Indiana Injury Lawyer Blog

Some accidents are clearly one party’s fault. For example, a drunk driving accident: there is little that an innocent victim of a drunk driving accident can do to avoid the collision. In these cases, determining liability is usually not all that difficult. However, there are also accidents in the parties each share some of the blame for the collision. These cases can occupy a grayer area of the law. The outcome of such a case will depend on the negligence laws in the state where the accident occurred and whether the state uses a pure comparative, modified comparative, or contributory negligence model to resolve accident claims.Comparative Fault and Contributory Negligence

Contributory negligence is used by a minority of states across the United States. This legal theory states that if one party is even the slightest bit at fault for the accident, they cannot recover at all from anyone else involved in the accident.

Comparative fault is a bit more forgiving to accident victims and is used by most states. Comparative fault does exactly what it sounds like it might do; it compares each driver’s fault and allows them to recover an amount reduced in some way by their amount of fault. There are two kinds of comparative fault:
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Country music star, Jason Aldean, was on his tour bus driving across Indiana when the driver struck and killed a pedestrian in Knox County. According to a report by Fox News, at about 1:28 am, a man walking in the northbound lane of highway 41 stepped out in front of the star’s tour bus. The man was pronounced dead at the scene with head and chest injuries.

Jason Aldean was on the bus at the time and tweeted the following statement:

With a heavy heart, I’m sad to say that a man passed away last night after stepping out in front of my bus in Indiana. In all the years I’ve been touring and all the miles we’ve driven, nothing prepares you for something like this to happen. I’m praying for Albert Kennedy’s family and friends today and ask that you do the same.

Auto-Pedestrian Accidents Are Among the Most Fatal

Of all the kinds of accidents involving motor vehicles, it should come as no surprise that those involving pedestrians most often result in a fatality. In fact, in Indiana alone there were 63 pedestrians killed in 2011. This number represents the highest number of pedestrian deaths in recent years.
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Over this past weekend, a man was killed in a three-vehicle accident in Bloomington. According to a report by the Indiana Student Daily, the 67-year-old man was driving west in a Buick LeSabre near North Kinser Pike and the State Road 45/46 bypass. At about 10:40 a.m. Friday morning, the man was attempting to make a left turn when he pulled in front of a Ford F-250 that struck the passenger side of the Buick. As the two vehicles collided, they crashed into another vehicle, a Ford Explorer, which was stopped at the intersection waiting for the light to change.The driver of the Buick was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. The cause of death was listed a blunt force trauma. The other two drivers were uninjured.

Traffic Laws Are Not Always Cut and Dry

Going back to our driver’s education class, we all know that a vehicle making a left turn must yield to a vehicle continuing straight on the same road. However, this rule does not apply in every situation. For example, in cases where a vehicle is travelling at an excessive speed, that vehicle loses its right of way to those vehicles turning left in front of it.
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Earlier last month, two teens were hit by a truck while riding a Moped scooter in Kokomo. The driver of the truck did not stop, but instead fled the scene. Both the driver and the passenger of the Moped were taken to the hospital. The 13-year-old driver sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital.For over a week, police searched for the driver of the truck. On September 21, police responded to a call from a man who had attempted suicide but changed his mind and had called the police for assistance. According to a report by WISHTV.com, while police were investigating the attempted suicide, they discovered a note confessing to the hit-and-run accident. The driver’s note explained that he has poor vision and did not see the teens and that he was nervous so he hid the truck in his garage.

Prosecutors have charged the driver with reckless homicide and two counts of fleeing the scene of an accident that resulted in death.

Hit-and-Run Statistics in Indiana

Unfortunately, hit-and-run accidents are not uncommon across the country, including in Indiana. For example, in 2011, there were 1,853 hit and run accidents resulting in either bodily injury or death in Indiana alone. During that same period there were over 20,000 hit-and-run accidents across the state that resulted in property damage.
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Earlier this week, two women were arrested for their involvement in a fatal hit and run accident in Indianapolis. On September 17, two women got into a fight with co-workers that escalated as they got into their cars and onto the road. According to a report by Fox 59, the two women were chasing their co-worker’s car in a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu, trying to hit the car with a baseball bat. Because they were paying more attention to the other car and it’s occupants, the driver of the Malibu collided with a 59-year-old man. The man, who suffered severe injuries to the left side of his body and his brain, died a in the hospital a few days later.

The day after the accident, police found the Chevrolet Malibu. Since then, one of the women in the car has turned herself in to police, and the other woman was apprehended by police.

Hit-and-Run Accident Statistics

It may be hard to imagine how a driver could get into an accident and then flee the scene rather than stop and assist the other people involved in the accident, but the truth is that hit-and-run accidents are frighteningly common. Of all the fatal automobile-pedestrian accidents in the United States, one in five are hit-and-runs. Another startling statistic is that 20% of drivers opt to flee after they hit a pedestrian. Interestingly, most hit-and-run drivers are men.
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Police suspect that alcohol was involved in a recent fatal accident involving an automobile and a motorcycle that took place in Indianapolis last month. At around 3:30, a motorcyclist and his passenger were nearing the intersection of East 56th Street and North College Avenue when a Mitsubishi drove into the path of the motorcycle.

According to a report by Indystar.com, the motorcyclist did not have time to avoid the car and crashed directly into it. The female passenger flew from the bike. A Chrysler traveling North on College Avenue then hit the female passenger. Both the driver of the motorcycle and the passenger were pronounced dead at the scene. Police are now investigating whether one or both of the cars’ drivers were driving while under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

Despite the Obvious Dangers, People Still Drive While Under the Influence

Over the past few years, there has been a concerted effort to bring the dangers of drinking and driving to the forefront of the public discussion. Organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving have tried tirelessly to increase awareness surrounding the issue and the attendant dangers involved with drinking and driving.
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