Road rage has grown into a common form of public hostility, especially for drivers in Florida. The Sunshine State ranks second
among U.S. states in the number of road rage cases involving firearms from 2017 to 2021. Short tempers and aggressive driving behaviors can easily escalate into dangerous situations, injuries, and deaths.
If you've suffered losses from a road rage-related auto accident, you may have grounds to sue the driver responsible for the incident and its consequences. The more you understand about this tricky area of the law, the more intelligently you can pursue your legal options. Check out these questions and answers on the subject.
What Does Road Rage Involve?
Road rage involves aggressive driving and other hostile behaviors by a driver with the intention of intimidating or harming another driver. In Florida, this malicious intent differentiates it from a simple driver error that causes an accident. An innocent driver error on one driver's part can also spark road rage in another driver.
The 2022 Florida Statutes associates several behaviors with aggressive driving. These behaviors include speeding, changing lanes hazardously, tailgating a vehicle, failing to give a driver the appropriate right of way, passing improperly, and violating traffic signs. Commission of two or more of these actions constitutes aggressive driving.
Road rage incidents seem to follow a few general patterns. For example, they tend to occur during the summer months, later in the week, and during the evening rush hours. Teenage drivers and drivers of convertibles commit more acts of road rage than the rest of the population.
When Does Road Rage Merit a Lawsuit?
An act of road rage in and of itself doesn't automatically provide grounds for a lawsuit. Even if an aggressive driver honks at you, cuts you off, or maintains too tight a space behind your car, you can't file a lawsuit against that driver unless those actions actually caused you to sustain tangible or intangible damages.
In a standard car accident, the other driver's auto insurance would likely cover at least some of the damages. However, auto insurance policies generally don’t cover intentional acts, meaning that the insurer won't provide you with any compensation. You may therefore need to file a lawsuit to get that compensation.
How Do You Pursue a Road Rage Lawsuit?
If you wish to pursue a successful lawsuit against a driver who has committed an act of road rage, you must satisfy the same basic demands that most personal injury lawsuits make. Your attorney must show that the driver owed you some duty of care, that the driver violated that duty, and that the violation directly led to your damages.
Drivers sharing a road obviously owe each other a duty of care by driving safely and obeying traffic laws. An enraged driver who engages in aggressive driving behaviors against you has violated that duty of care. If the driver's actions caused personal injuries, deaths, or car damage, your case satisfies all three requirements.
However, don't expect a bruise or two to represent sufficient evidence of a personal injury in a road rage incident. To claim and receive significant financial compensation, you may need to demonstrate that the injury caused a permanent outcome such as scarring, loss of a limb, or loss of physical function.
What Kinds of Damages Can You Receive?
As in other types of personal injury cases, attorneys in road rage cases may find opportunities to request several kinds of damages. Perhaps most obviously, your attorney may seek compensation both for medical expenses you’ve incurred and for future medical expenses you may incur as the result of an injury.
A serious injury from a road rage incident may leave you unable to work. If so, your attorney may request compensation equal to your lost past and future wages. This compensation may prove critical if your disability prevents you from returning to the workforce indefinitely.
Intangible losses may also merit compensation. One such example involves pain and suffering. If you struggle with ongoing physical and emotional pain from a traumatic road rage incident, or if the incident has wreaked havoc on your home life, your attorney may seek compensation on those grounds.
In some cases, a court may wish to make an example of a driver who has willfully committed a malicious act of road rage that resulted in personal injury or death. To discourage the public from future road rage acts, the court may award punitive damages on top of whatever compensatory damages you originally sought in your lawsuit.
If a lawsuit seems like the only way you can receive the financial compensation you need in the wake of a road rage injury, contact
the Law Offices of David A. Helfand, P.A. Our skilled legal experts can examine the facts, determine whether you have a strong case, and then present that case to a Florida court.
