When you have a car accident, you’ll be shocked and scared, and you might need to tell yourself that it wasn’t your fault in order to calm down and have someone to blame. However, how can you know if this is accurate? How can you be sure it wasn’t your fault if the situation is unclear? Although it might feel better to blame someone else, it’s best to be entirely honest because once an investigation takes place, you’ll find out anyway. You’ll want to be prepared for the outcome, whatever it might be. With that in mind, read on for some useful tips about determining fault in a car accident.
No-Fault State
There are twelve states that currently have no-fault insurance laws. Although this might sound as though it means no one will be to blame for the accident, that’s not quite right. What it means is that everyone living in that state has to have Personal Injury Protection (PIP) when they get their car insurance. If you have this, your medical bills are guaranteed to be paid after an accident (up to a certain amount). It’s worth speaking to your insurance company about this. Experts such as Petruzelo Ins can discuss PIP in their auto insurance quotes if need be.
When the PIP limit is reached, you will then use your insurance to claim additional damages from the other driver, assuming they were to blame – or partly to blame.
Police Report
The police report – if there is one, and there won’t always be the need to involve the police, of course – will be very useful in determining blame. It won’t be the final say, but it will detail everything that happened, including what any witnesses said. Of course, it can be subjective, and that’s why there will be additional evidence needed. Your insurance company or a court will make the final determination, but it will spell out what happened.
T-Bone Collisions
A T-bone collision, also known as a side-impact collision, is the most common kind of car accident to take place. Although it might initially appear that the driver who crashed the front of their car into the side of the other was at fault, that may not be true, and it will depend on what else was happening at the time.
It could be that one car went through a red light, for example – in that case, it would be their fault no matter what kind of accident took place. Sometimes it might even be that both drivers were to blame. In other words, you can’t take what happened at face value, and more detail is needed to assign blame.
Low-Speed Collisions
Low-speed collisions are the kind of accidents that take place in lines of traffic or in parking lots, for example. In many cases, the damage is minimal, and there are not any injuries.
These incidents are often easier to determine. If one car is stationary, for example, it will be the moving car that is to blame. If a car is backing out of a space and hits another, the reversing car will be to blame. However, as with all of these accidents, all the details will always have to be taken into account.
