Who is Responsible When An Autonomous Vehicle Causes an Accident In AZ?

For technology to advance, there must be testing. A lot of testing. It’s not just the type of thing that can be done in a lab, especially when we’re talking about AI. The biggest developments we’ve seen lately are self-driving vehicles that are on the road without human intervention. Believe it or not, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of self-driving vehicles currently being tested right now in real-time. That sounds like it’s ripe for an accident to happen, which is why having a personal injury attorney Gilbert AZ residents trust is all the more important.

Exploring The Rate Of Accidents In Self Driving Cars

These self-driving crash tests have been going on for several years. Back in 2018, one of Uber’s self-driving cars actually killed a woman named Elaine Herzberg. She was walking her bike across a street when the self-driving car hit her. The National Transportation Safety Board (or NTSB) took a look at the case and found that Uber’s software was still quite flawed, allowing for the accident that cost Elaine her life. It’s a horrible story that makes us all feel less safe. The problem is, there have been a lot more accidents than we don’t hear about.

Reuters actually reported that in an 18-month span, Uber’s autonomous test vehicles alone were responsible for 37 crashes. This just gives motorists and pedestrians one more reason to be careful on the road. Any of those accidents could’ve been fatal. There will certainly be more fatalities in the future as more companies begin using this technology in the transportation industry. There are even semi-trucks out there today using autonomous software that no doubt has flaws in some capacity at such an early stage.

Can A Gilbert Accident Attorney Help Me?

You might be asking yourself what kind of legal problems autonomous vehicles present when they cause an accident, injury, or death. Who is really liable in these situations? In Uber’s specific case, the company wasn’t found criminally liable even though death was caused by flaws in the software. While the vehicles are driving on their own, they aren’t completely unmanned, at least while being tested. There is a fail-safe that is supposed to be at work.

Typically, an employee is to be in the driver’s seat and take over if the car does something erratic. In Elaine’s case, the driver should’ve been able to spot the bicycle when the software didn’t, stopping in time to prevent the accident. The problem is the driver claimed they were watching something on their cellphone and wasn’t paying attention to what was going on in front of them.

There are several other considerations to make here. The first is that Elaine did cross outside of a legal crosswalk and the second is it was dark out. So, who is to blame for the accident? There are so many questionable pieces here it’s unsure of what will happen. This is so new that even the State of Arizona lacks real regulations regarding autonomous vehicles. The fact that someone died and Uber won’t be charged is heartbreaking, so hopefully, something will be done in the future.

Getting Fair Compensation In Any Accident Claim

If you find yourself the victim of any type of accident, including autonomous vehicles, be sure to contact a personal injury lawyer at  www.theazaccidentinjuryattorney.com/gilbert

What to Do After a Car Accident

Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time on the road has driven past an accident or maybe has even seen one in front of their eyes. Driving is an incredible privilege and it is a very freeing part of our society, allowing us to go wherever we want, whenever we want. But accidents can cause a very heavy toll on people who aren’t careful. Even if you are careful and do everything correctly, you can’t help the others on the road who decided to put caution away and drive like a maniac. That’s when it’s time to call a personal Injury Attorney Gilbert AZ residents have turned to time-and-time again when they’ve gotten into an accident.

Even then, weather conditions, speed, debris in the road, and many other factors can be involved in causing you to have an accident. It happens to most people at some point in their lives. Luckily, most accidents are minor and only cause little damage. Others can be major and even result in the loss of life. If you’ve never been in an accident yourself, it can be a jarring experience full of frustration and panic. You might not know what to do unless you already have a course of action prepared.

Here’s what you should do right away:

Step One: Call 911

If you’re injured, the first thing you need to do is call 911. Seeking medical attention right away can help save your life, especially if the accident was particularly jarring. If you were injured, it’s not just to treat your injuries. Having proof of your injury, like x-rays or other medical testing can help your case later. If you need to endure weeks, months, or years of physical therapy resulting from your crash, you will need financial help and support. Waving off medical care can hurt you physically and financially in the long run. You need to take care of yourself.

Step Two: Call a Local Personal Injury Attorney

If you’re physically able to, you will need to contact a personal injury attorney right away. They will be able to guide you on the next few steps to take. Unless you’re too injured to move, you will need to document everything. Take photos of your vehicle, the intersection, or space where the accident happened, and more. Knowing your next move will go a long way in helping prove your personal injury case.

