Aggressive Driving Accident In Oklahoma City
We’ve all experienced an encounter with an aggressive driver. These drivers may come speeding up behind you, ride dangerously close to the back of your car to force you out of their lane so they can pass, or engage in other dangerous behaviors on the road. Fortunately, most brushes with an aggressive driver end with the reasonable driver moving out of the way as soon as it’s safely possible and allowing the aggressor to pass. Sadly; however, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, the dangerous actions of an aggressive driver in Oklahoma City cause a serious accident. Aggressive driving accidents are a growing problem in Oklahoma and elsewhere, so if you were involved in one, make sure to contact an experienced Oklahoma City car accident lawyer.
Understanding Aggressive Driving
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), aggressive driving is any deliberately unsafe driving behavior meant to intimidate and performed with disregard for the safety of others or with ill intentions. Examples of aggressive driving include the following:
- Speeding excessively
- Tailgating (riding too closely behind another car)
- Unsafe passing or passing on the shoulder of the road
- Weaving (erratic lane changing)
- Running through red lights and stop signs
- Cutting off other drivers
- Intentionally braking sharply in front of other drivers (brake checking)
- Blocking other drivers who are trying to pass or change lanes
- Intentionally not yielding the right of way to another driver
Aggressive drivers may also engage in rude gestures, yelling, or horn-honking. Some aggressive driving incidents escalate into road rage behaviors such as threatening, or forcing another car off the road. Some may even end in a physical confrontation.
Aggressive drivers often cause accidents due to their careless or dangerous actions behind the wheel or when other drivers swerve to avoid the threat of a collision.
What Types of Injuries Occur In Aggressive Driving Accidents In Oklahoma City?
The crash force of an accident increases when drivers speed, a common occurrence in aggressive driving accidents. With increased crash force, the severity of car accident injuries also increases. Common injuries in aggressive driving accidents in Oklahoma City Include:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Broken bones, including the limbs, ribs, hips, and pelvis
- Back injuries
- Neck injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
- Spinal cord injuries
- Facial trauma
- Burns
When an aggressive driver’s reckless or wrongful actions behind the wheel cause injury to other motorists, the injured motorist does not have to be responsible for the damages, like lost income, medical bills, and out-of-pocket expenses, as well as property damage to a vehicle and compensation for pain and suffering.
Under Oklahoma’s modified comparative negligence car accident laws, the driver who causes an accident is liable for the damages they cause to others. Insurance companies require evidence of their policyholder’s liability before paying compensation in a car accident claim. An experienced personal injury attorney in Oklahoma City will investigate the accident by examining the police report, photos and videos, eyewitness testimony, and reports by accident reconstruction experts. Then they submit this evidence to the at-fault driver’s insurance company along with a carefully calculated list of the injury victim’s damages.
Proving liability requires showing that the aggressive driver owed a duty of care to others on the road, they breached this duty by driving recklessly or aggressively, their breach of duty caused the accident and injuries, and the injury victim suffered significant damages from the injury.
How Can an Oklahoma City Car Accident Lawyer Help?
Without a well-executed claim process with ample evidence or the aggressive driver’s liability, the insurance company may undervalue or dispute your claim for compensation. Contact Dan Davis Law for the Oklahoma City aggressive driving accident attorneys who can help you recover the maximum compensation and a sense of justice in your case.