Night Driving Car Accident Lawyer

Nighttime driving is different than driving during the day; some nighttime accidents wouldn’t necessarily occur in the day. Those injured in nighttime collisions don’t care what time the accident happened; they just want compensation for their injuries.

Mike Morse Law Firm represents clients injured due to night driving car accidents. We delve into the details of the incident and aggressively negotiate with insurance companies to obtain maximum damages to compensate you for your injuries and other damages.

Why Is Night Driving Dangerous?

Three times as many fatal accidents happen at night than during the day. Several factors can contribute to accidents occurring after dark. The most obvious reason is the darkness itself. According to the National Safety Council, vision is 90% of a driver’s ability to react. If you can’t see something, you’re not likely to react to it.

Suffering from compromised vision includes not being able to recognize colors, poor depth perception, and limited peripheral vision, all of which are necessary to drive safely.

A few situations are more common after dark, such as:

• More drivers who are drinking or under the influence of drugs are on the road at night, especially on the weekends. Their impairment coupled with reduced visibility can be a deadly combination.
• Shorter days during the winter months mean that rush hour occurs in the dark. Drivers are tired after their workday and often impatient to get home. Combine those two factors with decreased visibility and therefore slower reaction times and the chance of collisions increases.
• As we get older, our ability to see well enough to drive safely after dark diminishes.
• Teen drivers don’t have much experience driving and making good driving decisions. When traveling at night, teens are likely to have friends in their cars with them, which often diverts their attention from the road. They are also likely to be distracted by other things, such as texting or eating.

During the winter in Michigan, snow and ice often coat roadways. Plowed or salted roads and bridges can still have patches of black ice. The National Safety Council states that a driver can only see for 250 feet when using regular settings, and that distance only increases to 500 feet using high beams.

Once a car hits black ice, steering becomes more difficult, especially at speed. Limited visibility at night greatly decreases drivers’ ability to see black ice before they reach it, which can cause accidents. Multiple vehicles might be involved if a car spins out of control due to ice and causes a chain-reaction crash.

What Can You Do to See Better After Dark?

You can’t control everything, but some things can increase your visibility when driving at night.

Dirty windshields, windows, mirrors and headlights hamper visibility. Cleaning the inside and outside of car glass and your headlights can improve your ability to see your surroundings.

Alcohol can make you sleepy along with reducing your ability to drive safely, and circulating smoke and nicotine from cigarettes can decrease your vision. Avoid drinking and smoking while driving at night.

If your headlights aren’t aimed properly, you may not see things that can cause collisions. Aiming headlights isn’t difficult, but you can have a mechanic do it for you if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself.

Glare caused by headlights in oncoming traffic can temporarily blind drivers. Instead of looking straight ahead, use lane markings as a guide if possible if headlights bother you.

Sometimes a driver’s inability to see clearly is because they need prescription eyewear. Getting yearly eye exams can make you aware that you need glasses or a stronger prescription. Anti-glare coatings on glasses lenses may help reduce the effects of glaring headlights as well.

Not only do headlights from oncoming traffic affect you; your rearview mirror reflects the headlights from vehicles behind you. That’s why rearview mirrors have a nighttime position, but it’s not effective if you don’t use it.

Dashboard lights can be bright enough to distract you and confuse your vision. Dimming these lights can provide better visibility.

Judging the speed of surrounding traffic and their distance from your car is more difficult at night. In addition, deer and other animals often travel at night, suddenly appearing on the road. Reducing your speed and allowing extra room between your vehicle and others can reduce the risk of a collision.

Not only are you responsible for driving safely, but you are also obligated to reduce risk to others. That’s why you need to dim your headlights in traffic. In rural areas where there’s not much traffic, dim your headlights in plenty of time when another car approaches so you don’t blind other drivers and potentially cause them to wreck.

Similarly, if you have to pull off the road for any reason, turn on your hazard lights to make your car more visible to other drivers. Also, get as far away from the road as you can.

Turning on your hazard lights is a good idea if your car is involved in a nighttime collision as well. Although the chances are that other vehicles will notice the accident scene, anything you can do to reduce the chance of other vehicles adding to the crash helps.

How Does Mike Morse Law Firm Help Nighttime Driving Car Accident Victims?

Those who sustained injuries in a nighttime auto accident face an uphill battle. Medical expenses and other bills keep rolling in, but you don’t have income because of your inability to work. Your car may need repairs or replacement, and you’re probably wondering what you can do.

Hiring a personal injury attorney from Mike Morse Law Firm can give you support and peace of mind knowing that they will fight to obtain compensation for your injuries. We use our knowledge and experience gained from handling many cases like yours to search for evidence and effectively negotiate with reluctant insurance carriers.

Our goal is to provide our clients with excellent personal service; let us help you too. You can reach us 24/7 at (855) 645-3946 and live chat. Email us or submit your contact information using our online form. We will evaluate the facts of your claim during your free initial consultation and tell you if you have a case.