As the hot summer weather begins to agitate car drivers, car accident claims are beginning to rise, so recent reports show. Road rage is more prevalent in hot weather, which causes traffic jams and slow moving traffic to become a less bearable experience than when it is a cooler temperature outside.
It is important for drivers to try and keep their cool in summer traffic jams, especially since road rage usually leads to careless driving, bad decision making, accidents and damage to other cars and drivers. A driver displaying road rage may be liable for car accident claims.
Jack Grimshore, 33, from Battersea, London, was a victim of a road rage fuelled car accident. He was in his car waiting in a very slow moving traffic jam between Battersea and Wandsworth on his way home from work as a publishing assistant. The weather was extremely hot outside and there was a general mood of agitation running through the individuals sat in their cars. However, there were a few individuals who thought that they would be able to drive up the bus lane in order to skip waiting in the traffic jam. Mr Grimshore was waiting in his car when he noticed a car, which had been waiting a few places behind him, pull out onto the bus lane and make its way past the traffic jam. Mr Grimshore recalled a few cries and sounds of anger from other drivers still in the queue. The driver of the car in the bus lane began to retaliate to these shouts and stopped paying attention to his driving. Whilst this driver was arguing with a man in the car directly behind Mr Grimshore, he swerved and hit Mr Grimshore’s rear right car door. The door was severely scratched and slightly dented. Mr Grimshore politely asked the offending driver for his contact details and found himself the victim of very abusive road rage. Mr Grimshore felt very intimidated by the man and decided to simply take the number plate down and deal with the damage later.
When Mr Grimshore finally arrived home, he decided to do some research on car accident claims. He thought that he had a case for a legitimate claim and decided to seek further legal advice. He eventually received the full amount of compensation for the damage to his car. This case shows how road rage can leave careless drivers open to having car accident claims made against them. It also shows how car accident claims can aid innocent victims of this type of driving without any costs incurred.
Mr Grimshore was lucky that he did not suffer any physical injury as a result of his accident. In another case involving road rage, Helen Pugh, a magazine sub-editor from Manchester, sustained a serious whiplash injury when a car driver, not looking where he was going, drove straight into the back of her vehicle. The accident occurred because Miss Pugh had stopped at a zebra crossing for somebody to cross the road. The driver behind her was agitated and in a rush, having just waited for an hour in very slow moving traffic and was also texting a friend. As Miss Pugh slowed down to stop for the zebra crossing, she recalls a car ‘smashing’ into the back of her vehicle and a ‘terrible’ pain in her neck. The offending driver acted as if the collision were Miss Pugh’s own fault and began to speak to her aggressively and rudely, before driving off. Miss Pugh, after making sure she took down the number plate, was left to drive herself the short distance home. The pain in her neck began to worsen and she took herself to the local hospital to get medical advice. Doctors confirmed that she had suffered whiplash and gave her a neck brace to wear.
On returning home that evening, Miss Pugh immediately set about thinking what she could do legally. She worked out that the damage to her car and possible physiotherapy charges would be too much for her to pay on her own. The next day she enquired as to how to go about making a compensation claim against the driver of the car. She subsequently received the full compensation amount for both the damages to the car and her person.
Both of these examples show how road rage can cause carelessness and bad decision making. If you are the victim of an accident incited by road rage, then you are entitled to legal advice and compensation.