Step Three: Wait

From watching lawyer ads on TV, you’d think personal injury cases are quick and will make you rich faster than you can blink. The reality is, these aren’t always open-and-shut. Others involved in the accident won’t just come out and admit they were at fault, as they don’t want to be the cause of the accident. They may also hire a lawyer and fight against you. Or the insurance company may not want to pay you because you don’t have enough evidence to prove the other person was the cause.

Any number of things can happen, which is why you need to be fully prepared and hire a personal injury attorney to help you through the process. If you need a personal injury lawyer, you can contact me by visiting my website at www.theazaccidentinjuryattorney.com/gilbert/

What is My Case Worth?

The single most common question I get from clients and potential clients is “what is my case worth”? After all, the reason most people hire personal injury attorneys is to represent them and to recover the money lost as a result of accident-related injuries. Injuries from accidents often result in significant economic losses such as large medical bills and lost income. The fact of the matter is that our civil justice system provides only one remedy to accident victims and that is monetary compensation.

​How much an injury case is worth is a fair and reasonable question for any accident victim to ask, but a difficult question to answer. This is particularly true during an initial consultation with a personal injury lawyer. There are numerous factors that influence what your case is worth and, despite the myths that are out there on this issue, there is no magic formula or hard fast rule for determining the value of a particular personal injury case.

Determining the Value of Your Injury Case

Among the many factors that are considered when determining value are:

• Insurance policy limits
• Whether the case is settled out of court or an award is determined by jury
• Who is at fault for causing the accident
• Amount of damage to the vehicle
• Severity of injuries
• Amount of medical bills
• Future medical expenses, if any
• Lost income, including future lost income
• Gaps in medical treatment
• Change or impact on lifestyle, including ability to participate in hobbies, etc.
• Whether the individual is married and how the spouse was impacted by the accident
• Permanency of injuries
• Preexisting injuries not attributable to the accident
• Out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the injured party
• Whether the injured person was wearing a seat belt, and if not, whether their injuries could have been prevented or minimized if they were wearing a seat belt.
• Future medical care, if any
• Is the individual likeable, i.e., will a jury like him or her.

​These are some of the many factors that are considered when determining the value of a personal injury case. In most cases you will want to wait until you have recovered as much as possible from your injuries and completed your medical treatment before trying to determine the value of your case. This allows your attorney to evaluate all of the factors above to determine a fair and reasonable settlement offer. Even though it may be wise to wait until you have recovered as much as possible before attempting to settle your case, you should not wait to hire a lawyer.

Insurance Policy Limits

​One of the first things I try to determine is how much insurance is available. The amount of insurance available in any given case is one of the biggest factors in determining value. For example, suppose you are in an accident and incur $200,000 in medical bills and other damages such as lost income. If the at-fault driver had only $100,000 in insurance coverage and you did not have underinsured motorist coverage, your case would most likely be worth only $100,000 because there is simply no additional funds to pursue even though your damages are more than the available insurance coverage. On the other hand, if the at-fault driver has $250,000 in coverage but your injuries and damages are only $25,000, it is most likely that your case will not be worth the full amount of the available insurance limits.

Out-Of-Court Settlement or Jury Trial?

​In most cases it will be an insurance company or jury that will decide what the actual value of your case is. A skilled personal injury lawyer will be able to evaluate the factors and evidence that adjusters and juries will have to consider. This can then be used to make a settlement offer for an amount that will compensate the injured person. This often leads to a negotiation in an effort to reach a reasonable and realistic settlement amount. If the case cannot be settled, then it proceeds to trial and a jury or arbitrator will decide how much compensation should be paid.

In Conclusion

Sometimes the recovery process can take several months or longer. Remember, you only have two years in Arizona to file a personal injury lawsuit. The sooner you involve an attorney in Mesa AZ to protect your rights, the better off you will be. You have only one opportunity to settle your case, that is why it is so important to have an attorney who knows how to competently evaluate your case to determine its value before settlement negotiations begin.

The Numbers

All that said, we know you want at least some kind of figure to think about. So, here you go. The average jury award in an  Arizona personal injury cases is $820,486. The median compensatory award for personal injury trials in Arizona is $30,000. Plaintiffs struggle on liability in Arizona: plaintiffs received damages in 40 percent of personal injury cases that go to trial. The national average is around 53%.

Not surprisingly, the most common type of car accident lawsuits in Arizona are rear end collision claims, which make up 27% of the motor vehicle lawsuits filed. Intersection collisions and turning collisions were also prominent at 13% and 12%, respectively. Truck accidents lawsuits were 11% of the overall total of accident lawsuits filed.

