Georgia Injury Law Blog
A multi-vehicle crash injured four people in Dodge County on June 9. The incident began when a Nissan Altima turned left onto Georgia 87, thereby failing to yield to a BMW SUV. Upon impact, the BMW ran off-road and hit a utility pole, and the Altima was pushed into a southbound lane where it was hit head-on by a Volkswagen Beetle, causing a fire. Thankfully there were no fatalities, but the occupants of the Volkswagen and the Altima driver were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries.
In multi-vehicle accidents such as this, the liability and negligence issues can be complex, and the outcome for injured persons varies by state. Georgia, along with 37 other states and the District of Columbia, is an at-fault state. This means that the driver deemed responsible or liable for the accident is financially responsible for the injured party or parties, including both property damage and injuries. The other factor to consider, especially in a multi-vehicle crash, is comparative negligence. This comes into play when more than one driver was at-fault, but one was considered more at-fault than the other. For example, if Driver A is deemed 70% responsible for the crash, but Driver B was deemed 30% responsible, then Driver B can only receive 70% of the damages available. States differ in their laws surrounding comparative negligence. Georgia uses a modified comparative negligence system, which means an injured party can still recover if they were partly at-fault, but only if they were considered less than 50% at-fault. If a driver is considered 50% or more to be at-fault for an accident, they are unable to collect anything from another party. Multi-vehicle accidents complicate this process because there are more than two drivers involved, and the potential for more than one driver to be at-fault, to one degree or another, is increased.
When determining negligence, especially in a multi-vehicle accident, various factors have to be considered. First, was there a driver who obviously acted negligently? Driver negligence can include obvious cases such as DUI or breaking a traffic law, such as running a stop sign or failure to yield the right-of-way. A driver can also be held negligent for if the vehicle’s headlights or blinker do not function correctly. Depending on the road conditions and weather, driver negligence can mean failing to adapt to these conditions. For example, a driver may be going too fast for conditions during a rainstorm. Another consideration in a multi-vehicle accident is which driver made the first impact. While this would appear to indicate negligence, it’s not always the case. For instance, a car parked illegally in the road could cause an accident in which another vehicle hits them, making the first impact.