Filing a Lawsuit After a Tailgating Accident

Most motor vehicle accidents in Mississippi and around the country involve some sort of human error, and rear-end collisions are often caused by motorists who failed to maintain safe distances. Tailgating drivers who cause crashes are often ticketed for motor vehicle infractions, and these citations can be used by personal injury attorneys who are representing injured victims in civil suits against the at-fault motorists.

Drivers are expected to follow all motor vehicle laws and adequately maintain their vehicles, and they can face civil and criminal sanctions when they fail to take all reasonable steps to protect other road users. Rear-end collisions are generally viewed as being the fault of the trailing driver, but there are exceptions to this general rule. Tailgating may be ruled out as the cause of a car accident if a slippery substance on the roadway was involved or the leading vehicle made dangerous maneuvers or had equipment problems such as defective tail or brake lights.

Mississippi law follows the principle of pure comparative fault. This means that plaintiffs may recover damages in a lawsuit even if they were largely to blame for causing the accident that injured them. However, juries may reduce the amount of damages awarded in proportion to the plaintiff’s culpability, which means that it is important to establish the degree of fault when litigating tailgating accident cases.

Experienced personal injury attorneys may anticipate comparative fault arguments when accident reports are inconclusive, and they could conduct additional inquiries to gather the evidence needed to respond to these claims. Attorneys may visit accident scenes to locate witnesses who may have been missed by police, and they could also check the area for security cameras.