Jury Verdict Research found that that the median money damage award in vehicle accident cases in Arizona is $16,929. Plaintiffs win money damages in 53 percent of cases that go to trial.

JVR also breaks down the type of accident: rear-end accidents accounted for 27 percent of the total number of plaintiff verdicts; intersection accidents accounted for 13 percent; turning collisions accounted for 12 percent; truck accidents accounted for 11 percent; chain reaction collisions accounted for 9 percent. All other liabilities made up 8 percent or less of the total. Your mileage may vary, but we hope that helps give you an idea. For further questions, please contact our office. We’re always happy to talk with you.

See Also:

• Personal injury settlement calculator
• How much money will I get for my car accident case?
• Auto accident settlement formula
• Calculating personal injury claim value
• Mesa, Phoenix, Queen Creek, Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Peoria, Surprise, Avondale, Maricopa County

Traffic Accidents in Phoenix – How Do We Rank?

Phoenix motorists seem to have a reputation for aggressive, high speed driving.  A day hardly goes by without a traffic accident on a Phoenix highway. But, is Phoenix, Arizona really as bad as it seems?  How do we rank in comparison to other major cities in the country?

Recently, Allstate Insurance researchers analyzed internal data to determine the likelihood that drivers would be involved in a vehicle collision. They looked at those cities in the U.S. with at least 100,000 in population–the largest 196 cities. To create the report entitled, “Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report,” they took property damage claims over a two-year period (from January, 2002 to December, 2003) and used a weighted average of the two-year numbers to determine the annual percentages. The report defines an auto crash as any collision resulting in property damage.

Nationally, the average driver can expect to experience an auto crash with property damage once in every ten years. In Cedar Rapids, though, the average is only once in every 15 years, making that city the safest of all cities of more than 100,000 population.

Here are the top 10, nationally:

1. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
3. Chattanooga, Tennessee
4. Huntsville, Alabama
5. Knoxville, Tennessee
6. Des Moines, Iowa
7. Topeka, Kansas
8. Lakewood, Colorado
9. Fort Collins, Colorado
10. Birmingham, Alabama

Clearly, those of us who live in bigger cities face bigger risks. In the category of big cities–those with a million or more people–Phoenix, Arizona was the top ranked city in the country, mirroring the national average of a collision once every ten years.

Here are the top 10 cities over 1 million in population:

(the number represents the national ranking)

64. Phoenix
111. San Diego
121. Houston
167. San Antonio
169. New York City
173. Chicago
177. Los Angeles
180. Dallas
182. Philadelphia

Tucson, Arizona also did very well, ranked 53rd overall in the study, and 6th among cities with populations between 500,000 and one million residents. The average driver in Tucson has an accident once in very 10.3 years.

Teen Auto Insurance in Arizona: Keep Those Rates Low!

Enrolling your teen in a driver’s education course is one way to reduce the insurance premium you pay for coverage on your teenager. Let your teen know that if she keeps up her good grades, she will qualify for lower car insurance. One thing to consider for keeping the price of your 16-year-old’s car insurance low is to give her an older car to drive with all the safety features that guarantee savings. You should also include your teen on the same policy as all the other drivers in your household. Having discussions regularly with your teen about safe driving and making sure she follows the rules will save you money on car insurance premiums. Let her know upfront that driving is a privilege she should respect.

Give your teen a little responsibility by letting her pay partial or full premium payment if she has any type of job. This will make her appreciate driving much more and hopefully be more cautious. Also, reiterate Arizona state laws of the highway as well as local laws often to your teen so she will be familiar with these while driving.

Requirements for Arizona Car Insurance

The insurance industry in the state of Arizona is regulated by the Arizona Department of Insurance. It monitors the financial condition of all insurance entities conducting business in Arizona, licenses insurance agents, and provides consumer assistance with insurance complaints.

Arizona requires that every motor vehicle operated on the roadways be covered by one of the statutory forms of financial responsibility. Most drivers purchase liability insurance on their vehicles to comply with the financial responsibility laws. The required minimum amounts of liability coverage in Arizona are $15,000 in Bodily Injury coverage for one person in an accident, $30,000 in Bodily Injury coverage total per accident and $10,000 in Property Damage coverage per accident.

