Legal Question in Traffic Law in Virginia

Re: Accident caused by being blinded by headlights

There is no rule that specific, but I certainly think that you could win a lawsuit on the ground that the driver who blinded your son with his headlinghts on the ground of ordinary negligence. You could sue for the accident.

Winning is never guaranteed of course, and you would face some obstacles. First, what did the security guard do with the headlights that was different from every other driver on the road? Was he using his high beams? Was this a special spotlight or searchlight as you see on cop cars and some security guard cars? (You need to be sure about this because if you say it was a searchlight and they don't have one on their cars it would kill your case.)

You would face the argument that an ordinary driver would be able to drive and not be bothered by headlights and the cause of the accident was a 16 year old's inexperience. So you would have to persuade the jury that something unusual was going on here, beyond what everyone faces with headlights of other driver's at night.

Also, you have the burden of proof and if the security guard denies it it might be difficult to win on your son's testimony alone.

But it could be a reasonalbe lawsuit, certainly to explore the facts in more detail, without the need for a special rule that applies uniquely to security guards. If I took a powerful searchlight and shined it in the faces of drivers along the road, they could certainly sue me for causing the wreck if they then had an accident because of it.

What County was this in?