Wrong-way driving incidents rarely end well. When a motorcycle, auto or truck operator drives wrong-way on a road, street or highway, they run many risks: an accident with another vehicle, striking a pedestrian and/or causing serious property damage. For anyone that has been injured in a wrong-way driving or lost a loved one to the same, they know personal injury accidents of this kind can be and are horrific, and costly. According to the National Transportation Safety Board: 400+ Americans die every year from head-on, high-speed wrong-way accidents.
Most alarming about wrong-way accidents is this fact – nearly 22% of all wrong-way collisions are fatal, compared to under 1% of all other crashes being fatal.
There are many reasons that wrong-way driving incidents occur:
— When there is a wrong-way driver on a highway, most likely the operator has entered the incorrect freeway entrance – they enter the “off’” ramp. Hard to believe as most off-ramps have huge “do not enter” signs everywhere, but this does happen. In many wrong-way driving personal injury lawsuits, this event is highly scrutinized.
— When there is a wrong-way driver on a surface street, quite possibly the operator turned on to a one-way street heading the wrong direction. This is one of the most common wrong-way driving accidents and can happen very quickly, if all parties involved are not paying 100% attention.
— If someone is driving on the wrong side of the road on a street or highway, they may have gotten their directions turned around.
— Sometimes a vehicle operator knows they are making a wrong turn down a wrong-way street and they continue to do so anyways.
— A driver may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol and have no idea how they are driving
While there may be many reasons why a driver winds up getting their vehicle into a potentially deadly wrong-way situation, the bottom line is that if they cause a negligent accident resulting in property damage, injury or death, thy may be financially liable for any number of things that stem from the incident. If you or a loved one have been injured and have questions about your legal rights, please don’t hesitate to give the experienced Los Angeles car accident lawyers at Ledger & Associates a call for a free case consultation.
