QuestionI was a passenger in a vehicle coming off a highway on a two lane off ramp. There were two vehicles in ahead,one going going very slow to the extent the vehicle needed to swerve into the other lane to avoid hitting it. Our vehicle swerved to avoid hitting the slow moving vehicle, but grazed it and hit the other vehicle. Who is at fault? The slow moving vehicle?
AnswerHi William,
You can recover for your injuries by making claims versus BOTH drivers. Do not get into the trap of trying to pin the blame on the slowing driver. His company will claim—and rightfully so—that YOUR driver is also at fault, and MAYBE the primary fault.
I will give you arguments to use versus both drivers. Make your claim versus both of them. YOUR DRIVER'S INSURANCE RATES will NOT be increased by your adding your claim since this is already classified as an "at-fault" accident and once damages paid out for repairs to the vehicle exceed a specified amount (i.e. $750 in Washington State), then the insurer can increase the driver's rates. The rates do not go up incrementally if the company has to pay out $750 or $7,500. It is all the same: and once a claim has been made (even a property damage claim) in excess of that threshold amount (i.e. $750), AND if the insured is partially at fault, then your making a bodily injury claim will NOT result in any incremental increase in rates for your driver.
There may be two drivers at fault, but the place to start is with your driver. The basic rule of the road is to be in control of your vehicle such that you can stop should the vehicle ahead of you come to a stop (unless a sudden emergency stop, perhaps). In other words, your driver has to keep a lookout for what is ahead and control the vehicle's speed so that there can be a response to slowing—or even stopped—traffic ahead.
Part of that duty is based in general speed and part of it is based in keeping an eye out, and part of it is in being able to react in time. If your driver's basic speed was too high, then reaction time is diminished so that avoiding an accident is less likely.
From your description, it sounds like your driver breached the duty of care owed to other drivers—and to YOU.
What could possibly be the excuse for failing to see that the vehicle ahead was slowing? Even if it came to a complete stop, your driver has to be able to control the vehicle.
Are there exceptions wherein a slower moving vehicle can be cited for negligence? Yes, there are such examples. BUT, THAT IS NOT THE GENERAL RULE. You could say that it is the duty of drivers to keep a safe minimum speed on the freeway OR MOVE OFF TO THE SIDE.
So it is possible that a case "COULD" be made versus that driver ahead of you, but more would need to be known. For example, if that driver started the exit and then decided it was the wrong one, and slowed down to an almost-stop trying to decide what to do, I would say he would be in breach of his duty of care owed to following drivers.
He has to anticipate that drivers behind him are exiting at highway speed, and with the curved exit ramp, vision ahead is not as good as on the highway. Hence, he should know that there will be less time for following drivers to react to his slow-moving vehicle.
Why did he not pull way over, or speed up and figure out things at the bottom of the ramp? This forms the basis of your argument versus the driver ahead.
OK, William, I have made a lot more work for you than you asked about, but I trust that my extra time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
Best Wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
