Common Causes of Alabama Car Accidents
In order to be awarded damages, the cause of your car accident must be established. You or your Huntsville personal injury attorney will have to prove why your accident occurred before you can determine who is liable for your compensation and file a claim against them.
Multiple factors could have played a role in your accident, such as:
Speeding
The government sets speed limits. These limits specify the maximum safe speed for travel on every road. Some drivers, however, choose to ignore speed limits and drive dangerously fast. In addition, many careless drivers disregard current road conditions. Even with speed limits in place, drivers should slow their speed to compensate for dangerous driving conditions, like snowy or ice-covered roads or foggy, rainy weather.
When a driver goes too fast, they do not have as much time to react to what is going on around them. They have less time to identify a dangerous situation and decide the best course of action.
Construction Zones
Driving near or in a construction zone is inevitable. Driving through a construction zone increases your odds of being involved in a car accident. It also poses a considerable danger to workers in the area. In 2014, the Alabama Department of Transportation reported more than 500 injuries and over 20 fatalities due to construction zone accidents.
In Huntsville, the most common construction zone accident is a rear-end collision. The two main causes of these accidents are speeding and distracted driving.
Drowsy Driving
Drowsy driving is defined as driving an automobile while sleepy or fatigued. It is a huge problem that causes several thousand crash fatalities every year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published that roughly one out of every 25 adults surveyed admitted to falling asleep while driving in the last 30 days.
Driving while drowsy is very dangerous, not just because of the high probability of falling asleep at the wheel, but because drowsiness and fatigue impair making good decisions, decreasing attentiveness, and slow reaction times. Despite the well-known dangers of drowsy driving, an estimated 28,000 drowsy-driving accidents occur every year.
Drunk Driving
The Alabama Department of Transportation’s 2016 Crash Facts shows that nearly 6,000 drivers who caused car accidents that year were cited for driving under the influence. The majority of the drunk or drugged drivers were between 25 and 29-years-old. The next age group most commonly cited was between 20 and 24, followed by 30 to 34-year-olds. The cited drivers were overwhelmingly male, with only about 1,500 offenders being women.
In 2016, Alabama witnessed about 6,000 alcohol-related collisions, which is a serious issue as these kinds of accidents have a high likelihood of causing catastrophic injuries and deaths.
If you or a family member was injured in an accident that involved alcohol, our drunk driving injury attorneys can help you understand the complexities of your unique case. We will conduct a thorough investigation into your accident and do everything in our power to show that you are entitled to compensation.
Inexperienced Teen Drivers
A report published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that in 2014, close to 100 teenage drivers were involved in deadly collisions in Alabama.
Multiple factors play a role in accidents involving younger drivers, such as alcohol consumption, driver inexperience, electronic distractions, and speeding. Sadly, a lot of teenagers feel compelled to maintain an active online presence, even when they are driving. They are putting themselves and those around them in danger by doing this. 25% of teen drivers said they actively reply to text messages while they are behind the wheel.
A teenager involved in a car crash can injure themselves and their passengers and other people on the roadway.
If a teen driver injured you or a relative, we urge you to meet with a Huntsville car accident attorney to learn more about your rights. Young drivers and their insurance carriers can both be held liable when their blatant disregard for the safety of others results in a traffic accident. Just like any other reckless driver, they can be forced to compensate their victims.
Whether you are convinced that you know what caused your accident or have absolutely no idea how it happened, give the law offices of Mama Justice a call. Our experienced Huntsville personal injury lawyers will closely examine all evidence regarding your accident and, if necessary, hire professionals or expert witnesses to work out exactly what happened and why. Where accidents with an undetermined cause are concerned, most victims gain an advantage by having an accident reconstructionist on their case.