Maison Law stands up for victims struck by careless merging drivers on busy Gilroy highways like U.S. 101. Our lawyers make sure the right motorist takes responsibility for medical bills, lost income, and the pain that’s left behind.
If you have been injured, please contact a Gilroy Car Accident Lawyer for a free case review. It’s an informative, no-string-attached way to find out what your injury may be worth and how to hold a car insurance company fully responsible.
Figuring Out When You Need a Car Accident Lawyer
Your decision to call a lawyer would usually depend on the severity of your injuries. If your injuries are serious, a lawyer’s help may be what protects your innocence in the accident and secures full compensation to pay for your recovery.
The doubling and tripling of hospital bills may stress you out, and they’ll make insurance providers nervous, too. The increased costs will prompt insurers to look for ways to blame you for a merging accident. They may also downplay your injuries as an excuse to write you a tiny settlement check. A lawyer uses the evidence to fight back against these tactics.
Your Maison Law attorney can help with especially help with cases involving these types of injuries and more:
- A Traumatic Brain Injury, including a serious concussion
- A broken arm or leg, or a fracture of any kind
- A hip injury
- A knee injury
- A back or vertebral injury
- A neck injury, including a serious case of whiplash
- Facial lacerations or damaged teeth
- An injury to a family member
- The tragic death of a family member in a highway accident\
Bottom line: Victims always have the right to file a claim, but with an injury involved, a skilled attorney can often win victims much more than they could win themselves.
A Free Consultation with a Lawyer
With everything you are dealing with (e.g., an injury, pain, lost time at work, unpaid bills), it’s understandable that you’d be confused about what to do next. Fortunately, there’s a great way to get some help in making your next decision.
Maison Law offers a free case consultation that comes with no obligation to you. It’s a chance to determine what evidence you’ll need to file a strong claim and how a car accident attorney can help you protect your interests. It’s also a good way to learn what your injury may be worth before insurers try to convince you it’s worth very little.
Support for Merging Car Accident Victims
A skilled attorney will be working to make sure any settlement leaves you with enough to pay your current medical bills and enough to get by comfortably in the future.
After a serious injury, that future can include additional medical care when injuries flare up again unexpectedly. If you suffered a permanent disability, that support must encompass the lifelong support you’ll require. That can factor in the cost of home care, home renovations, medical equipment, and even the cost of training for a new career.
A lawyer must total your every expense since the accident, and the potential hardships in the years ahead.
A settlement check should fully cover these damages and more:
- All hospital bills and rehabilitation costs.
- Estimates on the care required in the future with a permanent disability.
- The toll of physical pain.
- The toll of emotional trauma, including the anxiety and depression that form during a difficult recovery.
- The potential for the loss of enjoyment of life due to an injury.
- Travel costs of making doctor’s appointments and seeing out-of-town specialists.
- The cost of vehicle repairs or replacement.
- All lost income and job benefits
- Wrongful death benefits for families who lose a loved one to an accident involving a merging driver.
Which Driver Is Responsible for a Merging Accident?
California law holds the driver trying to merge responsible for any accidents that occur while trying to join traffic. California Vehicle Code CVC 21804. explains that the motorist already on the highway has the right-of-way. They aren’t required to move or slow down to allow the merging driver in. It’s up to the merging driver to safely find a place to join traffic.
A driver using an on-ramp to jump on Highway 101 bears the responsibility to keep their vehicle steady, at a reasonable speed, as they come alongside existing traffic. They must look for a safe space to merge.
Unfortunately, merging drivers can get jumpy and make errors in judgment that cause scary impacts and chain reaction collisions.
These are a few of the errors in judgment that can cause accidents:
- Going too fast. The California Driver’s Handbook explains that drivers should match the speed of traffic or get somewhere close.
- Hitting the brakes. The handbook also advises drivers to never come to a complete stop unless it’s absolutely necessary. A slow car can cause just as much trouble along a highway as a fast car.
- Failing to check blind spots and mirrors. Distracted drivers might skip this step and make a dangerous lane change where a motorcyclist, car, or SUV is already occupying the lane.
- Changing lanes before the merge lane starts. Drivers should avoid jumping on the highway by crossing a solid line.
- Talking on cellphones and texting. Merging takes a lot of attention, and distracted drivers can fail to see everything they should to make a safe lane change.
- Drivers failing to use blinkers.
Punishment for Careless Merging Drivers
Drivers who make dangerous moves as they merge can face charges of “failure to yield to traffic” or “unsafe lane change.” These charges can carry between a $200 and $300 fine, but court costs make these fines much more expensive.
According to the vehicle code, they should also be liable for any injury claim. But CHP officers can fail to realize a driver was merging at the time of a crash and blame someone else. At-fault drivers and their insurance providers can also deny blame.
It’s often up to a skilled attorney to fully investigate an accident and lock in evidence that proves what happened. Maison Law can also call in an accident reconstruction team to keep the facts straight.
Contact a Gilroy Car Accident Attorney
Don’t sit around worrying about your hospital bills and lost time at work. If another driver caused your accident, it’s that driver and their car insurance company that should be stressing about recovery costs.
To find out what’s possible, take advantage of a free case review with a real lawyer at Maison Law. This evaluation comes with no obligation to you or your family and is available to all Santa Clara County accident victims. Find out what your injury is worth and how to make insurance companies pay what’s fair.
There’s no obligation for your free case review, but if you feel Maison Law can help you earn more for your claim, you don’t have to worry about having money to hire us. There are no upfront costs. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement money you and your family receive.
