Car Accident Attorneys in Birmingham, Alabama
Statistics show that most people will be involved in at least one car accident in their lifetime, if not multiple crashes. While many accidents are minor, resulting in insignificant property damage and no injuries, others are catastrophic. When a serious car accident occurs that leaves occupants with significant damages, working with a committed car accident lawyer is a must. Attorneys at the office of Mann & Potter, P.C. are available to serve you.
Negligent Drivers Cause Car Accidents
Car accidents don’t just happen; they are the result of negligence and error, and are almost always preventable as such. Some of the top causes of car accidents in Alabama include:
- Distracted driving – Driving while distracted is practically ubiquitous these days, especially with the rise in hand-held technology. Acts of driver distraction that lead to crashes include eating while driving, attending to child passengers and pets, changing music or temperature controls, applying makeup, and, most dangerously, texting or using a cellphone while behind the wheel.
- Drunk driving – Another top killer on Alabama’s roadways is that of drunk driving. Drunk drivers take numerous lives every year, and cause injuries to many more. In addition to driving after consuming alcohol, drivers also cause collisions when they operate a motor vehicle after using drugs, including illegal drugs, over-the-counter medications, and prescription drugs.
- Speeding – When drivers speed or drive at a speed that is unsafe for conditions (even if at or below the actual speed limit), the risk of being involved in an accident is increased. Not only does speed the risk of an actual collision, but it also increases the severity of damages should an accident occur.
- Driving aggressively – Drivers may commit other acts of negligence when behind the wheel, most of which can be classified as aggressive driving. These acts include tailgating, illegally changing lanes, running red lights or stop signs, cutting off another driver, and more.
- Drowsy driving is another increasingly dangerous possibility on the road these days. However, in some cases, car accidents are caused by factors outside of the realm of driver negligence. These factors include defective roads or dangerous road conditions, defective automobiles or auto parts, and adverse weather conditions.
Distracted Driving Accidents
The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that we lose about 100 people on the roads every day. About one-quarter of those accidents are due to distraction, and the numbers are thought to be under-reported.
Whether it is due to smartphones or other distractions, we know what 3,166 individuals lost their lives with another 387,000 injured in distracted driving crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
According to the Alabama Department of Transportation, a traffic crash is reported on average every 200 seconds.
In the span of one year recently, there were 155,907 car accidents in Alabama and a total of 1,089 individuals died in those crashes, according to the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety.
For those of us in Alabama, a typical driver has a greater than one-in-three chance in his lifetime of being in a crash that leads to death or injury.
Those are not great odds compounded by other numbers. Consider that taking your eyes off the road for five seconds to respond to a text allows a driver to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.
Imagine what can be in the way in that distance?
According to state statistics, a texting driver is 23 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver.
The state reports one-quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more while behind the wheel. As a result, the fatal crash rate for teens is three times greater than for drivers over the age of 20, reports the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Distracted driving is responsible for more than 58% of teen crashes, according to AAA.
Other Forms of Distraction
Consider the other forms of distraction we encounter when behind the wheel.
They include:
- Changing the radio
- Dropping your cell phone
- Checking your makeup or hair
- Talking to passengers in the back seat
- Yelling at children
- Eating or drinking while driving
- Changing the climate control
- Smoking
All of these activities, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation, lead to distraction and when one is distracted they cannot pay attention to the road.
A distracted driver may not see a street sign, or a child darting in front of his car. He may not notice the car stopping ahead.
Incident reports show more than 90 percent of highway crashes are caused by inattention, faulty judgment, and driver error.
Texting and Driving is Illegal
It is not difficult to uncover whether someone was on their smart phone at the time of the accident. Law enforcement will include that information on the crash investigation report. That contributes to identifying the at-fault party.
In Alabama, it is illegal to text while driving, and motorists must not operate any vehicle on a public road while using a wireless device to write, send, or read a text-based message. That includes instant messages, email, or text messages.
The driver may talk holding the phone while driving, except for teen drivers. For drivers age 19 and older, blue tooth technology or hands-free is allowed.
Drowsy Driving
Driving is an activity which requires you to be alert and responsive. When you are sleep deprived, your reflexes tend to slow down considerably. As a result, you might not be able to brake or swerve in time in case of an emergency.
A vast majority of people are aware of the fact that drunk driving is very dangerous. Not many people, on the other hand, know that drowsy driving can be equally dangerous.
