With self-driving vehicles now on the roads, the landscape of personal injury claims has changed significantly. Using advanced technology, such as odometry, computer vision, laser vision, radar, and GPS, vehicles can navigate around their surroundings and safely through their environment. However, if one thing goes wrong and there is a malfunction, an accident can result.
If you have been involved in a self-driving car accident in Virginia, you should consult with a Virginia personal injury attorney. You might be able to recover compensation through a personal injury claim. Because of the complexity of such cases, you need to talk with a lawyer regarding your case.
How Negligence Comes into Play
Negligence plays a major role in auto accidents. Proving negligence is essential to a successful personal injury claim. If you can prove that the other party was negligent, you can succeed with your claim and recover damages.
Negligence has four elements. Those elements are duty, which means one has a duty of care or responsibility to protect others or to act in a certain way. The second is that duty of care was breached, meaning that the responsible party failed to follow through with their required actions. Third, you must prove that the breach lead to the accident or caused the problems. Lastly, you must show that the accident that was caused led to the damages that were suffered.
Virginia uses contributory negligence laws for personal injury claims.
Virginia Accident and Insurance Laws
In Virginia, contributory negligence laws are used. The rest of the states follow some form of comparative negligence. In Virginia, you must have been found to not have been negligent at all in your own care regarding your accident and injury suffered in the accident. This means the entire accident must be deemed the result of the defendant’s negligence.
Because of the strict laws, it can be challenging to have a successful personal injury case, so you should consult with a personal injury attorney right away.
Also, in the state, drivers are required to have a way to pay for damages and injuries that result from a car accident. You can either purchase car insurance or pay Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles to drive uninsured. The insurance requirements are $25,000 coverage per person per accident, $50,000 total injuries per accident, or $20,000 property damage per accident.
You are also required to have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to cover damages after an accident caused by an uninsured driver or a driver who does not have enough insurance coverage. The uninsured coverage must match the minimums of liability coverage. If you choose to pay the fee to drive uninsured, the cost is $500 and is good for 12 months.
Consult With a Virginia Personal Injury Attorney
In Virginia, there is a two-year statute of limitations for pursuing a personal injury claim after an accident. If you wait too long, you cannot be compensated. Complete the Free Case Evaluation Form today to get in touch with an attorney who can give you a free case review.
