Just a few weeks ago, golf great Tiger Woods was involved in a single car accident. In his situation inquiring minds all over the world wanted to know how it happened. Was he drunk? Was he speeding? Did he fall asleep at the wheel?
Because only one car is involved in a single-vehicle accident, the driver is almost always considered to be at fault for the accident, BUT there are some single car accidents that aren’t your fault.
Here are some examples of single car accidents that might not necessarily be your fault.
– Avoiding or hitting an animal, person, or other unexpected structure in the road. Deer are particularly guilty of causing these types of accidents, but other examples that are common would be if a ladder or something fell off a truck on the interstate and hit you or landed in the road right in front of you.
Unfortunately, you can’t sue the deer for damages, but the company truck that didn’t secure their equipment from falling would be liable, assuming you can track them down.
– Vehicle defects have also caused accidents, such as when the steering fails, an airbag unexpectedly deploys, a tire blows out, or the ignition cuts off. If this is the case, the automobile manufacturer could be liable.
– Poor road maintenance or poor road design, such as a malfunctioning stop light or potholes in the road, are often causes of accidents.
– Inclement Weather-related accidents, such as icy roads cause single car accidents all the time. These accidents are considered acts of God, and are generally considered no one’s fault.
– An unavoidable accident caused by another motorist, but not involving another motorist. These accidents are unfortunately sometimes hard to prove, even when there is clearly another person at fault. For example, if another car forces you to swerve and run off the side of the road and crash, but that car keeps going.
Contact Kaiman & Crahan, Your Louisville Attorneys, today, at 502-771-0741 if you’ve been involved in a single car accident and don’t think you are to blame.