Bad Weather Accidents In Oklahoma City
We’ve all heard that some accidents aren’t preventable or result from an “act of God” or something beyond all control. For an injury victim after a bad weather car accident in Oklahoma City, this is disheartening. How do you recover compensation for car accident damages like property damage to a vehicle, medical expenses, and lost earnings in a fault-based car accident state like Oklahoma, if natural forces like bad weather caused the accident? If you were injured in an accident, make sure to contact an Oklahoma City car accident lawyer for legal guidance.
What Types of Inclement Weather Conditions Cause Oklahoma City Car Accidents?
Oklahoma’s weather is unpredictable, particularly during the spring when severe storms and tornadoes occur regularly. Although Oklahoma’s winters are relatively mild, sometimes freezing temperatures and snowfall occur. Common causes of bad weather accidents in Oklahoma City include the following:
- Poor visibility due to rain, fog, or snow
- Wet roads
- Flash flooding
- Fallen branches and storm debris
- Icy, snowy, slushy, or slippery roads
- Black ice
- Frozen bridges
- Hail
- Strong winds
- Dust storms
Sliding and skidding are more common on wet or slippery road conditions, and it can be difficult to see approaching vehicles in stormy weather. Snow flying off of cars, fallen limbs, and potholes hidden by puddles or accumulated snow add to the dangers of driving in bad weather conditions.
What Types of Oklahoma City Car Accidents Happen In Poor Weather Conditions?
When the weather reduces visibility and causes dangerous road conditions, drivers must practice extra care. Common types of car accidents in Oklahoma City during bad weather include the following:
- Rear-end collisions
- T-bone accidents
- Head-on collisions
- Roadway departures
- Sideswipes
- Rollover accidents
- Car vs. truck accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Car vs. motorcycle accidents
Accidents in bad weather conditions in Oklahoma City cause serious injuries and costly damages to injury victims.
What Types of Injuries Happen In Car Accidents During Bad Weather?
Sliding, skidding, and collisions with other cars or obstacles can cause serious injuries such as broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, internal injuries, spinal cord injuries, traumatic amputations, lacerations, contusions, abrasions, and soft tissue injuries such as sprains and torn ligaments. These injuries require medical care and often need long recovery times, sometimes with physical therapy. Severe or catastrophic injuries can cause life-altering damages such as disability or wrongful death.
Liability In Bad Weather Car Accidents In Oklahoma City
When a car accident happens due to bad weather conditions, it may still be possible to recover compensation for your damages if the accident was caused by another driver. In inclement weather, drivers must adjust their speed, anticipate longer braking distances, and drive more carefully. This is part of every Oklahoma driver’s legal duty of reasonable care. If a driver fails to drive more carefully in bad weather conditions and their violation of their legal duty of care causes an accident with injuries, they may be held liable for damages like medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Depending on the circumstances of the accident, other entities could be liable for damages or share liability, such as a negligent road maintenance agency that failed to clear storm debris, plow accumulated snow, or place warning signs for an icy bridge.
How Can an Oklahoma City Car Accident Lawyer Help Me After a Bad Weather Car Accident?
An experienced Oklahoma City injury attorney explores all potential avenues for recovering compensation after a car accident, including in bad weather. Instead of assuming that you have to absorb the financial consequences of an accident that happened in dangerous weather conditions, contact Dan Davis Law, the Oklahoma City car accident lawyers who are ready to offer a free evaluation of your case and advise you of your legal rights and options.