Knowing what to do if you suffer an injury in a car accident caused by road rage is important in managing the aftermath it may have on your physical and mental health and protecting your legal rights. First, you must seek medical attention, regardless of how you feel following your collision. Having a physician examine you for injuries, including hidden injuries that can worsen if left undetected, is pertinent to your health. Next, consult a car accident lawyer about your road rage incident. After discovering the details of your case, they will better understand what legal action to bring and how to secure financial compensation for your losses.
Road Rage vs. Aggressive Driving
Aggressive driving involves engaging in risky driving behaviors while ignoring the safety of other motorists on the road. It means operating a vehicle unsafely by committing a combination of moving traffic violations that endanger people or property. Examples of aggressive driving are as follows:
- Excessive speeding
- Tailgating or following too closely
- Failure to yield
- Erratic lane changes
- Weaving in and out of traffic
- Cutting off motorists
- Ignoring traffic signals and signage
- Passing in illegal passing areas
- Blocking vehicles attempting to pass or change lanes
Road rage is an extreme type of aggressive driving where a driver acts angrily and sometimes violently, endangering the lives of other motorists and pedestrians. Drivers may even use their vehicle as a weapon. Road rage can involve any of the aggressive driving violations listed, with additional or solo behaviors, including:
- Yelling at and cursing out motorists
- Making verbal threats
- Excessive honking
- Flashing headlights repeatedly at the driver ahead
- Getting in front of a driver to hit the brakes
- Making rude or obscene gestures
- Chasing other drivers
- Intentionally ramming vehicles
- Attempting to run drivers or cyclists off the road
- Exiting the vehicle to confront another motorist
- Assaulting a driver or passenger in another vehicle
- Assaulting a pedestrian or bicyclist
In extreme cases, drivers exhibiting road rage may injure or kill another person with a weapon. Aggressive drivers and those in a fit of road rage both exhibit dangerous behaviors behind the wheel. If you suffered an injury in a car accident caused by road rage or aggressive driving, schedule a free case evaluation to determine your best legal recourse.
Is Road Rage a Criminal Offense?
Not all cases of road rage warrant criminal charges. However, road rage is typically a criminal offense when it causes injuries, damages, or death. State jurisdiction determines vehicle codes and criminal laws that constitute criminal charges. Examples of crimes a driver may be charged with after a road rage accident are as follows:
- Aggressive driving
- Assault or battery
- Reckless driving
- Assault with a deadly weapon (a physical weapon or using the vehicle as one)
- Aggravated assault
- Vehicular and attempted vehicular assault
- Vehicular and attempted vehicular manslaughter
As upsetting as it may be, you can’t sue someone for flipping you the bird. So, most road rage incidents go unreported because they do not cause accidents, resulting in injuries or fatalities. While aggressive driving is a significant cause of accident-related injuries and deaths, only about 1 percent of traffic fatalities are caused by road rage. Families who lost a loved one in a car accident caused by road rage should speak to an attorney. They’ll navigate the claims and legal process so you may use your time to make final arrangements and grieve.
Does Auto Insurance Cover Car Accidents Caused by Road Rage?
No. Generally, insurance companies are not liable for injuries and damages from car accidents caused by road rage because it’s categorized as intentional misconduct. It’s considered risky behavior that is not an accident. Insurers are not responsible for paying damages caused by unsafe or criminal activity. However, depending on policy coverage, you may file a claim through your personal insurance. You may also be eligible to sue the at-fault driver for damages. A lawyer will clarify your best options and help you pursue both.
What Should I Do After Being Injured in a Car Accident Caused by Road Rage?
Road rage accidents are dangerous and terrifying. When the shock and adrenaline burn off, you must take the necessary steps to ensure your health and protect your legal rights, including the right to compensation for your damages due to the accident. Injured parties should seek medical attention, document the details while still fresh, avoid giving recorded statements to insurers, and hire a car accident attorney.
Seek Medical Attention
After leaving the scene, you must seek medical attention following a car accident caused by road rage. If injuries are severe, an ambulance is necessary for prioritizing health. All injured parties require a comprehensive medical evaluation to assess the scope and extent of injuries. Injuries commonly associated with car accidents a physician will evaluate you for include the following:
- Lacerations, contusions, and burns
- Fractured or broken bones
- Whiplash and neck injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), including concussion
- Spinal cord injuries, including muscle weakness, loss of feeling, and paralysis
- Internal injuries, such as organ damage and internal bleeding
It’s vital that you follow your physician’s recommendations and referrals for treatment. Adhering to your medical recovery plan ensures that you undergo necessary treatments and procedures before the statute of limitations for filing expires. Following your treatment recovery plan also demonstrates to insurance companies that you have injuries and are taking the necessary steps to ensure recovery.
Failing to follow your treatment plan signals to insurance companies that you’re ready to settle or that you’ve filed a fraudulent claim. Injured parties should never accept quick settlements or settle before hitting their maximum medical improvement (MMI). Your doctor will inform you when you’ve recovered or reached your MMI or treatment plateau.
Document Details While Still Fresh
Write down everything that you remember while the details are still fresh in your mind. You’d be surprised how quickly critical information can slip away without immediate written documentation. Be as detailed as possible as you outline your recollection of events from start to finish. Your written statement—paired with video evidence confirming its validity—is powerful evidence in a road rage lawsuit. If you did not gather video evidence of the collision, your attorney will investigate and collect it (when applicable).