You can get Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage to cover bodily injuries caused by an uninsured and/or underinsured driver, but Arizona does not require drivers to purchase this coverage. Be aware that the state of Arizona follows a Tort system, which means that someone must be found to be at fault for causing the accident, and that person is responsible for all the damages.

Online Car Insurance Quotes for Teen Drivers

There is some good news for you if you are the parent of a teen driver. “Teen friendly” car insurance companies are available that offer affordable premiums to teenagers, even if they are considered to be a higher risk due to a lack of driving experience. You’ll have to do your research to find these providers.

To find Arizona auto insurance for your teenager, you can easily compare rates from a variety of companies online and get the cheapest quotes. This is the best place to start when shopping for cheap teen car insurance. When you start searching, keep in mind that prices are never the same among providers, so don’t make a decision until you have compared several quotes. Shop around until you find the best and cheapest auto insurance for your teen driver in Arizona that will fit into your family’s budget, or let an independent agent do the hard work for you.

When an auto accident happens to you, it can be a life-changing event. It is important to seek the representation of a qualified, competent attorney to protect your rights and help to ensure you get the compensation you deserve. The personal injury attorneys at AZ Car Accident Attorney will do just that!

AZ Car Accident Attorney in Gilbert AZ , and handles cases throughout Maricopa County, including Gilbert, Chandler, Phoenix, Queen Creek, Tempe, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, Ahwatukee, Apache Junction, Anthem, Glendale, El Mirage, Tolleson, Goodyear, Avondale, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Surprise, Sun City and Buckeye.

5 Surefire Ways to Wreck Your Phoenix Car Accident Case

Schools don’t teach students what to do if they are hurt in car accidents once they are adults. After all, it’s not a common occurrence for most people. When you do find yourself in the situation though, you probably wish that someone had told you the “do’s and don’ts” following a crash.

If you want to negatively impact your Phoenix car accident case, there are several surefire ways to do it. But, let’s face it – that is the last thing that you want to do at this point. To help you obtain the maximum recovery in your case, we have compiled a list of the common mistakes associated with auto accidents and how to avoid them:

1. Not calling the police. Even if you think that the damage to the vehicles is minor or that there aren’t any serious injuries sustained, you should still call the police. The insurance company might try to dispute the facts of your case and if you don’t have proof, you are going to have a difficult time building an argument.

2. Admitting fault. It’s hard to know what exactly caused the accident. There could have been a defect in one of the vehicles, the other driver might have acted negligently or there could have been some type of dangerous road condition. Don’t be quick to accept blame for the accident.

3. Waiting too long to get medical care. If you believe your injuries are minor, it is easy to put off going to the doctor and seeking medical treatment. You may think the pain will go away on its own, but if it doesn’t and you wait to go to the doctor, you are giving the insurance company ammunition against you. The insurance company may argue that your injuries couldn’t have been that bad, otherwise, you would have gone to the doctor sooner.

4. Not following through with recommended medical treatment. Once the doctor has diagnosed your injury, you need to follow through with your treatments and physician visits. If you don’t, it could be interpreted by the insurance company, adjuster or jury (if you go to trial) that you were not hurt badly or your injuries have already healed.

5. Giving a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster. The insurance adjuster may try to pressure you to give a recorded statement right after the crash. This is not recommended. There is often a lot of confusion following an accident and you might not know the full extent of your injuries. Once you give a statement, it is near impossible to retract it.

For more information on what you should and shouldn’t do after a car accident in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Goodyear or any other city within Maricopa County, order a copy of the Personal Injury Attorney book, 9 Huge Mistakes That Can CRUSH your Arizona Accident Case.

You can also call AZ Car Accident Attorney at 480-999-0646 or fill out the online contact form to get answers to your legal questions.

The Best Car Accident Lawyer in Arizona

If you are involved in a car accident, it is important to know your rights and to record or keep any evidence that will prove the details of the car accident. You should hire an experienced injury law attorney in Arizona to assist you and take any legal action that may be necessary to make sure that you are treated fairly and maximize the payment for your losses. A car accident attorney can help you get the care you may need for emotional and physical injuries.

Arizona Car Accident Attorney

After your car accident, you may be concerned about the medical bills that keep adding up, how to get your car or truck repaired, and how and what to say to the insurance company while you are filing a claim. We have found that our clients had fear and anxiety that if they say the wrong things when reporting the insurance claims or if they make the wrong decisions with medical care, or while renting a car they will have to pay for it out of their own pockets, even if the accident wasn’t their fault! These are a few reasons is why hiring a car accident attorney who specializes in personal injury law will help you. Our team of car accident attorneys is here to help you receive the compensation those who have been injured deserve, we will take care of the paperwork, deal with insurance company adjusters, and make sure you get appropriate medical care will medical providers that agree to get paid when the case settles. When you allow our lawyers to handle your car accident case, you can focus on the things that matter most: healing and getting back to regular life.

