I was driving in Virginia Beach on a 45 mile per hour highway. The driver ahead of me had a disabled vehicle in the far left lane. He had his flashers on, but he was standing next to his vehicle with the driver’s door opened, on his cell phone, apparently calling for AAA or a tow truck.
Huge mistake.
Standing next to a disabled vehicle on the side where traffic is coming makes puts you at serious risk of getting hit by a distracted driver, drunk driver, or someone trying to swerve to avoid an animal or object in the road.
As traffic crawled past him, I called out of my driver’s door window to him:
“I wouldn’t stay there. Stand over in the median.” As I looked back in my rearview mirror, I noticed he took my advice and moved into the grassy median, still on his cell phone.
I was so relieved. At least he wasn’t a sitting duck at risk of getting smashed by another vehicle. Though, I have experience on my side. I have the experience of dealing with personal injury and wrongful death cases where disabled cars or SUVs are in the roadway with the driver standing next to, or behind, their cars and serious wrecks occurring with tragic consequences.
Awful wrecks involving disavled vehicles have occurred a number of times locally in cities such as Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and so forth. Here are just a few examples:
- Norfolk accident where the driver of a disabled vehicle was killed. Our firm represented the family of the victim and obtained a $3.5 million settlemt – https://www.hsinjurylaw.com/library/norfolk-va-lawyers-get-the-most-for-victims-of-fatal-truck-crashes.cfm
- Fatal disabled vehicle wreck – https://www.hsinjurylaw.com/blog/wreck-on-i-295-involving-disabled-vehicle-and-aaa-truck-results-in-death.cfm
- Virginia Beach disabled vehicle accident – https://www.hsinjurylaw.com/blog/driver-pushing-disabled-vehicle-injured-in-virginia-beach.cfm
Here’s the lesson – never stand beside, or behind, a disabled vehicle. Always stay a reasonable distance away from the vehicle so as to avoid a potential tragedy.