Studies show that the effects of sleep deprivation are strikingly similar to the effects caused by alcohol consumption:
- Driving a motor vehicle after being continuously awake for 18 hours is similar to driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05%.
- Driving a motor vehicle after being continuously awake for 24 hours is similar to driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10%.
Moreover, studies also show that when you are sleep deprived, your ability to think, focus, and make decisions is affected to a great extent. As a result, you might not be able to perform difficult maneuvers like reversing around a corner, turning left at an intersection, making a sharp turn, or parallel parking.
If you or any of your loved ones are injured in an accident caused by a drowsy driver, you have the legal right to seek damages from them. The personal injury attorneys at Mann & Potter, PC have successfully represented several victims of drowsy driving in Alabama over the past 20 years. Our lawyers can build a strong case against the drowsy driver who caused the accident and recover damages for you – through settlement or trial.
Drowsy Driving – What Do the Numbers Say?
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that drowsy driving is responsible for more than 70,000 crashes throughout the nation each year, resulting in hundreds of fatalities and tens of thousands of serious injuries.
The NHTSA also estimates that motor vehicle accidents caused by drowsy driving and fatigue result in the deaths of 1,500 people every year, accounting for 4% of all accident related deaths in the country.
A study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety over a period of three years revealed that drowsy driving was the contributing factor in 8.8% to 9.5% of the crashes that occurred in the country.
Experts, however, believe that these numbers do not reveal the true extent of the problem. They say that police reports are not sufficient to calculate the damages caused by drowsy driving – in terms of fatalities, injuries, and monetary losses – because in many cases, drivers do not admit to being drowsy or fatigued. Because of this, it is believed that the actual number of fatalities and injuries caused by drowsy driving is much higher.
Your Life Can Change in a Matter of Seconds
It takes a mere moment for a car accident to occur, and in those seconds, your life can be changed forevermore. To be sure, some of the most common injuries in a car accident, listed below, are also the most disabling—
- Traumatic brain injury;
- Spinal cord injury;
- Internal injury;
- Bone fracture injury;
- Facial injury; and
- Soft tissue injury.
These injuries aren’t just painful and disabling; they also can affect various areas of a person’s life, from their finances to their ability to work, their quality of relationships to their happiness and well-being. A person who suffers a serious injury may be left unable to care for themselves without help, unable to get out of bed in the morning due to severe depression, or unable to maintain close and intimate relationships with friends, family, and a partner. There is no doubt that the effects of a serious car accident can reach all corners of a person’s life.
Recovering the Settlement You Deserve Isn’t Always Easy
When you have been seriously hurt in a car crash that is caused by the negligence of another party, you no doubt have an expectation that there won’t be any hesitation when it comes to paying you the settlement that you deserve. Unfortunately, car insurance companies are often more interested in saving money and maximizing profits than they are in paying claimants the compensation awards they deserve. As such, you may be offered a smaller settlement than you deserve – something that is especially common when a claimant doesn’t have legal representation. Tactics that an insurance adjuster may use to reduce the value of your claim include:
- Alleging that you contributed to your accident and injuries;
- Diminishing the extent of your injuries;
- Claiming that your injuries were pre-existing;
- Casting doubt on causation (that your injuries weren’t actually caused by the accident in relation to which you’re filing a claim); or
- Simply offering you less than you deserve, hoping that your desperation will coax you into accepting anything that you can get.
Our lawyers understand the deceptive—and sometimes downright illegal—tactics that insurance companies use, and will protect you from unfair practices.
Getting Medical Bills Paid after a Car Accident
Although the driver who is at fault for an auto accident is the one responsible for paying medical bills, there are some potential obstacles that cause their insurance company to not pay all of these bills:
Auto Insurance Liability Limits
Alabama requires vehicles registered in the state to carry minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. While some drivers carry more than that, many only carry minimum state requirements. This could become a major problem if you suffered a serious and debilitating injury in which your medical bills exceed these limits. If this is the case, you will have to look at other options for getting your medical bills reimbursed.
Alabama Contributory Negligence Laws
Alabama is one of a handful of states that applies the “contributory negligence” legal standard. Under contributory negligence, if an injured party is found to have “contributed” in any way to the underlying accident that caused their injury (even 1%), they can be barred from recovering damages. Insurance companies will often seek to use these laws to their advantage by trying to pin some of the blame for an accident on innocent drivers. This is another reason you need skilled legal counsel by your side to effectively thwart these tactics and fight hard for every dollar of compensation you deserve.
