Who Is at Fault in a Sideswipe Car Accident?
Proving legal responsibility in car accident cases is often challenging, but proving fault in a sideswipe accident can be especially tough. This is because both cars are often traveling in the same direction and the impact involved is usually slight.
If you’ve recently been involved in a crash like this and you want to fight for compensation, you’ll need to work with a lawyer who has plenty of experience of establishing fault in difficult situations.
In this post, we look at everything you’ll need to know about sideswipe car accident liability.
What Is a Sideswipe Accident?
A sideswipe accident occurs when the sides of two vehicles traveling parallel in the same or opposite directions make contact. These collisions often happen during lane changes, merging, or when a driver drifts out of their lane accidentally.
The real damage from sideswipe accidents generally occurs when the cars involved are thrown off course and collide with other vehicles or go off the road.
Who Is at Fault in a Sideswipe Accident?
When you’re dealing with head-on collisions or rear-end crashes, it’s usually fairly easy to determine which party was primarily at fault. This isn’t generally the case with sideswipe accidents.
Determining fault in a sideswipe accident primarily revolves around identifying which driver failed to maintain their lane or executed an unsafe lane change. Generally, the driver who leaves their lane without ensuring it’s safe to do so is held responsible.
Common Causes of Sideswipe Accidents
Several factors can contribute to sideswipe accidents:
- Distracted driving: Activities like texting or adjusting the radio can cause a driver to unintentionally drift into another lane.
Distracted driving has become a huge threat on American roads in recent years; according to statistics from the National Highway Transit Safety Association (NHTSA), it was involved in 3,275 road deaths in 2023 alone. - Blind spots: Many sideswipe accidents come about because of one driver’s failure to adequately check their blind spots before changing lanes.
- Impaired driving: Alcohol or drugs impair judgment and reaction times, increasing the risk of veering into another lane.
- Overcorrection: Abrupt steering to avoid obstacles can lead to unintended lane departures.
Liability can be even more difficult to assign in cases involving overcorrection, as the obstacle that caused the maneuver may have come about due to some factor unrelated to either driver.
How to Prove Fault in a Sideswipe Accident
In other types of car accident cases, physical evidence is often sufficient to establish liability. In a rear-end case, for example, an accident reconstruction expert can generally conclude that the car in the rear position was traveling too quickly or failed to pay attention to traffic lights based on marks on the road or damage patterns in each vehicle. However, with sideswipe incidents, because the main impact generally occurs away from the point of the collision, this type of physical evidence can be less useful.
This means other forms of evidence must come into play.
Surveillance or Dashcam Footage
Video recordings from nearby security cameras or dashcams can offer real-time evidence of the accident. When it’s available, video footage is the gold standard of car accident evidence; eyewitnesses can forget things and exaggerate or understate certain details. This doesn’t happen with cameras.
The good news is that surveillance cameras and dashcams have become much more common over the years. Surveillance cameras are especially likely to be found in the busiest areas of New York City.
CCTV is not so commonplace on highways. Dashcams, on the other hand, go wherever cars go, and an increasing number of vehicles have them nowadays. Statistics show that a significant minority of drivers in the U.S. already use dashcams and that the market for them is growing at pace.
So, if you’re worried about proving your case following a sideswipe accident, this is likely the first place you should look for evidence.
Witness Statements
Individuals who witnessed the accident can provide unbiased accounts, offering insights into the events leading up to the collision. Collecting their contact information promptly is crucial; when you have an accident, you should take the contact details of anyone willing to help you. If you failed to do this at the time of the crash, your lawyer may be able to track down witnesses later.
Police Reports
Law enforcement officers typically document accident scenes, noting observations, potential violations, and sometimes their opinion on fault. It’s important to note, however, that police reports are generally not admissible in court (because they’re regarded as hearsay). So, while they can help to paint a picture of what happened in a given case, they’re of limited value when it comes to negotiating settlements.
Photographic Evidence
Pictures of vehicle positions, damages, road conditions, traffic signs, and any skid marks can help reconstruct the car accident scene, providing clarity on how the collision occurred.
Vehicle Damage Analysis
Though physical evidence is generally less conclusive in these cases than in others, it can still be useful. A skilled accident reconstruction expert may be able to glean useful information from evidence of the point of impact, the point at which the vehicles involved left the road, and any skid marks or other damage to the roadway. Remember, courts in civil cases use a “balance of probabilities” standard when deciding on liability; this means your story just needs to be more plausible than that of the defendant. So, every available piece of evidence in your case may have a role to play.
If you’d like to learn more about what an effective strategy might look like in your case, schedule a free initial consultation with one of our attorneys today.
Who Is at Fault When Both Cars Are Switching Lanes?
When two vehicles simultaneously attempt to merge into the same lane and collide, determining fault can become very complex. Both drivers may share responsibility, as each has a duty to ensure the lane is clear before merging.
If you were involved in a situation like this, comparative negligence may apply. This is where fault is distributed between the parties to a dispute based on their degree of contribution to the accident. So, if the court decides you were 20% to blame for your accident and the other party was 80% to blame, your damages entitlements will be capped at 80% of their overall value. If your total costs arising from the crash amounted to $100,000, you would be entitled to a maximum of $80,000 in damages.
Protecting Your Rights After a Sideswipe Accident
No one wants to find themselves involved in a car accident dispute, especially not one in which the assignment of liability is highly complex. However, there’s no need to worry; no matter how complicated your case is, we’ll have seen something like it before.
Contact Tucker Lawyers today to schedule a free initial consultation about your case. You can reach us via our webform or by calling (516) 399-2364.