Avoid Giving Recorded Statements to Insurers
You should avoid talking to the at-fault driver’s insurance company or giving them a recorded statement. You are not obligated to speak to them when you have an attorney representing you, and you’re never required to provide a recorded statement. Suppose you’re flustered and angry when they call. You repeatedly accuse the motorist of driving like a “road rage maniac.”
However, later, it was determined the cause of the accident was not road rage but a faulty brake system. Your recorded statement saying “road rage maniac” 45 times may get your valid claim denied. They know this and will call injured parties quickly to try and get them to say anything they can use to deny liability while parties are flustered and without legal representation. Never give recorded statements. Contact a car accident lawyer to discuss your next steps if you’ve already provided one.
Hire a Car Accident Attorney
There is no reason to navigate the complicated insurance claims process and legal system without a professional lawyer who does this daily—especially regarding the criminal element of car accidents caused by road rage. They are on your side and dedicated to ensuring justice and maximum claim value. Hire a car accident attorney to handle your claim and represent your legal rights to compensation.
How an Attorney Helps After You’re Injured in a Car Accident Caused by Road Rage
One of the most significant benefits of working with a car accident lawyer is their offer of contingency fee arrangements. A contingency fee arrangement imposes no upfront or out-of-pocket expenses to clients seeking legal counsel. Instead, they agree to pay a percentage of their final settlement or a contingent fee when their attorney wins the case—and only if they win their case. Contingency makes getting a lawyer available to anyone involved in a car accident caused by road rage.
Additionally, road rage accident lawyers will review your insurance policy, communicate with insurers, gather evidence, determine the value, and negotiate your claim. They will also help victims of road rage file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
Review Your Insurance Policy
Because the at-fault driver’s insurance company is not liable for injuries and damages from a car accident caused by road rage, finding alternative routes to compensation is vital. It’s unfair to expect the victim to absorb the costs of a car accident that wasn’t their fault. Your attorney will review your insurance policy for coverage to help with expenses, including:
- Comprehensive Coverage: If your auto policy has comprehensive coverage, and someone intentionally damages your vehicle, it may cover the costs of the repairs. However, some policies may have road rage exclusions. Your attorney will carefully review and clarify policy terms.
- Medical Payments (MedPay): MedPay is optional insurance that covers medical costs for you and your passengers after you are injured in a car accident caused by road rage. It has a coverage limit. So, severe injuries may require alternative sources of compensation.
- Personal Injury Protection (PIP): PIP is mandatory in some states, optional in others, or unavailable in others. It may help cover medical expenses after a road rage accident. However, because road rage is intentional and criminal, PIP likely won’t cover lost income, vehicle damages, pain and suffering, or other non-economic damages.
- Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM): If you have UM/UIM, you may potentially use it to recover compensation after being injured after a car accident caused by road rage. The coverage has limits. However, your attorney will seek compensation through your UM/UIM for medical bills, lost income, property damages, and pain and suffering.
When there are multiple routes of recovering compensation to cover the costs of your losses and damages, your attorney will investigate and pursue all valid claims. They aim to ensure justice and the maximum benefit for your claim or lawsuit following a road rage accident.
Communicate With Insurance Companies
Your car accident lawyer will handle communications with all insurance companies involved in your case. Their services protect you from insurance company tactics to maximize profits by denying claims. When a claim has legal representation, it is more likely to be taken seriously and less likely to be rejected. Insurance companies are not permitted to contact you once you obtain a lawyer.
Gather the Evidence for Your Case Investigation
The evidence in your car accident case helps your attorney establish liability, prove negligence, and the need to compensate for your damages. It is also helpful in valuing your claim. Attorneys will move quickly to preserve evidence before it’s damaged or lost. Standard evidence in a car accident involves:
- The police report and any records of traffic citations, fines, or criminal charges
- Witness statements detailing the road rage incident
- Video footage of the car accident
- Dashcam footage of the road rage and accident
- Photos of the accident scene and your injuries
Medical records and bills are significant evidence of your case. Other financial documents demonstrating monetary losses, such as vehicle-repair invoices and property damage estimates, are important for establishing economic damages in your claim. Bring any evidence you have for your case to your free initial consultation with a local car accident attorney. It will help them better assess your case specifics and provide deeper insight into legal strategy and possible settlement outcomes.
Determine the Value of Your Claim
Car accidents can cause severe injuries, leading to significant financial hardship quickly. An experienced personal injury lawyer will investigate all areas where you may have experienced losses and other recoverable damages after a collision, such as:
- Healthcare expenses
- Property damages
- Lost earnings
- Household services
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium (companionship)
- A loss of enjoyment of life
- Disability and disfigurement
Families who experience the tragic loss of a loved one in a car accident caused by road rage may have legal rights to compensation for these damages and more. Additional wrongful death damages an attorney may seek include funeral costs, final medical bills, loss of financial support, loss of parental guidance, and the lost prospect of inheritance. An attorney can verify your eligibility to file a wrongful death claim.
Negotiate With Insurers
A common misconception when filing claims through personal insurers is that you will receive maximum benefit. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Insurance companies start low and make claimants or their attorneys fight for reasonable settlements through several rounds of negotiations. Your attorney will confidently demand fair compensation.
File a Lawsuit, Schedule a Free Consultation Today
If you suffered an injury in a car accident caused by road rage, an attorney can help you file a civil lawsuit. Schedule a free consultation to discuss the details of your case. After discovering your circumstances, an attorney can better advise you on which legal actions are necessary for ensuring justice and pursuing maximum compensation for your claim.