A three-car accident may involve a great deal of damage to all three vehicles and, in many cases, substantial injuries to their occupants. Three-car collisions can occur for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they occur because one vehicle pushes another into a third. Other times, one vehicle may cause an accident with two others in rapid succession.
Regardless of the cause of the accident, if someone else caused your injuries, you may have one important question: who pays? After a three-car accident, you may need to work with a car accident lawyer to determine who bears liability for your accident.
How do you determine liability in an accident?
When it comes to determining liability for a personal injury or accident, it takes extensive work to ensure your claim has all the accuracy it needs. Bringing forward witnesses and documentation is a start, and should also send in a written claim. An claim could be an informal demand written by a lawyer, a formal lawsuit, documentation submitted to an insurance company, or some combination of them.
Determining Liability in a 3-Car Accident
Following a 3-car accident, lawyers, police officers, and insurance companies will ask the same question they do in a 2-car accident when determining liability: which driver, or drivers, committed an act of negligence that led to the accident?
In a 3-car accident, however, that question may grow more complicated. Did more than one party contribute to the accident? Which party bears liability for which part of the crash? Does one party bear greater overall liability for the accident, or do two drivers equally share liability?
Ultimately, the insurance policy that covers the liable driver or drivers will pay for the damages caused by a three-car accident. However, to determine which party bears liability for a three-car accident, lawyers and insurance companies may need to investigate the potential causes of an accident carefully. Investigating a 3-car accident may involve a closer look at what factors contributed to the accident to ensure that the right party bears liability for each part of the accident. Investigators, including lawyers, police officers, and insurance companies, may look at several important details regarding the accident.
Which driver, or drivers, committed an act of negligence that contributed to the accident?
Often, multi-vehicle accidents involve a chain reaction, including more than one driver that may have committed a negligent act that contributed to the accident.
Take, for example, a three-car collision at a stoplight. Driver 1 noticed the light changing and began to stop. Driver 2, however, chose to tailgate and did not have adequate time to stop at the red light. Driver 3, behind Driver 2, also did not have adequate time to stop.
In that case, Driver 1 might not bear liability for the accident, but Driver 2 would bear liability for the primary collision, and Driver 3 would bear liability for the secondary accident.
Likewise, an investigation may uncover that two drivers involved in a multi-car collision chose to drive while distracted or two of the drivers chose to speed, contributing to the collision.
What percentage of liability does each driver bear?
In some cases, investigators will look at how much each driver involved in the accident contributed to it. Suppose, for example, that a three-car accident occurred because of a tailgating driver.
The rear driver (Driver 1) slammed into the driver in front of him (Driver 2). Driver 2 panicked and hit the gas instead of the brake, causing him to strike Driver 3 in front of him. In some cases, the insurance company or court may rule that Driver 2 shares some liability for the second collision, but Driver 1 likely bears primary liability for the accident.
Insurance companies often debate who bears the primary liability and how much liability each party bears following a three-car accident involving serious injuries or immense property damage. The more damage the accident caused, the harder insurance companies may try to negotiate down the percentage liability they cover.
Did an outside party’s negligence contribute to the accident?
In some cases, liability for a three-car accident may rest, at least partly, with an entity not actively present at the accident scene. Many factors can contribute to an accident: damaged vehicles (which could leave a mechanic or the vehicle manufacturer liable for the accident) or an employer with dangerous and potentially harmful policies (which could leave that employer liable for an accident caused by a driver on the clock), for example. If an outside party’s negligence contributed to the accident, it could change the balance of liability and who must pay for the damages caused.
Common Causes of 3-Car Accidents
Why do car accidents happen? Often, three-car accidents result from chain reactions: one driver commits an act of negligence that causes another vehicle to spin out of control. Sometimes, two drivers may commit minor acts of negligence that, when combined, lead to a serious accident involving multiple vehicles. In other cases, the accident may result from extreme negligence on the part of one driver.
Tailgating
When one driver pulls up too close to another, it can leave them without adequate room to stop if the driver in front has to brake suddenly. In some cases, a tailgating driver may have difficulty coming to a reasonable stop even if the front driver can stop slowly.
Tailgating can quickly cause a multi-car crash since the force of the collision with the rear driver may send the middle car careening toward the car ahead of it. The rear vehicle can also push the middle vehicle into traffic during a tailgating collision, causing a collision with an oncoming vehicle.
Distraction
Many drivers struggle with keeping their attention on the road while operating a motor vehicle. Unfortunately, driver distraction can prove incredibly dangerous—and may substantially increase the risk of a multi-car accident.
