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WHAT IF CAR SPEED UP AND HIT ME WHILE MERGING?
There are several different kinds of accidents that can happen when a vehicle is merging. When you are merging into traffic or switching lanes, you will have to judge the distance between vehicles so you can safely maneuver.
Sometimes, it is hard to accurately judge because a vehicle might be exceeding the speed limit or might change lanes illegally. If you are trying to merge and a vehicle speeds up to try to keep you from getting in front of them, you might be able to pursue a personal injury claim against he other driver for his or her actions contributing to or causing the crash.
How Negligence Comes Into Play When Car Sped Up And Hit Me While Merging
If you have been involved in an accident that resulted because a driver intentionally sped up while you were merging and hit you, you will have to prove that the other driver acted negligently. There are four elements of negligence. Those elements are duty, breach, causation, and damages.
When a driver is behind the wheel, he or she has the duty to act in a safe manner to keep other drivers from harm. When a driver fails to obey traffic laws, such as he or she speeds or ignores traffic signs, then that duty is breached. If that breach of duty leads to an accident and you can show that accident leads to damages, you have proven all four elements of negligence. In this case, when the driver sped up to keep you from merging, he breached duty and that caused a crash that led to damages.
Damages That Might Result If Car Sped Up And Hit Me While Merging
If you have been in an accident because a driver intentionally sped up while you were merging and hit you, you might have suffered a variety of damages. Some of those damages might include:
*Property damages
*Future and past medical expenses
*Future and past lost wages
*Pain and suffering
*Mental trauma
*Loss of enjoyment of life
*Permanent scarring
*Loss of consortium
Your personal injury attorney will help you gather up the evidence to build a strong case and prove which damages resulted. All your damages must be included in one claim, so you need a lawyer to guide you and to handle all the preparation. Your odds of a successful claim increase significantly with an attorney on your side.
Here are some different kinds of documentation that can support your claim:
*Accident report
*Medical records
*Medical bills
*Photos of damages
*Photos of injuries
*Eyewitness statements
*Proof of lost wages and missed work
What should I do if Car sped up and hit me while merging?
Consult With a Personal Injury Lawyer: If you were hit by a driver who intentionally sped up while you were merging, you should consult with a personal injury attorney. Have your information shared with an accident injury lawyer who will investigate your case and help you get your claim on track. With the guidance of lawyer, you are much more likely to recover compensation for your losses.
Who Is at Fault if I Was Hit While Merging?
Merging onto a highway or interstate is always a little stressful, even when traffic is light. That’s because you’re required to enter the roadway at a fast enough speed to keep up with other traffic, but you may have only a hundred feet to accelerate and reach that speed. And when traffic is heavy, there may be few, if any, openings for you to merge, turning a routine maneuver into a tricky and potentially dangerous affair.
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Many highway and interstate crashes occur while merging, as they’re essentially high-speed lane changes. But who is at fault for these crashes? Merging drivers may run out of room and have no choice but to drift into the main lanes of traffic, but other drivers also may not have enough room or time to react to clear a path.
The Merging Driver Is Usually Considered at Fault
If you were hit by an oncoming vehicle while merging, it’s likely—but not guaranteed—that you will be considered at fault. Why? Most police officers, insurance companies, and even juries will assume that you changed lanes off the on-ramp and onto the highway or interstate without paying attention or checking your mirrors. In other words, you will be assumed to have negligently merged into the path of another vehicle without looking to see if the path was clear.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, and many times merging drivers aren’t at fault or had no choice but to merge because their on-ramp was ending and they had vehicles behind them. And sometimes, drivers in the lane adjacent to on-ramps fail to accommodate merging drivers, and although that doesn’t necessarily make them at fault, it’s worth considering if the cause of the crash is contested.
Why Are Merging Drivers Considered at Fault for Crashes?
Merging drivers may be assigned partial or full fault for a crash due to the following reasons:
*Merging too slowly—Merging should be done quickly but safely, and vehicles should reach normal highway speeds before drivers change lanes. When drivers enter highways or interstates at slow speeds, they can put other drivers at risk by disrupting the flow of traffic.
*Merging without signaling—Although it may seem obvious that you’re merging when you’re traveling on an on-ramp, other drivers don’t always know that, since they may not know when you are planning to merge. Just as you would when changing lanes, always use your turn signal when merging.
*Merging dangerously—Although it’s nice for other drivers to be considerate and give you room to merge, they don’t have to. It’s up to merging drivers to find a safe time and place to merge. When drivers merge recklessly, they can be held accountable for crashes.
*Merging across multiple lanes of traffic—When you merge onto a highway or interstate, you should do so into the closest lane to the on-ramp. If you need to get over to the far side of the road, do so one lane at a time, and check for traffic before each lane change.
Negligent Drivers Can Be Held Accountable for Merging Crashes, Too
Although drivers in adjacent lanes of traffic don’t have any duty to merging drivers—i.e., slowing down or changing lanes for them is only a courtesy and not a requirement—they DO have a duty to drive safely, responsibly, and within the law. That means that if a merging crash occurs because the driver in the adjacent lane was speeding, impaired, or distracted, they can be held liable for the crash.
Merging drivers also may not be held liable for their crashes if they’re hit by drivers who drift into them. For example, a driver may be attempting to merge, but the driver in the adjacent lane isn’t paying attention and drifts, speeds up, or slows down at the same time the on-ramp driver begins to merge. If there’s a collision, the non-merging-driver could be considered responsible because they created a dangerous condition when the merging driver otherwise was clear to enter the highway or interstate.
How to Tell Who Is At Fault in a Car Accident
In the event of an auto accident, it is essential to know who is at fault. In some cases if fault is shared by both drivers. However, how do you determine who is at fault?
Police officers and accident investigators often spend a great deal of time trying to determine who is at fault or liable. Here are some of the guidelines they use in some fairly common and simple accident situations.
This type of accident happens when someone is merging, changing from one lane to another, or crosses the center line. Almost without exception the driver who was moving from one lane to the other is at fault. These accidents can be prevented by:
*Checking mirrors and blind spots
*Signaling an intent to change lanes
*Judging distance between vehicles correctly
For instance, if a car is entering an interstate from an exit and is merging, it is the car merging who must yield to existing traffic. The same is true if a vehicle is attempting to pass another slower moving vehicle.
In almost all cases, the person traveling straight in the lane of a roadway has the right-of-way unless there is signage instructing the driver otherwise. Such cases are extremely rare.
One exception is if two cars are changing lanes simultaneously on a three lane (or more) roadway, and they meet in the center lane. In that case, it is much harder to determine who moved first, who should have seen the other person, and what measures could have prevented the collision. This is usually a comparative or shared fault accident.
Merging accidents can also be shared fault. If the driver who had the right of way sped up or intentionally blocked the merging vehicle, or is breaking the law in some other way (such as traveling in excess of the speed limit) they can be at least partially at fault.
As a general rule though, fault in these accidents is easy to prove. The key is to take witness statements and thoroughly document the situation to prove who was traveling in which lane at the time of the accident, and which vehicle had the right of way.
