Legal Obligation of Drivers
Every driver is required to know what the rules of the road are. For instance, they need to know what a yield sign means and looks like, they are required to know that they should not drive in the bike lane, not change lanes without signaling, and so on.
Drivers are required to see what is there to be seen.
Now if you are careless or distracted because you are doing something else, not paying attention to the traffic and to where you are going, and you smash into a car in front of you, you have serious problems. Your situation only became more bleak if you have caused that driver significant injuries, then you will most likely be held legally responsible. Why is that? Because you may not have seen what was there to be seen, and there may not have been anything obstructing your vision.
Did anything Prevent the Driver to See what is there to be Seen
Suppose you have been injured in a car accident and you have filed an accident case to claim compensation; your lawyer will have the opportunity to question the distracted driver. Your lawyer will ask him whether anything in his view distracted or prevented him from seeing the car in front of him. Was there anything in his line of sight that did not allow him to see your car in front?
All drivers have an obligation to see oncoming cars, and the cars that are coming from different directions. If the driver was careless or he was distracted, your lawyer can use that information to show that might have been a violation of the rules of the road, and because of that, there might be some evidence of negligence or carelessness. The jury will ultimately be able to evaluate and consider that information while determining whether the person that caused the accident did not see what is there to be seen.
Holding Negligent Driver Accountable
The statement, to see what is there to be seen, might be stating the obvious. But it is critical when you are considering negligence or carelessness in an accident case. When the driver was not seeing what was there to be seen, without his or her vision being obstructed or impaired in any way, then it indicates the driver was distracted due to some reason. There could be many reasons for such a distraction.
The driver could be talking to someone on the phone and because he is intensely involved in the conversation, he may not see what is there to be seen in front. The driver might be texting or he could have turned his face to talk to a passenger in his car.
No Excuse
The main fact is that the distraction caused him to not see what is there to be seen, and that caused the accident. Drivers are obligated not to be distracted while they are driving, and the fact that they were distracted can make them legally responsible for the accident.
