Driver error, as detailed in the linked resource, is responsible for an alarming 94 percent of car accidents in Georgia. On a national scale, these preventable collisions result in the deaths or serious injuries of millions of individuals annually. In 2020, when coronavirus lockdowns drastically reduced traffic volume, many anticipated a notable decline in car crashes. Surprisingly, however, the lockdowns had the unintended consequence of increasing risky driving behaviors, which led to a rise in severe accidents. Since then, the overall statistics have remained relatively unchanged, highlighting the persistent and critical issue of driver error.

Defective products and bad weather cause most of the other 6 percent of vehicle collisions in Cobb County. By “bad weather” we mean lightning strikes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other violent weather. Normally, bad weather is a contributing cause, not a substantial cause.

Usually, if driver error caused a car crash, a Marietta personal injury lawyer can obtain substantial compensation for victims. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages are available as well, in some extreme cases.

Defective Products

Typically, manufacturers bear strict liability for any injuries caused by their defective products. This legal principle ensures accountability and protects consumers when products fail to meet safety standards. For instance, defective metal-on-metal (MoM) hip implants provide a clear example of the two primary types of product defects that can lead to harm, emphasizing the importance of quality control during manufacturing.

In addition to compensatory damages, punitive damages are frequently awarded in defective product claims due to the strict liability standard mentioned above. These damages serve as a deterrent against negligence and misconduct. A significant case occurred in September 2024 when a Missouri jury mandated a trucking company to pay $450 million in punitive damages. This verdict was reached after a trailer’s collision guard failed during a crash, highlighting the serious consequences of defective equipment in the transportation industry.

Operator Impairment

Frequently, additional damages are available in these matters as well. Impaired drivers get behind the wheel although they know they cannot safely operate motor vehicles. Common sources of driver impairment include:

• Alcohol: Compensation is usually available if the tortfeasor was intoxicated or impaired. Intoxication is the complete loss of mental or physical faculties. Impairment is the partial loss of mental or physical faculties. One kind of case is simply more complex than the other one.
• Fatigue: Many people who would never drive while intoxicated or impaired readily drive while drowsy. Note that this rather disturbing video encourages fatigued drivers to stop and take a break, not drink coffee or blast the AC. These shortcuts don’t address slow motor skills, poor judgment, and the other underlying effects of fatigue.
• Distraction: Hand-held device distraction is just the tip of the iceberg in this category. Other forms of driver distraction, such as eating while driving, playing with a pet while driving, and using a hands-free speakerphone while driving, are much more common and every bit as dangerous.  

A Marietta personal injury lawyer can use the ordinary negligence doctrine or the negligence per se rule to obtain compensation in these matters.

Ordinary negligence is basically a lack of care and negligence per se is a violation of a safety law. Impaired driving (fewer than two or three drinks) is a lack of care and intoxicated driving (more than two or three drinks) is a DUI-level offense.

Most drivers have a duty of reasonable care. They must avoid accidents if possible and always drive defensively. If a lack of care, such as operator impairment or aggressive driving, causes injury, the tortfeasor is liable for damages.

We should mention that most tortfeasors aren’t personally financially responsible for anything. In most cases, an auto insurance company pays all litigation costs, including an injury settlement.

If emergency responders issued a citation, the tortfeasor could be liable for damages as a matter of law. Unfortunately, except for DUIs, this doctrine rarely applies, because emergency responders rarely issue citations after accidents. Most police officers believe that car wrecks are civil matters that don’t merit police involvement.

Aggressive Driving

Excessive speed is the most common, and most dangerous, form of aggressive driving in Cobb County. Excessive speeding increased significantly during the pandemic. When traffic enforcement declined and roads emptied, many tortfeasors put the pedal to the metal. Speeding, like most bad habits, is easy to form and hard to break.

Speed is so dangerous because it multiplies the risk pf a collision as well as the force in a car crash.

Velocity multiplies stopping distance. Drivers cannot think and immediately stop cars and trucks. Instead, stopping a vehicle is a process which involves:

• Seeing a hazard,
• Deciding what to do (easing the accelerator or applying the brakes),
• Moving one’s foot to the brake pedal, and
• Stopping the vehicle without losing control of it.

This process usually takes less than a second or two. In that brief period of time, at 30mph, most vehicles move forward an additional six car lengths. At 60mph, stopping distance, which includes reaction time and braking time, multiplies to eighteen car lengths.

External factors, such as bad weather, increase stopping time. For example, at night, most drivers have a harder time spotting hazards, such as jaywalking pedestrians.

Now is a good time to discuss the difference between a contributing cause and a substantial cause. Bad weather, like rain or snow, usually contributes to car wrecks, but doesn’t substantially cause them. Several factors, such as weak cockpit doors, contributed to 9/11. Al Qaeda terrorists substantially caused it.

Furthermore, according to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, speed multiplies the force in a collision between two objects. As this video demonstrates, speed transforms a fender-bender into a catastrophic injury collision.

Once again, either the negligence per se rule or the ordinary negligence doctrine could apply in these cases. The posted speed limit is a presumably reasonable speed under ideal conditions. So, if conditions are poor, tortfeasors could be speeding even if they’re traveling below the speed limit.

Other kinds of aggressive driving include turning illegally or unsafely, ignoring a traffic control device, and turning unsafely or illegally.

Negligent drivers almost always cause car crashes. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta personal injury lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.