We have put together 3 types of car accidents in WNY that are a common occurrence. If you’ve been injured in a car accident, contact our Buffalo injury attorneys for a free consultation.
1. Hit and Run Accident
When you’re involved in what we call a hit and run – whether in your vehicle or as a pedestrian – and somebody either takes off or gives you false information and then immediately disappears – it really feels like a tragedy because you think, “This person just struck me and now they just may get away with it.” We see that quite a bit, but the reality is that you have built-in protection under your own insurance coverage – even if that other person hit you and is gone in the wind never to be found – and even if they were driving a vehicle without any insurance. In that case, you would look to your own insurance and get benefits through the supplemental uninsured motorist coverage required by New York State.
Hopefully, the car that hit you was insured. If so, you don’t necessarily need the driver, although it is certainly helpful if we can track them down. As long as the car was covered by insurance, however, we can file a claim against the owner’s insurance and look to the owner’s policy. We would conduct a search and have an insurance check done. We have certain people who do that for us. They find out whether there was coverage and, if so, with what company. We can then pursue the same type of claim, even if the driver takes off afterwards.
2. Black Ice Accident
On occasion, we’ll get a call from a potential client who was involved in a car accident where they were the driver. One scenario is; they lost control of their vehicle on an icy roadway and spun out, struck a guard rail, and unfortunately sustained pretty serious injuries. In that circumstance, after an investigation of that particular section of roadway, we had made a determination, in our opinion, that that driver had been driving too fast for those conditions. We were unable to bring a claim for them. However, they were still fully entitled to the no-fault benefits under the insurance law, which does provide the wage benefit, the medical to cover your medical bills, and mileage reimbursement for a period of time.
3. Winter Weather Accident
During this time of the year, we tend to get a lot of calls from potential clients where weather played a factor in the accident. They often ask, what involvement if any does the weather play in their case, and how will it affect a potential claim that they may need to bring for personal injury and pain and suffering. Weather is a factor in many accidents, whether it just be wet, slippery roadways, icy, snow, whether the visibility is decreased to zero because of heavy fog. What the law provides for those types of cases is an obligation for all drivers to act safely and drive appropriately in terms of the conditions that are in existence at that time. What that means is you are deemed to be obligated to drive according to whatever is presented out there with the weather.
One of the things that people are ticketed for (sometimes when it’s weather related) is called driving too fast for the conditions. Even though they may not have been speeding according to those street signs, you can’t go the posted speed limit if there’s extremely heavy snow or ice present. You have to control your vehicle, and you have an obligation to act safely and prevent accidents or injuries to others.
Contact Our Buffalo Office Today
If you or a loved one have been in one of these 3 types of car accidents in Buffalo, contact our office today to schedule a free legal consultation.
The Personal Injury Lawyers at Andrews, Bernstein & Maranto, PLLC fight for the rights of persons who are injured or disabled. We approach each case on an individual basis and personally assist each client with their unique needs. We are involved in every step of the legal process, and ensure that each case receives the time and effort necessary for success.
Like us on Facebook