Common Causes of Houma Car Accidents

Vehicle crashes happen frequently in Louisiana, and even the most common causes of Houma car accidents can have devastating consequences. If you were injured in a car accident, you could face serious injuries and mounting medical bills. Therefore, you may want to call an experienced car accident lawyer today to discuss your case. An attorney could help you hold the negligent party responsible for your injuries and help you get the compensation you deserve.

Does Distracted Driving Commonly Cause Car Accidents in Houma?

Cellphones are becoming one of the increasingly common causes of Houma car accidents. Cellphone use contributes to both rear-end collisions and intersectional collisions. Anytime a driver takes their eyes off the road, it could lead to a devastating collision. This is why it is critical that all drivers focus on the road and refrain from distractions.

Is Speeding a Common Source of Auto Collisions?

Even a small car will create a significant impact if it is traveling at a high rate of speed. When someone is operating a motor vehicle on the roadways in Louisiana, the highway engineers have established what they consider to be a safe rate of speed to travel. This is why there are speed limits. If someone is traveling in excess of the speed limit, they have less time to react to adverse situations in front of them. They lose the ability to brake and avoid collisions, and as a consequence, the forces involved in the collision create catastrophic injuries such as broken bones, skull fractures, and spinal injuries.

Drunk Driving

If it can be proven that the person at fault for an accident was driving drunk, the injured party can make a claim for extra damages known as exemplary or punitive damages in Houma. The injured party needs to show that the drunk driver was driving in a careless and reckless manner and that the intoxication was the cause of the crash. However, if the party injured was 25 percent at fault or greater and it was determined that the injured party was also drinking or was intoxicated, the claim can be limited completely.

Driving in the Wrong Direction

Driving in the wrong direction is considered a grossly negligent act. In Louisiana, unless that driver is intoxicated, the damages are going to be economic and non-economic damages with no punitive damages. Driving in the wrong direction is one of the common causes of Houma car accidents and also one of the most dangerous. A driver going the wrong way often results in a head-on collision. The impact of two vehicles colliding head-on will be twice that of a collision with a fixed object.

How a Houma Car Accident Attorney Could Help

An attorney could help the injured individual by getting in touch with the parties and the insurance companies involved in an accident. At this point, there is no more communication between the injured party and the insurance carrier, and the attorney becomes the spokesperson. At the same time, attorneys begin their investigative process by securing the names, addresses, and statements of witnesses to prove the case. Attorneys will also secure the crash report and photographs or videos of the crash scene, which can include dash-mounted videos of the investigating officers, vest cam video from the investigating officer, and video from any local businesses or local government buildings

Attorneys could obtain the records of the medical treatment, the cost of medical treatment, or ambulance reports if someone has been brought to a local hospital by ambulance to document the injuries and complaints. If any of the common causes of Houma car accidents resulted in an injury to you, you should contact a lawyer today to discuss how you could receive compensation.