A distracted driver can commit many errors that increase the risk of multiple types of accidents. Sometimes, distraction can mean that an accident involves greater overall force because they fail to brake, which could raise the odds that the vehicle hit by the distracted driver will strike another vehicle.
In other cases, distraction may mean that a driver does not respond quickly enough to a potential hazard or that a driver does not have adequate time to get out of the way before a collision occurs.
Distraction can involve everything from checking a cell phone or programming a GPS while driving to looking at something outside the vehicle instead of focusing on the road.
Alcohol
Driving while impaired can change how drivers approach many tasks behind the wheel. Impairment interferes with reaction time, which may raise the odds that an alcohol-impaired driver will cause a collision with sufficient force to involve a third vehicle.
It may make the driver’s behaviors and patterns unpredictable. As a result, other drivers will have difficulty determining how the drunk driver will move, which may raise the risk that those other drivers will steer into a potential collision instead of away from it.
Drunk drivers may suffer from many problems, including impaired judgment, tunnel vision, and decreased reaction time, which can raise the risk of a three-car collision or increase the odds of striking other vehicles already involved in a collision instead of getting out of the way.
Speeding
Traveling at a high rate of speed creates risks, among them the increased risk of an accident. In addition, speeding can add to the force of an accident. It takes more time to slow or stop from a high rate of speed than from the speed limit. Furthermore, speeding drivers may have a hard time navigating hazards on the road.
A speeding driver may cause an accident with enough force to involve multiple vehicles. Speeding can also make it more difficult to avoid a potential collision, which may raise the risk of multiple vehicles involved in an accident. Speeding drivers who contribute to a three-car accident may bear at least partial liability for injuries caused.
Dangerous Weather Conditions
Under poor weather conditions, including heavy rain, roads can prove more difficult to travel safely. Many drivers may have difficulty navigating or keeping their vehicles on the road, especially younger or more inexperienced drivers. Heavy rain can make the roads slick, increasing the time needed to slow or stop.
Many drivers struggle to react properly to dangerous weather conditions. As a result, an accident in bad weather can lead to multiple vehicle involvement.
Young Drivers
Younger drivers often have more trouble reacting to conditions around them on the road than more experienced drivers. Younger drivers also have a higher risk of panicking when something does go wrong on the road. As a result, those young drivers may cause accidents that involve multiple vehicles from any point in the accident chain.
They may cause severe accidents as the initiating driver, often because of a serious judgment error. They may react dangerously after a collision, causing the vehicle to strike another vehicle instead of coming to a stop. They may also see a collision or a pending collision and not know how to navigate around it safely, which can lead to the risk of involvement as a third vehicle.
Dangerous Lane Changes
On highways and interstates with multiple lanes, drivers need to exercise considerable caution during lane changes to reduce the risk of an accident. In some cases, a vehicle that tries to fit into a too-small space can strike two other vehicles simultaneously.
Due to high speeds often on multi-lane roads, drivers can strike another vehicle while merging with enough force to push it into another lane. Accidents may also occur so fast that the vehicle behind those involved in the accident does not have adequate time to react. The chain reaction may involve a significant number of vehicles before someone can reasonably come to a stop.
Lack of Signaling
Turn signals and brake lights exist to help other drivers know your intentions on the road. If you fail to slow before coming to a stop, have broken tail lights, or fail to use a turn signal to let other drivers know that you intend to turn, you may inadvertently set off a chain reaction accident. Other drivers need adequate warning of your intentions to guide their actions accordingly.
When you fail to provide that information through signals, your behavior may be more unpredictable. Other drivers may not react fast enough to avoid a collision—in some cases, a collision involving more than one other vehicle.
How Do You Know Who Bears Liability for Your 3-Car Accident?
Determining who bears liability for a three-car accident can prove very complicated.
If you suffered injuries in a three-car accident, you need to take the right steps to help determine liability and increase the odds that you will recover the compensation you deserve.
- Notify the police about the accident. Let the police handle witness statements and write a report that will serve as an initial indicator of liability.
- Take photos of the accident scene before you leave, if possible. Do not rely on your memory to guide you since memory may vanish or change quickly after a traumatic event like a multi-car accident.
- Talk to a lawyer as soon after the accident as possible. A lawyer can help you learn more about who likely bears liability for a multi-car collision.
If you suffered injuries in a three-car accident, do not try to handle your accident claim by yourself. Instead, contact an experienced car accident attorney who can determine who bears liability for the accident and help you maximize the compensation you can ultimately recover for your injuries.
