Why Seatbelts Are So Important in a New York Car Accident
While most people realize that seatbelts can play a critical role in preventing injuries and saving one’s life if one is involved in a serious car accident, most people do not realize that seatbelt use may play a direct role in the amount of recovery the court awards a car accident victim. Some states do not allow evidence of seatbelt use to be introduced to shift partial responsibility for one’s injuries to a car accident injury victim. These states reason that it is the negligent driver that is responsible for an accident victim’s injuries not the victim’s decision concerning seatbelt use. Unfortunately, New York is one of the minority of states that specifically allows an insurance company for the at-fault driver to raise a defense based on the fact that the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision.
If the insurance company in your car accident lawsuit raises the defense of comparative negligence based on your failure to wear a seatbelt, this can greatly complicate your New York car accident lawsuit. Often an auto accident involves two separate and distinct collisions or moments of impact. The first collision occurs when the vehicle is impacted by a car, truck or SUV driven by a careless or inattentive driver. While this initial collision can often cause catastrophic injuries, sometimes severe injuries suffered in a car accident are the result of a second collision. This second collision involves a vehicle occupant impacting the interior of a motor vehicle accident because a vehicle occupant is not wearing a seatbelt. If you are involved in a serious car accident in New York, the insurance company for the other driver may try to minimize the financial exposure of its insured. If the insurance company raises a comparative negligence defense, the impact of such a defense can be devastating.
When the insurance company for the other driver raises a comparative negligence defense, the recovery an accident victim will receive may be reduced in proportion to the degree of fault assigned to the injury victim. Someone involved in a serious car crash could suffer a spinal cord injury causing quadriplegia. The insurance company for the at-fault driver might argue that if an injury victim had been wearing a seatbelt the spinal cord injury would not have occurred. If you assume the jury awards $5 million for this catastrophic injury but finds that the victims decision not to wear a seatbelt makes the victim 50% at fault, the recovery would be reduced by half. This can be devastating when suffering catastrophic injuries because your medical expenses are likely to be extremely high, and you may be permanently disabled from employment. If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident where it is alleged that you were not wearing a seatbelt, we urge you to seek immediate legal advice from the experienced New York auto accident attorneys at Cohen and Jaffe.
Seatbelt use by vehicle occupants does make a substantial difference in the degree of injury that New York car accident victims suffer in a collision. A study of accident data conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that 55 percent of those who died in fatal car accidents were not wearing seatbelts. The NHTSA has indicated that use of seatbelts reduces the risk of a fatal injury to vehicle occupants in the front seat by 45 percent. The bottom line is that seatbelts can save your life, protect you from injury and preserve your right to recover when you are injured in a car accident in New York.
If you suffer serious injury in a serious car accident in New York, the Law Office of Cohen & Jaffe has successfully represented hundreds of car accident victims throughout Nassau, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Suffolk. We have collected millions for our clients and we can do the same for you. We invite you to contact us at (516) 358-6900 so that we can advise you of your rights and options.
