Road traffic accidents, or RTAs, cover various different types of accidents that involve vehicles on the public highways.
Collisions between cars will usually be dealt with by the drivers’ insurance companies if the crash only caused damage to property. If the accident was more serious and resulted in one or more of the people involved being injured, it will usually be necessary for a personal injury lawyer to get involved.
The most common RTA’s involve collisions between car drivers on the roads. If there are passengers in the car, van, bus or coach who also suffer injuries in a crash, they can claim compensation from the company that insured the vehicle or vehicles that caused the crash as well. This is even if they are travelling in the car of the driver who was at fault and they are closely related to the driver. This it to make sure that anyone injured in a road accident that was not their fault is fully compensated for their injuries.
The most straightforward RTA’s involve one car crashing into the back of another. The driver of the vehicle that crashed into the back of the other car will nearly always be at fault for the accident. This is because they are under a duty as a road user to drive with due care and attention, including making sure there is a safe stopping distance between their car and the car in front.
More complicated cases arise in circumstances where the cause of the accident is not as clear. For example collisions on narrow country roads where there was not enough room for both cars to pass each other or on roundabouts where the right of way of each driver was not clear from the circumstances. In these cases, if it is not possible to say one car was completely responsible for the accident then it will be necessary for the insurance companies of the drivers to negotiate and arrive at split liability. This means that both drivers were at some fault and the insurance companies agree to share the cost of the claims. This can be on a 50/50 basis where both drivers were equally responsible or a different percentage, such 75/25, if one driver is found to be more at fault than the other.
Passengers injured in vehicles will nearly always receive compensation either from the insurer of the driver of the car they were travelling in, the other driver’s insurance company, or possibly both of these if they were both at fault for the accident. However, in some circumstances the amount of compensation will be reduced; for example if a passenger or driver is injured because of another driver’s fault, but they did not wear a seatbelt, they will often incur a deduction from their payout. A passenger in a car accident may also have their compensation reduced if they were injured in a car driven by a driver who they knew was too drunk to drive.
If you have been injured in a road traffic accident that was not your fault, it is important to get the best professional legal advice to ensure that you receive the maximum compensation that you are entitled to.