Other Sources for Reimbursement of Auto Accident Medical Bills
If the driver responsible for the accident did not have insurance, did not have enough coverage to pay your medical costs, or for whatever reason you are denied coverage by their insurer, there are some other potential avenues for getting your medical bills paid:
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage: If the at-fault driver did not have sufficient coverage to pay your medical costs and cover other losses (such as lost earnings and pain and suffering), then you will need to look to the uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) motorist coverage in your own insurance policy. Alabama does not require drivers to carry this type of coverage, but UM/UIM coverage is highly recommended for exactly these types of situations.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Coverage: Another optional coverage that is highly recommended is called personal injury protection (PIP), otherwise known as “no fault coverage”. If you have PIP coverage, your own insurer will pay your medical bills and cover your other losses up to the policy limits, regardless of who was at fault for the accident. Most insurers will only offer up to $25,000 in PIP insurance, so it probably won’t pay all of your medical bills if you suffered a serious injury. That said, PIP coverage can be especially helpful in a state like Alabama because of the contributory negligence standard we discussed earlier.
Your Own Health Insurance: If your PIP coverage is exhausted and you are waiting to recover additional damages for your injuries from the responsible party’s insurer and/or your own UM/UIM coverage, your own health insurance can pay your bills (if you have insurance). This, of course, will be subject to co-pays and deductibles (which can sometimes be several thousand dollars), and if you ultimately recover damages from the other party, your health insurer will want to be reimbursed for what they have paid.
Medicare/Medicaid: If you do not have private health insurance through your employer or from the public exchange, you may be able to get your bills covered through Medicare or Medicaid, if you qualify for either of these programs. These are both government health programs, and they generally will not pay your medical bills until they have received a notice stating that your PIP coverage (if you have it) has been exhausted.
Workers’ Compensation Coverage: One other possible source for recovering medical costs after a car accident is through workers’ compensation benefits. However, this would only apply in limited situations in which the accident occurred while you were on the job, such as if you are making a delivery for your employer. Speak with your attorney to find out if workers’ comp benefits might be available in your situation.
Whether you have just been in a wreck and you are reading this article from your mobile phone at the accident scene or want to know what to do if something happens down the road, here are five steps to take to protect your rights just after a car accident:
1. Never leave the scene.
As a general rule, you should never leave the scene of an accident. In some cases, this could be treated as a hit-and-run, and you’ll face charges. The only time you are justified in leaving the scene of an accident is when you require emergency medical treatment. And even in cases like this, you should only leave in an ambulance and not with another bystander, family member, or friend.
2. Call the police.
Your safest bet is to call 911 immediately after an accident and request that the police come to the scene. If there are no injuries, you may have to wait a long time or the police might not come, but there will still be a record of the call. If the police do show up, getting a police report filed is the best way to have an official record of the accident, which is something generally used by insurance companies to determine fault.
3. Get medical treatment.
If anyone is injured in the accident, it’s important to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Even a minor fender bender can lead to serious and life-changing injuries. The sooner you seek medical treatment, the better it will be for your case since you will have reliable documentation of your injuries.
4. Collect important information.
Even though the police will collect information at the scene of the accident, you should do this as well if you are physically able. In addition to taking pictures of the scene and damages with your phone, be sure to get the names and contact information of the other drivers, any witnesses, driver’s license and license plate numbers of vehicles involved, and insurance company information.
5. Call your insurance company.
You are required to report motor vehicle accidents to your insurance company as soon as possible, generally within 24 hours. What you don’t have to do is sign any release forms, give a recorded statement, or make any statements regarding fault. Make sure that you report the accident as required, but don’t go any further until you speak with an attorney.
What Are My Rights as An Injured Passenger in a Car Accident?
The Alabama Guest Statute
A lot depends on who is at fault for the injuries you suffered. If another driver is liable, you have options—we will explain that later. However, if the driver of the vehicle you were in caused the accident, you may be facing an uphill battle. Alabama has a Guest Statute on the books, and it’s the only state to still have this type of law in place.
If you are hurt in an accident where the driver of the vehicle you are in is at fault, you cannot file a claim against their insurance if you were their guest. This law is designed to protect drivers from insurance claims stemming from efforts to help people by driving them off somewhere or helping them with errands.
