Everything You Need to Know About Single-Vehicle Accidents

A single-vehicle accident occurs when a car, truck, or motorcycle strikes a pedestrian, bicyclist, animal, or object like a tree, sign, or light pole. Like other types of motor vehicle accidents, single-vehicle collisions can result in extensive property damage and severe, life-changing injuries.

Unfortunately, single-vehicle accidents occur frequently in Greensboro and throughout North Carolina. It is important to understand the causes of single-car crashes as well as the insurance coverage that may be available to you after you have been involved in one of them.

Common Causes of Single-Vehicle Accidents in Greensboro

Drivers often cause single-vehicle crashes due to their own negligence. For instance, a driver may lose control and go off the road because they are speeding, driving too fast for road or weather conditions, distracted by their phone, or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In these cases, drivers also expose their passengers to the risk of serious injury.

Single-vehicle accidents can also occur due to factors beyond the driver’s control. For instance, a crash may happen because of a poorly maintained roadway or a vehicle defect. In this type of crash, a driver may have the right to seek compensation from another party.

Liability Issues in Solo Car Crashes

If you are a driver involved in a single-vehicle crash, you may be entitled to limited insurance coverage, regardless of who was at fault, through your collision, comprehensive, or medical payments coverage. It is important to check your auto insurance policy to see if it includes these optional coverages.

Collision covers property damage, including damage to your car, caused by striking an object, while comprehensive covers property damage caused by other, non-driver factors such as contact with an animal. Typically, you must pay a deductible before this coverage kicks in.

A medical payments plan covers reasonable and necessary medical expenses. However, while helpful, medical payments coverage rarely will cover the full treatment costs and other losses caused by severe injuries that result from a single-vehicle accident.

If you were a passenger, pedestrian, or bicyclist who was hurt in a single-vehicle crash, you may be entitled to recover compensation from the driver if they were at fault, as well as file a claim through your own uninsured motorist (UM) or underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. Although some people may hesitate to bring a claim against a friend who was the driver, it is important to remember that you are seeking compensation through their liability insurance policy, not from them personally.

Additionally, a government agency could be held liable if a roadway defect caused the crash, and a vehicle manufacturer or auto parts manufacturer could be held responsible for any harm caused by vehicle defects, for example.

Dealing with Insurance After a Single-Vehicle Accident in North Carolina

Under North Carolina’s contributory negligence law, even if another party largely caused your injuries in a single-car accident, you could be barred from recovering any compensation if you are shown to have been even slightly at fault. As a result, insurers will often try to shift the blame.

For example, an insurer may claim that a pedestrian negligently stepped in front of a moving car or that a driver failed to exercise reasonable caution by driving too fast given obvious road and weather hazards. For this reason, if you were injured as a driver or passenger in a single-vehicle accident, you should seek help from an experienced auto attorney who knows how to protect your rights when dealing with insurance companies.

Contact Our Greensboro Single-Vehicle Accident Attorneys Today

At Ward Black Law, we want you to focus on your health while we focus on dealing with the insurance company. If you were hurt in a single-car accident through no fault of your own, we will work tirelessly to pursue all insurance coverage available to you.

To learn more about how we can help you, call or reach us online today and receive a claim review from a car accident lawyer at our firm.