential driveways. In these locations, adults and children are frequently walking behind a reversing vehicle. There are many different steps that drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists can be taken to prevent backover accidents. Below is a description of some of the most common accident prevention techniques.
As stated above, these accidents are primarily caused by drivers’ failure to adequately check their surroundings. As such, in order to reduce the likelihood of these accidents, drivers should check all mirrors, blind spots, and behind them before reversing. Drivers should also reverse slowly, which increase the chances that others on the road notice the reversing vehicle and avoid collision.
Pedestrians and bicyclists must also exercise caution, especially based on the large blind spots for large vehicles. They should not assume that a driver sees them. In order to avoid collision and injury, they should yield to any reversing vehicle.
Children are especially vulnerable to backover accidents because of their size in relation to these large vehicles. As such, educating children regarding safety, such as not playing near vehicles, helps to prevent these accidents. However, parents must not solely rely on this safety education. Instead, adequate parental supervision is important.
Driver assistance technology prevents backover accidents by improving drivers’ view of their surroundings and warning them when the vehicle is near another object or person. Examples of this technology include rear automatic braking, rearview cameras, and rear cross traffic alert. In fact, new vehicles must have rear visibility technology. However, this technology is not a substitute for driver caution. The combination of driver caution and the use of driver assistance technology can help prevent the devastating injuries caused by backover accidents.
Backover accidents can result in various injuries that range in severity. If your injuries were caused by another driver’s negligence, then you are entitled to recover compensation for your past and future medical treatment, lost wages, lost earning potential, and pain and suffering. In order to obtain the maximum compensation for these damages, it is vital that you hire an experienced backover accident attorney.
Contact Us Today
Contact a Los Angeles personal injury attorney today if you or a loved one was involved in an accident involving a dangerous road condition. Slatter Law Firm has been helping individuals injured due to car accidents and slip and falls throughout Los Angeles and Southern California for over four decades. To schedule a free consultation, call our office at (310) 405-0964 or contact us online.
