What Happens When Passengers are Injured in Car Accidents?
Sometimes when we are injured in a car accident, we’re not the ones behind the wheel—we’re the passenger. And if that’s the case, while some things in your injury case are exactly the same as they would be if you are driving, in other ways, passenger injuries are different.
Multiple Avenues to Recover
In a typical two car accident, passengers have a few ways to recover that the driver of a vehicle may not have. That’s because the passenger can recover compensation from any of the following (or all of them):
(1) The driver of the vehicle the passenger was in, if that driver was negligent and caused the accident
(2) The other driver, of the outside vehicle, if that was the driver who caused the accident
(3) Both drivers, if there is an argument that one or both drivers may have done something to cause or contribute to the accident.
Suing the driver of the vehicle that the passenger was in is an avenue of recovery—but because we often drive with people we know, victims may have to make a personal decision whether or not to sue the driver of the vehicle that they were in, if that is someone that is close to the victim, or even if that person is family.
Personal Injury Protection Insurance
As a passenger, your first step, as in any other car accident, is to access your personal injury protection (PIP) insurance benefits. This is insurance available to everybody, to cover very basic and initial medical bills. But you (the passenger) cannot use your own PIP—by law, you will have to make a claim on the driver’s PIP insurance.
PIP is no fault, so it doesn’t matter if the person driving was at fault or not. Liability doesn’t determine which PIP pays you, the law does.
Additional Compensation for Injuries
Going beyond what PIP will pay, to get further compensation, your attorney will look at all the insurance policies available for all the drivers, and look at how the accident happened, to see if there is a way to hold as many of the drivers responsible, as possible.
In some cases, your attorney can look to your own insurance, such as in cases where one or both of the drivers may have insufficient insurance to compensate you for all of your losses.
Blaming the Passenger
In rare cases, negligent drivers blame passengers for contributing to an accident, but that’s rare. For example, if you knowingly got into a car with someone who was under the influence, the person you’re suing may say that you didn’t exercise due care or caution for your own safety.
Of course, not using safety belts, or sitting incorrectly (for example, with your legs up or knees on the dashboard) are ways the other side may try to blame a passenger. Passengers may sometimes be blamed for distracting the driver, and thus contributing to the accident.
Call our Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200 for help if you were injured as a passenger in a vehicle.
Sources:
mass.gov/info-details/basics-of-auto-insurance
mass.gov/doc/800-personal-injury-protection-pip/download
