Determining Who Is at Fault in a Roundabout Accident in Las Vegas?

Roundabouts were designed to improve the flow of traffic in highly congested areas. While most of the time they succeed in managing traffic flow, many drivers are unfamiliar with a roundabouts right-of-way rules and as a result, accidents can happen. Like most Las Vegas roundabout accident claims, you will need sufficient evidence, such as: damage to your automobile, police reports, photographs and witness statements, to prove fault in these types of crashes. By hiring an experienced lawyer, you can rest assured knowing we will work tirelessly to ensure proper fault is placed on the negligent driver and you have a strong personal injury claim from the start.

Understanding Roundabout Right-of-Way Laws

When you are attempting to enter a roundabout, it is your duty to yield to oncoming traffic. Once you are inside of the roundabout, you have the right-of-way over those outside of the roundabout. The cars inside of the roundabout are free to travel at the posted speed limit until they reach their desired exit point.

Issues may arise while inside of the circle, however. For example, drivers may become confused with which exit point they need to take and which lane to use upon exiting the circle. If a driver inside of the roundabout changes lanes without proper signaling or checking for other drivers, accidents can happen.

A driver who has failed to obey the right-of-way laws will almost always be found at fault for the wreck. Certain exceptions apply to this rule, however. For example, if a person inside of the circle fails to check their blind spot and swerves into your lane causing you to brake suddenly and you are rear-ended, an experienced car accident lawyer in Las Vegas could help gather important documentation required to build a strong case against the at fault driver.

What are the most common roundabout collisions?

If you live anywhere in Summerlin or Inspirada, you’ll notice that roundabouts are appearing all over the place. As effective as they are at reducing traffic congestion in densely populated areas while simultaneously reducing overall speed of drivers, collisions in roundabouts do still happen. When they do, it is in your best interest to contact a Las Vegas injury law office if you wish to pursue compensation for your damages.

As recently reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the most common vehicle conflicts are categorized as queuing conflicts, merge and diverge conflicts, and crossing conflicts.

Queuing conflicts are caused when a vehicle runs into the back of another vehicle where left-turning vehicles are queued waiting for entry gaps.

Merge and diverge conflicts are caused by the joining of two separate traffic streams. The most common of these accidents are sideswipes and rear-end crashes.

Crossing conflicts are caused by the intersection of two traffic streams. These types of collisions are the most severe of the three and often result in injuries or fatalities. These can include T-bone accidents and head-on collisions.

Most collisions happen upon entering or exiting the traffic stream.

Single-lane roundabouts are most notorious for crashes upon entering the traffic stream while double-wide roundabouts are most notorious for crashes upon exiting the traffic stream due to their confusing nature.

Documenting damage to your vehicle to prove fault

The damage to your automobile can provide your attorney and any involved insurance companies with a good picture of how the accident happened. Depending on where the damage is to your vehicle, it can provide excellent supporting evidence as to who is responsible for the crash and who is to be placed at fault.

Due to this fact, your Las Vegas personal injury lawyer will request photographic documentation of the accident scene, the damage to your vehicle and the damage to the other drivers vehicle.

In other words, if the person who hit you has damage to the passenger-side front-end of their vehicle while your vehicle has damage to the driver-side rear-end, it is safe to say that the driver with the damage to the passenger-side front-end was responsible for the crash as they failed to exercise reasonable care while switching lanes.

In some instances, our law firm and/or the insurance company will hire accident reconstruction specialists to examine both vehicles and the location of the collision to determine the exact cause of the crash between the two vehicles. This is usually only done if the case escalates to a trial, however.

How is fault determined?

Once the accident investigation begins, various pieces of information will be used to support the evidence of fault. Typical pieces of information can include, but are not limited to: property damage to your vehicle, injuries sustained, witness testimony, police reports and any photo or video evidence.

The police report may include the responding officers opinion on who was at fault and include any applicable driver error and/or impairment, if applicable. Although their statement is reflected on the police report, this does not automatically establish fault.

A police officer may also question whether or not the at-fault driver was distracted at the time of the collision. For example, if the driver failed to yield, ran off the road, or crashed into the center median, the court could actually subpoena cell phone records in the event the case escalates to trial.

If fault is inappropriately placed or your injury claim is denied, your attorney may need to file a lawsuit to take your case to trial in an attempt to collect fair compensation for your damages. If this happens to you, your case will be heard before a judge and a jury.

Compensation for a Roundabout Accident

The amount of compensation a personal injury victim may recover following a roundabout crash is contingent on several factors:

• Your injuries: As a general rule, the more severe injuries with higher medical bills typically lead to a higher compensatory award.
• Their insurance: That said, the second-most important factor is the insurance policies at play. Unless a bad-faith insurance claim has been filed, you will not be permitted to collect more than their policy allows. In the State of Nevada, the minimum motor vehicle liability insurance coverage is currently $25,000 in bodily injury per person per accident, $50,000 in bodily injury per accident, and $20,000 in property damage (“25/50/20”). However, this is only the state minimum. Those who have more assets typically have higher coverages.
• Your damages: In addition to your medical bills, your attorney will calculate lost wages, property damage, future medical bills and pain and suffering into the final demand for compensation.
• Your percentage of fault:  The State of Nevada has a modified comparative negligence law which means that your final settlement amount can be reduced by your apportionment of fault. This is why it is important to consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer to help establish fault and fight for the compensation that you are entitled to.

Hiring a personal injury lawyer in Las Vegas

Although not every roundabout accident results in an injury, a good portion of them to. If you’ve been involved in an accident, speak to Brian Boyer Injury Lawyer before providing the insurance companies with any important and/or incriminating information.

We have over a decade of representing accident injury victims and have successfully recovered millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. If you’ve been hurt due to someone else’s negligence, we will fight viciously to ensure you receive maximum compensation for your claim. Contact us for a free case review at any time.

Related Content

• Is It Always Your Fault If You Rear End Someone?
• Establishing Fault After a Car Accident
• Summerlin Personal Injury Lawyer
• Car Accident Types
• What Happens If You Leave The Scene of An Accident?
• What Should I Do After A Car Accident?
• Is Nevada a No-Fault State?
• What Happens If Someone Hits Your Parked Car?
• Can Both Parties Be At Fault In An Accident?
• What To Do After A Single Vehicle Car Accident
• Average Payout for T-Bone Accident