Legal Question in Traffic Law in Washington

Hit while my car was stationary

Another motorist braked suddenly, and as I was behind this car I did the same. I managed to avoid hitting the motorist in front of me, but lost control of the car for a good ten seconds, eventually spinning out and hitting the side safety wall of the bridge I was on. I hit this safety wall head on, exactly perpidicular to my previous driving direction, and my car was completely stopped for about three seconds before I was t-boned by the motorist behind me. As I was stopped when hit by the other motorist, is the accident between the two of us at all my fault? Would I be responible for the front damage and not the side damage caused by the other motorist? Or would an insurance company or the state seperate an accident into two smaller accidents, citing in my case me for the ''first accident'', and the other driver for the ''second accident'', even though the two pieces combined made one big accident? No citations have been made as of yet, and my insurance company wants to investigate.

Thank you.


Asked on 4/24/06, 2:11 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jahnis Abelite ABELITE LAW OFFICES, P.S.

Re: Hit while my car was stationary

Generally, it is the duty of every driver to keep and maintain control over their vehicle unless some unexpected and unforeseeable event prevents them from doing that. Your loss of controll of your vehicle can be construed as your inattentiveness to your driving in failing to keep a proper distance, e.g., following too closely or speed too fast for weather of traffic conditions, from the first car that you managed to avoid hitting. It could be construed that you thereby exposed yourself to risk by losing control and thereby created the hazardous condition, i.e., a damaged car sitting crossways in the middle of the roadway where cars should be moving and not sitting inoperable, that directly caused the other car to "t-bone" your car. A lot will depend upon why you had to "panic brake" in the first place. Good Luck!

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Answered on 4/24/06, 10:44 am


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