Recently in the Phoenix area, one man was killed and a 12-year-old girl was seriously injured in a car accident. Police said the accident occurred as two cars were traveling eastbound near 59th Avenue and Union Hills Drive in Glendale when one car rear-ended the other at high speed.
Police said the car that was struck had four people in it. A man in the backseat behind the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. A 12-year-old girl sitting next to him suffered injuries that were described as life-threatening. The driver of that car was taken to a hospital but was expected to survive. A passenger in the front seat was not hurt. A news report did not describe the condition of the driver of the other car.
Negligence and rear-end collisions
Under Arizona law, a person who is injured in a car accident caused by the negligence of another driver may hold that driver liable for their damages. This means the injured party can be compensated for things like medical expenses, lost wages and less tangible losses such as pain and suffering.
In most, but not all cases, a driver who crashes into the rear-end of another car is considered to have caused the accident through negligence. This is because drivers have a duty to others to avoid the risk of an accident. If a driver breaches this duty — for instance, by looking at a smartphone instead of at the road in front of them — and they cause an accident as a result of that breach, they can be held liable.
However, there are cases where a driver rear-ends another car but is not held liable. For instance, a driver who turns a blind curve on a dark road at night might not have time to avoid a darkened car that is stopped in the middle of the road. In such a case, a court might find that the driver did not reasonably have a chance to hit the brakes or swerve out of the way before running into the stopped car.
Sometimes, motor vehicle accident cases get more complicated the closer you look at them. It’s important for the injured to seek out help from an experienced attorney to learn about their options.
