Merging Car Accident Lawyer

Merging car accidents, or those caused by unsafe lane changes, are typical in towns or cities whose roadways have multiple lanes. You can be assured that where there is more than one lane of traffic in the same direction, a fatigued or careless driver will find a way to cause an accident by changing lanes before it is safe to do so. Car accidents in Boston have their fair share of these types of collisions.

Merging Lane Situations

There are millions of motor vehicle accidents that occur each year in the US with just over 500,000 being merging or lane changing accidents or just under 9%. The following are situations where an unsafe lane change or merge results in an accident:

• Moving from parked position into traffic
• Entering a roadway from a private road or driveway
• Merging onto a freeway or highway from an entrance ramp
• Moving across multiple lanes to exit highway onto off ramp
• Drifting into adjacent lane and over lane line
• Drifting into opposite lane of traffic and over center line
• Wide turn that strikes stopped vehicle at intersection
• Passing vehicle that is making a turn
• Entering intersection from stopped position into path of moving vehicle
• Entering roadway without obeying stop sign or red traffic signal
• Making an unlawful U-turn
• Making an illegal turn

Any of these accidents can occur from texting or any other distraction, speeding, ignoring the right of way, fatigue, intoxicated driving or poor judgment. Many of these accidents happen from drivers who are in a hurry or who are too impatient.

Determining Liability

Establishing fault can be difficult in these cases where the parties disagree regarding which vehicle crossed the lane line, who had the red traffic light, if a car attempted to pass another, if a turn signal was used or not or who had the right of way.

An experienced car accident lawyer is instrumental in disputed liability cases. By interviewing witnesses, surveying and investigating the accident scene or by retaining accident reconstruction experts, a disputed or denied claim may turn into one where the proper compensation is paid to you for your injuries.

There may also be more than one party at fault. Poor roadway design or a flawed auto equipment part, such as brakes or steering, may have played a role that only an experienced car accident lawyer can investigate and prove in court.

Car Accident Damages

If you were injured in a merging car accident, you are entitled to compensation if another party was responsible. In Massachusetts, you can still collect compensation if you were partially at fault so long as your degree of culpability was not more than 50%. For example, if your established damages are $100,000 but you are deemed 40% at fault, you can still collect $60,000. If you are 51% at fault, however, you collect nothing. An experienced trial lawyer is necessary because the insurance defense lawyer will push for liability on your behalf, no matter how the accident happened.

Otherwise, you can collect for the following damages:

• Past and future lost wages
• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost earning capacity
• Expenses for rehabilitation
• Pain and suffering
• Punitive damages in gross negligence matters
• Loss of consortium claim by a spouse

Should a child, parent or spouse have suffered a fatal injury, then a wrongful death action can be filed by you if you are an immediate family member through the executor or administrator of the decedent’s estate. These claims include damages for funeral and burial expenses and compensation for the loss of the decedent’s support, love and affection. Pain and suffering can only be awarded in these claims if the decedent was conscious for a time before dying from fatal injuries sustained in the accident.

Retain a Boston Car Accident Lawyer

Collisions from unsafe lane changes or vehicles attempting to merge into traffic can present difficult issues regarding liability and the responsibility of certain parties including comparative liability by the injured claimants. Trying to handle these cases can prove frustrating and you may end up with far less in settlement than if you had an experienced car accident lawyer representing your interests.

Contact the law office of Burns & Jain, an experienced Boston car accident lawyer, Call today at (617) 227-7423 for a free and confidential assessment of your accident claim.