Many people who have been involved in a car accident wonder if they should hire legal representation or if this is even worth their time or money. If you are concerned about the amount of payment you will receive for your accident by involving a lawyer, we encourage you to call our office for a free legal consultation where we can provide you with resources in your case. The general rule of thumb is that if there were any injuries that resulted from your car accident and if the damage to your car or truck exceeds $3,000 dollars, or if a police report is involved, you should consider hiring a car accident attorney.

Why You Need a Car Accident Lawyer in Arizona

There are a lot of ways your attorney can help you in your car accident. Here are a few:

• Negotiate the best compensation amount with the insurance adjuster or take the case to court if the insurance company is unwilling to cooperate according to a fair and legal settlement.
• Collect evidence of liability to prove that your medical expenses, car repairs, rental car, and other pain and suffering costs were caused by the other driver’s negligence.
• Organize your medical records and other expenses to present to insurance companies (and sometimes courtrooms) how much you should be compensated for the accident.
• Car accident and insurance-related claims are surrounded by sometimes hundreds of legal intricacies that insurance companies understand and will use against you to exploit you unless you have more competent legal representation on your side. We encourage you to consider our services, as it will certainly save you in the long run.
• Work with your doctors to ensure all treatments, operations, and other medical expenses are accounted for and related to the accident.
• Work with other lawyers and legal representation involved in the case, including worker’s compensation attorneys (if applicable) and those involved in other lien-holding claims.
• Coordinate and communicate with the other driver’s insurance adjuster (the person responsible for representing the driver and who tries to pay out as little as possible for your claim).

Auto Injury Attorney in Arizona

To better understand how we look at each car accident case, here is our process. To begin, we file a claim with the other driver’s insurance company if it hasn’t already been filed. We will provide the at-fault insurance company with all of the necessary details of the car accident that prove the fault, including sending them the police report of the accident from the Arizona police department, your personal statement, and the personal statement of their client, the other driver, and any witnesses. Next, the insurance company will then assign an adjuster to your claim. This adjuster will be our point of contact for most cases. Because the adjuster is responsible for payments by the insurance company, we work to develop the best relationship and establish friendly and open communication with this adjuster. In most cases, we may be able to work with solely the adjuster to settle the car accident claim without needing to go to court, that being said even the best adjusters sometimes aren’t able to reach an agreement for a fair settlement of your car accident case.

Just after you have stated your initial claim, we will help with the collecting and organizing of the proof of liability, personal injury, and suffering. Our attorneys do this by reviewing your photos of the car accident, checking the scene of the accident for ourselves, speaking with the Arizona police officer responsible for investigating your case, contacting eye-witnesses, and evaluating if the other driver was under the influence of any substance that would have impaired their cognitive abilities at the time of the accident. We always use all of the evidence and the law to build the strongest case against the other driver and to relieve you of any possibility of fault.

We always work with each client attending physicians and medical providers so that we can document all injuries and instances of trauma for those involved in each car accident. We get the records of paramedics who first arrived on site, the ER doctors, surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, and those witnesses at the event so we will have to use their testimonies. Knowing all the individuals involved in your car accident case allows us to have accurate documentation of the extent of your injuries.

The whole process can be longer than anyone ever expected in the beginning, especially if you have injuries that require extensive follow-up, or recovery, or which have permanently changed your life. We understand as car accident attorneys how to take these things into account as we negotiate for the best settlement that sufficiently covers the pain and suffering you have incurred during your car accident. At the end of the process, our fees are based on contingent upon us winning your case, so we are incentivized to provide you with the best legal representation throughout your case.

Car Accident Lawyer Near Me

Being involved in a car accident in Arizona can change your life. Serious car accidents can result in broken bones, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, dismemberment, permanent and lifelong disabilities, post-traumatic stress, scarring, burns, crushing injuries, impalement, paralysis, or death. We’ve just about every type of car accident there is in the past decade. We understand the stress and anguish that can be going on after a car accident. We are here for you and your family and want to make sure you receive the most compensation for your car accident through the best legal representation in all of Arizona. Call us today for a free legal consultation and to get started on your car accident case.

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