Blind Spots and Florida Car Accidents
Human beings do not have panoramic vision, but driving would be a lot easier if we did. Learning to drive a car means learning to see many different relevant locations at the same time or nearly the same time. This is why cars have rear view and side view mirrors. Experienced drivers are better at looking in all the places that they are supposed to look, and newer models of cars have better visibility than older cars. Despite this, it is still possible for certain areas to be very hard to see from your vantage point in the driver’s seat of your car; these areas are called blind spots. Failing to observe another car in your car’s blind spot is a common cause of car accidents, some of which lead to injury. A Jacksonville car accident lawyer can help you if you got injured in a car accident where a vehicle’s blind spot was a contributing factor.
Where Are Your Car’s Blind Spots?
A blind spot is any place near the car that the driver cannot see through the windshield, rearview mirror, or side view mirrors at any given time. They occur because parts of the car’s frame are blocking your view of these areas. Properly adjusting your mirrors before you begin your trip can reduce the size of your car’s blind spots, but because the car’s frame is still there, so are the blind spots. The exact location of the blind spots around your car is constantly changing, because your car is moving, and so are the other cars near you. The only way to see your car’s blind spots is to physically move your body so that you are looking at your car’s mirrors from another perspective. Some newer cars are equipped with lights on the side view mirrors that flash when a car enters your blind spot and disappear when the coast is clear to change lanes. A high school student in Pennsylvania even won a contest for inventing a camera mounted on the car’s frame that would enable drivers to see their blind spots at all times, but it has yet to become commercially available.
What Happens If You Hit a Car When It Is in Your Blind Spot?
Car accidents involving blind spots are usually the fault of the driver who failed to see the other vehicle in his or her blind spot. Driving through someone else’s blind spot is inevitable, but changing lanes without thoroughly checking the areas near the side of your car that are hard to see is not. Because of Florida’s comparative fault laws, though, it is possible that the insurance company may attribute some of the fault for the accident to each driver.
Contact Douglas & Douglas About Car Accident Cases
A North Florida personal injury lawyer can help you if you are suffering from serious injuries as a result of another driver not seeing you in the car’s blind spot. Contact Douglas & Douglas in Jacksonville, Florida for a free consultation.
Source:
aarp.org/auto/driver-safety/vehicles-mirrors-blind-spots/
