When you know the most common causes of car accidents in Arizona, it is easier to determine who bears liability after a crash. Because Arizona is an at-fault state for auto insurance claims, determining fault and liability is a crucial step in recovering the compensation you need for your injuries. You may be surprised to find that multiple parties could be liable for your injuries and losses.
Speeding Accidents
According to data from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), speeding is one of the most significant factors contributing to crashes, playing a role in over 14 percent of accidents throughout the state. When drivers speed, they increase their odds of causing an accident in three key ways:
- Speeding vehicles require more distance to come to a complete stop.
- Speeding drivers have less time to react to road hazards.
- Speeding drivers have a higher chance of losing control of their vehicle.
Some of the most common accidents involving speeding are rear-end accidents. These accidents arise from the combination of speeding vehicles requiring more stopping distance and drivers being unable to react in time. However, speeding can also lead to head-on collisions when drivers lose control of their vehicles, side-impact collisions when they can’t stop in time at intersections, and rollover accidents if they don’t slow down when turning.
Speeding doesn’t only increase the chances of a crash occurring, though. It also increases the severity of the resulting crashes. Higher speeds mean more extreme forces, which lead to more significant injuries to victims.
Distracted Driving Accidents
The same ADOT data shows that distracted driving contributed to over 23 percent of car accidents in Arizona in a recent year. However, no single type of distraction caused more than one percent of crashes. For example, talking on a hand-held device played a role in 0.11 percent of accidents, while eating, drinking, and other similar distractions played a role in 0.91 percent.
Any time drivers take their attention away from the road, they increase their odds of getting into an accident. Distracted driving can lead to a wide range of crash types, including:
- Rear-end accidents caused by the driver not noticing stopped or slowed vehicles ahead
- Head-on accidents caused by the driver drifting into oncoming traffic
- Pedestrian accidents caused by the driver not seeing pedestrians crossing the road
- Sideswipe accidents caused by the driver drifting into another lane of traffic heading in the same direction
If a distracted driver caused the accident that injured you, our lawyers can seek proof of their distracted driving through various means, such as gaining access to their phone records.
Intoxicated Driving Accidents
Although alcohol and drugs only contribute to a little over 2.5 percent of car accidents in Arizona, that’s still more than 2,500 collisions. If an intoxicated driver struck you, our lawyers could prove that they were at fault by showing evidence of their intoxication, such as testimony from the police officers who responded to the scene and conducted field sobriety tests on them.
While it may be obvious to you that the intoxicated driver would be liable for your losses, what may not be obvious is that another party could also be liable. Under Arizona’s dram shop law, a person or establishment that serves alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person could share liability for the harm the intoxicated person causes as a result.
For example, if the drunk driver crashed into you after leaving a bar, the bar could be at fault if the servers knew or should have known that the person they were serving was already obviously intoxicated.
Failure to Yield Accidents
Drivers failing to yield the right-of-way can result in a number of accidents, from head-on to side-impact collisions and even sideswipes. Some of the situations where a driver must yield to other drivers or pedestrians are:
- At stop signs and yield signs
- At pedestrian crossings
- When turning left
- When merging onto a highway
- When entering a roundabout
When drivers fail to yield to other motorists, they may collide with them, such as if they merge into traffic without looking when getting on the highway. The driver who fails to yield can also be the one who gets struck, such as if they turn left in front of oncoming traffic and get hit from the side. In either case, the driver who failed to yield would likely be primarily at fault.
However, your compensation could be reduced under Arizona’s comparative negligence law if the driver who fails to yield claims you were speeding. For this reason, it’s important to work with a skilled lawyer who can reduce your liability and maximize your compensation.
Contact Our Arizona Car Accident Injury Lawyers
If you were injured in a crash caused by another party’s negligence or misconduct in Arizona, contact Valley Injury Team for a free consultation with an experienced car accident lawyer. During your initial consultation, we’ll review your case, explain your options for recovering the compensation you deserve, and go over how the cause of the accident can help us determine which parties may be liable.
