Toledo Car Accidents Involving Bad Weather 

Accidents happen often regardless of the weather, but bad weather and subsequent poor driving conditions in Toledo, accidents happen more frequently. The combination of decreased visibility, and slow, overly cautious drivers, can spell catastrophe for Toledo drivers. Toledo has snow and wintery conditions from Thanksgiving through potentially the middle of March.

With snowy or icy conditions, visibility will be worse, people are going to drive slower, and as a result, there are more Toledo accidents involving bad weather. A warning sign that a weather-related accident might occur is poor visibility because icy roads can cause drivers to lose control. Another sign would be that other vehicles on the roadway are going very slow. The resulting injuries from an accident range in severity, and can sometimes be fatal.

If you have been involved in an accident due to bad weather, get in touch with a capable car accident lawyer who can fight for you.

Steps to Take After an Accident

A person can try and prevent Toledo car accidents involving bad weather by driving slower, driving defensively, and not being on the road at all if it is potentially a level two or a level three snow alert. Having good snow tires, a four-wheel drive vehicle would be beneficial if someone had to drive in bad weather.

If that does not work, and a person has been involved in a weather-related accident, they should call 911. They should also get names and phone numbers of witnesses, take pictures of the accident scene. The person involved in the accident should also be careful what they say to the police because anything and everything will be used against them in the court of law, either a civil case, a traffic violation, or a criminal case. If anyone is injured, they should seek medical attention. It is important that the injured individual lists all the body parts that are bothering them, or sore as the result of the accident. An injured person might have two or three body parts that are really seriously injured in an accident and they forget to mention one or two other body parts.

After the first couple of weeks post-accident, the other body parts that were injured but they never mentioned, the insurance company is going to argue that they are faking because this new injury did not develop until weeks afterward.

A person should know that when they are injured in an accident, all of their medical records are going to be ordered up by their attorney and looked at by the other side. The other side is going to look through them with a fine tooth comb looking for anything to challenge. They responsible for what they say to the doctor and needs to be careful that what they say is correct or forever hold their peace.

Collecting Evidence

In order to prove that an accident occurred because of weather conditions, photos, witness statements, weather reports from the National Weather Bureau that indicate specific weather conditions on specific dates and times in specific areas serve as great evidence.

Depending on the accident scene, there may be video available from security cameras of nearby businesses, sometimes red light cameras would record accidents. Part of the investigation would be to canvass the neighborhood to ascertain if other options exist to obtain information of the accident scene. News channels that were at the scene of the accident may have film footage that could be used as well.

Impact of Dangerous Weather on Assignment of Fault

In really bad weather, typically the police are overwhelmed and may not come out to an accident unless it is communicated to them that it is a serious bodily accident. If it is not a serious accident, and a police officer will not arrive at the scene because they are too busy, the involved parties will have to exchange information and report the accident on their own later. By that time, the other party may have a faulty memory of what really happened in the accident.

Secondly, a person is going to find that perhaps the investigation will not be as complete or thorough just because of the frequency of accidents in bad weather and the police are under a heavy work load and time restraints to get to the next accident. It is important for someone to gather as much information as they can, photos on the cell phones, names of witnesses, and maybe pictures of where the cars were located before they were moved out of the way. If a person is stuck in that situation, they need to try to preserve the evidence as best as they can.

Single Vehicle Accidents Involving Bad Weather

If a person is in a car accident only involving their car, the argument is going to be made that it is the driver’s fault. If the attorney is representing the interests of the passenger, it would be the same type of investigation, and it is going to be the driver’s fault. If the attorney is representing the driver of the car, typically they have a situation where either there was some sort of mechanical or product defect with the car which would entail preserving the car and hiring an expert to examine the car, take pictures of the car and determine if there is a recall issue that caused the accident. Perhaps somebody who recently worked on the car did not put the wheels, tires or lug nuts on correctly. If it is a product liability case, for example, they are pretty much out of the luck trying to pursue such a case.

Recoverable Damages

The damages a person can recover are similar to other accident cases; medical bills, pain and suffering and inconvenience, permanent injuries, lost wages, and future economic loss. If there are substantial permanent injuries, that would require the assistance of a life care planner who would review all the future medical needs to function on a daily basis for that individual, and prepare a life care plan which would give a ballpark estimate of what the future costs would be for this individual to live as normal a life as possible.

Benefit of a Lawyer

Toledo accidents involving bad weather can have serious repercussions. When an accident occurs, one of the first people you should contact is an attorney. A lawyer can preserve the physical evidence and determine what other evidence is available, whether it be witness statements, photos, or videos. Based on the experience of the attorney in similar cases, a lawyer will be able to brainstorm with you as to the best method of presenting damages through expert witnesses or by seeing the correct doctors. Get in touch with a thorough lawyer who can use the relevant evidence to build your case.