Common Car Accidents in Winston-Salem
When dealing with any of the car accidents common to Winston-Salem, a person should look for a car accident attorney who has the ability to investigate the claim, gather the evidence, and has experience with these types of cases. Attorneys can investigate any common car accident cases in Winston-Salem by doing a thorough investigation, talking to law enforcement officers and eyewitnesses, and gathering all the relevant evidence. Additionally, a law firm such as ours generally has more resources than a solo practitioner. The injured person has the benefit of the combined experience of all the members of the law firm as well as any additional staff they employ.
No matter what type of accident you are involved in, it is important to get medical treatment as necessary, document any evidence you can (such as damage to their car, weather and traffic conditions, or anything else that is relevant), and consult a lawyer to find out your rights.
Failure to Yield
A failure-to-yield accident is any situation where a driver has a duty to yield to another driver such as at a stop sign. A failure-to-yield could be a person trying to make a turn into a driveway or onto another street. It is usually not clear-cut and is a very fact-specific inquiry.
Many failure-to-yield cases involve left turns, either from a private street onto a road or from a road into a parking lot, or things of that nature. People may think they can make a turn quickly and end up turning in front of people and causing a collision. Perhaps there is a vision obstruction and someone waved the driver through when the way was not clear.
Parking Lot Accidents
Parking lots are considered private vehicular areas and some of the traffic laws may or may not apply. Generally speaking, parking lots have lower speeds. People are traveling slower in parking lots versus a highway where people are driving faster.
Drivers should be more careful in parking lots and the rules of safe driving generally apply. Everyone has a duty to maintain a reasonable lookout and to maintain proper control over their vehicle. There may be some state statutes that do not apply.
When someone is walking through a parking lot, they must be aware and pay attention to what is going on around them. If someone sees a vehicle start to back up, they should stop walking or make some attempt to try to avoid the vehicle. If they willfully ignore these potential dangers, a contributory negligence argument could play out in a parking lot case involving pedestrians.
Common Carrier Accidents
North Carolina’s common carriers, such as taxis, are regulated and required to carry a certain level of insurance. Uber cars are not common carriers, at least not yet.
If a person is involved in an accident with a common carrier, they should identify the taxi company when documenting evidence at the scene.
Icy Road Conditions & Accidents
Roads are extremely dangerous when they are icy. There are no specific damages a person involved in an icy road car accident can obtain that are different from other types of accidents.
Ice as the cause of a car accident is a fact-specific inquiry. A person can get weather records from a nearby airport that would document it. Sometimes, the highway patrol has documentation of icy conditions. Usually, the officer responding to the scene has a couple of places on the accident report where they can comment on the weather conditions including if there was ice.