Exceptions to This Statute
There are some exceptions to this. You can seek compensation if your injuries were caused by the driver’s willful or wanton misconduct. Proving wanton disconnect is challenging, however, which is one reason you need the help of a personal injury attorney if you are seeking compensation for injuries.
Willful, wanton misconduct isn’t simply speeding or driving too fast for weather conditions. The standard for this is substantially higher. You may be able to seek compensation under these conditions if, for example, the driver is under the influence and does not tell you that before you accept the ride. You might also be able to seek compensation if they intentionally harm you.
When Someone Else is Negligent
If the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash is liable, you can still seek compensation from the liable driver. This is much easier with the help of an attorney. Be prepared to prove the other party’s liability with witness testimony, photos of the crash scene, video footage of the crash scene, and medical records. In this situation, the claim would proceed as a standard personal injury claim.
Evidence is Used in a Car Accident Case
Statements from Involved Parties
Both parties will give statements to the police and to their own insurance providers. Don’t give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company—this is likely to backfire on you. If there are discrepancies in the statements, the insurance companies will look at other types of evidence to figure out what the truth is.
Witness Statements
A third party who witnesses the accident can be extremely helpful in a car accident case. As long as they don’t have any connection to either driver, their statements can clear up any inconsistencies in the drivers’ statements. However, their statements may be a little bit less trustworthy if they were with either driver at the time of the accident.
Expert Witnesses
While expert witnesses are not used in every car accident case, they are often called upon in complex cases. For example, accident reconstruction specialists may be able to look at tire marks on the road, property damage, and vehicle damage to put together a timeline of the crash. A traumatic brain injury specialist can explain how a victim’s TBI will impact their lives and limit their earning ability. These experts are helpful both in determining fault in an accident and explaining the ramifications of a victim’s injuries.
Photographs and Video Footage
The more physical evidence you have of the accident, the stronger your case may be. Photographs of the crash scene show damage to both vehicles, the location of the vehicles, and other property that may have been damaged. Video footage can be even more helpful, especially if you have a dash cam in your vehicle. If you take photos and video footage of a crash scene, make sure that you make backups as soon as possible and send copies to your attorney. You don’t want a tech glitch to cause you to lose your most valuable evidence.
Police Records
This is just one reason that it’s important to call the police when you are involved in an accident—the police report is a crucial piece of evidence for your insurance company and attorney. The police will take statements from both parties, look at the vehicles in question, and try to determine whether or not any laws were broken.
Medical Records
Part of building your car accident case is proving the severity of your injuries and showing how they have affected your life. Medical records are an essential part of this. Provide copies of all of your medical bills and reports to your attorney. Ensure that they include information on each appointment you’ve attended, the types of treatment you have received, and how your prognosis has changed over time. You may also want your doctor to include information on how your injuries limit you or affect your daily life.
Why Work with the Law Office of Mann & Potter, P.C.
The best thing that you can do after a car accident is to seek the course of a qualified attorney. Our law firm offers:
- Years of legal experience. Our law firm was established more than two decades ago, which means that we have years of legal experience behind our name. Over the years, we have gained insight and experience working on nearly all types of car accident cases. When it comes to managing your case, we are confident in our ability to navigate it successfully.
- History of success and numerous recognitions and accolades. We pride ourselves on the fact that we have been winning settlements and jury verdicts on the behalf of our clients throughout the course of our time in business, successfully recovering the award amounts that our clients deserve.
- Commitment to our clients. When you choose our law firm, you can be sure of the fact that we are working for you. We have the staff and resources necessary to fully commit to your case, and we promise to develop a strategy that is unique to your case. We remain available and accessible throughout the process, and never fail to make your case a priority.
- Knowledge and skill you can count on. A good lawyer isn’t just knowledgeable in the law; they’re also skilled in and out of the courtroom. The lawyers at our firm are talented negotiators, aggressive litigators, and accomplished investigators who have what it takes to secure the best outcome possible for your case.
Schedule Your Free Car Accident Consultation Today
Don’t wait a moment longer to schedule your free case consultation with our Alabama car accident lawyers at the office of Mann & Potter, P.C. You can reach us online, by phone at 205-879-9661, or in person to learn more and start building your claim.
We also handle the following cases:
Car Accidents in Hoover, Alabama
Car Accidents in Gadsden, Alabama
Car Accidents in Tuskegee, Alabama
Car Accidents in Montgomery, Alabama
