Help for the Pain

There's a popular misconception floating around in terms of rear end collisions. That misconception is that the driver who rear ends the other vehicle is always considered to be at-fault for the collision -- no questions asked. This belief keeps a lot of people who rear end other vehicles and truly believe the accident was not their fault from taking the proper action. But it's not the truth. Though many rear end collisions are the fault of the driver who does the rear-ending, not all of them are. If you and your lawyer can provide evidence that someone else's actions led to the collision, that person may be named either fully or partially liable for the accident.

Generally, there are three other entities that might be held partially or fully liable for your rear-end collision.

The driver you rear ended

Generally, if you hit the driver in front of you, it is assumed that you were driving too closely and were unable to brake in time to avoid hitting them. Thus, the accident is assumed to be your fault. But what if something about the other driver's car or behavior made it impossible for you to stop, or impossible to know that you should stop? If their brake lights were out, you would not have known to stop -- so they might be held liable for the accident. If the driver pulled very slowly out into quickly moving, oncoming traffic and you just didn't have time to stop, this is another example of an instance in which the driver who you rear-ended may be responsible for the collision.

The municipality in which you crashed

Did the conditions of the road or traffic signals make it impossible for you to stop before hitting the other car?  If so, the municipality responsible for maintaining the roads and signals might be named liable for the collision. For example, this may be the case if an intersection was not salted after a big ice storm, causing your car to slide on the ice and collide with the vehicle in front of you.

A pedestrian or third driver

Perhaps a third driver or a pedestrian who was not actually involved in the collision acted in a way that contributed to the crash. An example of this would be if someone jumped out into traffic, causing the driver in front of you to slam on their brakes. You might still be named partially liable since presumably, the fact that you hit the car could mean you weren't maintaining a safe following distance, but part of the blame may be transferred to the pedestrian. The same would be true if it were another driver who pulled out into traffic, causing the car in front of you to stop abruptly.

If you have been involved in a rear-end collision that you truly believe was not your fault, speak with an auto accident attorney as soon as possible.